how a design process helped achieve 70% efficiency gains

A logistics company faced a major challenge: their onboarding process for new clients was slow and inefficient, averaging 60 days and hindering scalability.

Here's a glimpse into how we achieved over 70% efficiency gains and enhanced the customer experience.

1. Deep dive into the problem

In this initial phase, in addition to conducting interviews with stakeholders from various departments, I facilitated a remote workshop involving members from the six impacted areas.

I used Value Stream Mapping as a support tool to identify the main pain points and what was hindering the existing onboarding process.

The lack of standardized handoffs between departments was highlighted as one of the main causes of delays.

The problem is: The current onboarding process is slow and not scalable for the number of clients we’re projecting for the year.

2. Ideation and Exploring Alternatives

With the problems clearly identified, we prioritized the most critical issues and pain points. Each team was tasked with bringing ideas to improve the workflow.

We applied the 5W1H methodology here. It was decided that a streamlined, standardized process with a dedicated team managing each client from start to finish would be the ideal solution.

Centralizing client relationships would not only reduce complexity and transition times but also improve customer relationships by providing a single point of contact.

3. Testing in real world

We designed new communications and workflows to guide clients through each step mapped before. Now it’s time to choose a small client group and run a pilot process and learn from it.

I developed presentations to define standards across departments, always guiding the team to participate and co-create. We also created checklists to ensure clients understood all the requirements.


Additionally, we introduced an innovative self-service process, allowing clients to submit essential information via online forms for validation. Previously, these tests were conducted physically, increasing costs as we used the network for package tests. This phase was dubbed "virtual collection and validation."

4. Deliver and iterate

The implementation of the developed solutions resulted in a significant reduction of the onboarding time to just two weeks.

Standardizing the handoffs and improving communications eliminated most of the previous errors and confusion, providing a much smoother and more satisfying customer experience. The redesigned process not only met the needs of the business and internal clients but also established a new operational standard for the company.

This case exemplifies how the Design Thinking model can be effectively applied to solve complex problems in equally complex environments. It shows that design methods and solutions can be applied in complex contexts to rethink processes and impact not only revenue but also optimize processes that incur high costs for the company.