FinTech SaaS · nCino
Automated Reviews
Streamlining the annual client review process for financial institutions through workflow automation and continuous relationship monitoring.
Role
Lead Designer
Team
Designer, UX Researcher, PM, Customer Success
Company
nCino
Type
Feature Design
The Problem
Relationship managers at financial institutions were spending significant time on annual and quarterly client reviews — a process conducted both within nCino and through external tools. The fragmented workflow made it difficult to maintain continuous oversight of client relationships and affected overall profitability.
The goal was to accelerate the review process through automation while enabling continuous monitoring — and to do it in a way users would actually trust.
Research
I led a multi-phase research effort combining internal interviews with customer sessions across market segments.
Internal Research
Five 1-hour sessions with former nCino Relationship Managers, combining interviews with contextual inquiry into current review workflows.
Customer Research
Four remote interviews with financial institutions across Enterprise, Regional, and Community segments. Sessions included contextual observation and formative usability testing with clickable prototypes.
Synthesis
Used Dovetail to tag and categorize insights by research question, assigning criticality ratings from Major to Minor. Findings revealed that while information needs were similar across institutions, review processes varied significantly — requiring customizable workflows.
Key Research Questions
- —What information do reviewers need to feel confident completing reviews — and what is essential vs. nice-to-have?
- —How should information be organized across user groups, and which groups might distrust automation?
- —What would build trust among skeptical users?
- —Do users need renewal or modification capabilities within the flow?
Artifacts
I created a range of deliverables to align the team and communicate findings:
- ·Information grouping charts to map content hierarchy
- ·Individual FI user journey maps highlighting workflow variation
- ·A comprehensive feature journey integrating UI, nCino logic, integrations, and external data
Outcomes
Research findings were compiled into a prioritized "Next Steps" list for the product team. I presented the findings to Customer Success and Sales leadership to support their sales cycles and help educate prospects on the feature.
Future work involved validating updated prototypes against research discoveries to refine the automated recommendation experience.