Hightower knows that a best-in-class client portal experience supports growth and attracts new business. The portal is a key touchpoint for clients but the current portal experience needed to be improved. The portal should meet user and advisor needs while reinforcing the Hightower brand around financial wellness and emotional support. ​

​

The challenge was to create a client portal experience that met the current needs of clients and positioned the platform for future enhancements to continue to meet client needs as they evolve. In order to do this, Hightower partnered with Slalom to leverage a structured approach to understand and document the capabilities of the current platform, refine user needs, and design opportunities for enhancement positioning the team to deliver near-term enhancements in a future scope.

Discovery:

Slalom did a current state assessment of the client portal which included analytics review, a heuristic assessment, and advisor focus groups using Mentimeter. As secondary research the team looked into high net worth wealth management industry best practices and a did a competitive audit of client portals including advisor sites like Vanguard and Fidelity and data sites likes Black Diamond and Orion. Slalom also looked at feature best practices such as account aggregation and document storage across various platforms. 

Design: 

Slalom identified and documented key user journeys before designing a new information architecture, wireframing desktop and mobile sites, before designing development ready prototypes. 

Results:

At the end of this engagement Hightower had development ready portal designs and a prioritized backlog and engaged a Slalom development on phase two, the build of their new client experience.