No Surprises

SERVICE DESIGN, LEADERSHIP, PRODUCT DESIGN

Xplan is Iress’s flagship financial planning platform, sold to both enterprise and independent advisers. While the product is powerful, implementation was slow, inconsistent, and under pressure to scale - from 4 to 18 implementations per month - without compromising quality.

Challenge

Despite a capable and motivated Managed Services team, Xplan implementations in the UK were bottlenecked. Clients didn’t understand the product, the process, or their role in it. Internally, there was poor knowledge handoff between teams, too many disconnected tools, and no shared process framework.

Approach

Embedded the design team in the Warwick office to co-create solutions with implementation, sales, and support teams.
Mapped the end-to-end implementation journey, combining qualitative interviews and timesheet data analysis.
Identified the key 'surprises' frustrating clients
Introduced the “Design the Box” exercise to simplify how Xplan was communicated - what it is, who it’s for, what it needs from the client.
Created a “No Surprises” pamphlet and three clearly defined product variants, each with matching expectations and onboarding guidance.

Outcomes

Although the original target of 18 implementations/month wasn’t reached, implementation efficiency improved dramatically.
Customer satisfaction rose, support requests fell, and clients had a much clearer understanding of their role.
The “product box” and onboarding pamphlet became standard practice, still used today to introduce Xplan to new clients.
Revenue targets were met, with Xplan implementations directly contributing to Iress’s financial performance.

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