Contact Directory for Independent Insurance Agents

Introduction

A property and casualty insurance company provides an internal contact directory for its network of independent insurance agents. The directory is intended to help agents quickly find key people within the company, such as claims adjusters, underwriters, and account managers. However, agents reported that the previous directory, which offered only static lists of names, phone numbers, and email addresses, was difficult to navigate and lacked the functionality they needed to find the right contacts quickly. To address these challenges, I led a small project aimed at improving the contact directory to better meet the agents' needs.

Methods

The project followed a five-step process to ensure that the new directory would be both functional and user-friendly:

1. Competitive Analysis: Reviewed the existing contact directory and compared it with similar directories used by other companies and organizations to identify best practices.
2. User Research: Gathered feedback from independent agents and internal stakeholders to better understand the pain points and key tasks agents needed the directory to support.
3. Wireframing and Mockups: Designed new interface mockups that incorporated the feedback gathered from users and research findings.
4. Stakeholder Review: Presented the mockups to key stakeholders to ensure alignment on features, layout, and overall direction.
5. User Testing: Conducted user testing with agents to validate the new design, ensuring it addressed their needs and improved usability.

Design

The redesigned contact directory focuses on supporting three primary tasks that agents typically perform when searching for contacts within the company:

1. Find contact information for a known person

Agents often need to find specific people within their designated territory. The new directory interface supports this task by adding a “My Contact” label to the contact list, which highlights the agent's territory-specific contacts. Agents can quickly access a list of contacts they frequently interact with, making it easier to find the right person.

2. Identifying the Right Contact for a Specific Situation

When agents need to contact someone based on their role or specialization (e.g., claims adjuster, underwriter), the new directory allows for searching and filtering by specialty. This functionality helps agents quickly find the right person based on the nature of the request or issue they are dealing with.

3. Finding Alternative Contacts When Someone Is Unavailable

If an agent’s primary contact is unavailable (due to vacation, leave, etc.), they may need to contact a backup, team member, or manager. The new design includes detailed profile pages for each contact, showing not only the individual's role and contact info but also their reporting structure, team members, and who reports to them. This feature allows agents to identify alternatives within the same team or department.

Results

As of now, the design has not yet been reviewed with stakeholders or tested with users. The next steps will involve gathering feedback from key stakeholders, iterating on the design based on their input, and conducting user testing to ensure the redesigned directory meets agents' needs and enhances usability. Future updates will include reporting the results of the stakeholder review and user testing.

Discussion

The redesigned contact directory aims to address the key challenges faced by agents when searching for contacts within the company. By focusing on ease of use, accessibility, and task-specific features, the new design will help agents complete their tasks more efficiently and effectively. Moving forward, I will continue to refine the design based on feedback and testing to ensure it provides real value to users.