Advisor Workstation – Paige Wright Design

Advisor Workstation: Powering Efficiency for Independent Financial Experts

Product strategy and delivery

The digital experience for independent advisors needed more than just a transformation—it required a solution built around their unique needs and the power of partnership. The Advisor Workstation was designed as a unified, user-focused platform to streamline processes, reduce manual tasks, and enhance operational efficiency. By aligning digital workflows with real-life scenarios, it not only simplifies daily tasks but also strengthens the advisor-broker dealer relationship, reinforcing trust and delivering an unparalleled support experience.

Deliverables

Product Discovery and Strategy
Design System Creation
Persona Development
Interactive High Fidelity Prototype
Product Team Coaching and Support

Overview

Business Challenges

The existing suite of tools for financial advisors was fragmented and inefficient, leading to excessive manual data entry, increased support calls, and user frustration. Our objective was to design an integrated, user-centric platform that would enhance operational efficiency and strengthen the advisor-broker relationship.

Solution

We designed and built the Integrated Advisor Platform—an intuitive, omni-channel experience with automated workflows, seamless data integration, and real-time insights to support self-service and personalization. I collaborated across five product streams, aligning UX strategy with business goals through a phased release plan. Working hands-on with teams to modernize legacy functionality, implement the product design system, and embed UX into Agile workflows—ensuring a human-centered approach at every stage.

My Role & Team

Lead Designer, Facilitator and UX Coach
As a design leader, I simplified complex problems into compelling solutions, driving strategy, uncovering insights, and guiding teams to create outstanding user experiences. I fostered strong relationships, coached teams in design thinking and elevated design quality across products.

Tools Used

Figma, Storybook, Miro, User Brain

Current Product Ecosystem

The digital product ecosystem feels like a relic—disconnected, glitchy, and way too manual. Limited data sharing and visibility leaves users frustrated, buried in extra work, and dialing in support more than they’d like. It’s time for a major upgrade to streamline workflows and rebuild user trust.

Product Discovery & Research

I sat at the crossroads of multiple product lines, transforming fragmented experiences into a seamless, user-centered journey. Through design strategy, research, and UX innovation, I helped shape the future of the product organization. Using design sprints, story mapping, and continuous user feedback, we prioritized the right features, ensuring every solution was thoughtfully designed and validated with prototypes before development. The result? Smarter, more intuitive experiences that deliver real value to both the business and financial professionals.

Research Methods

A range of UX design and research methods were utilized to understand user needs and validate the strategy for the financial advisor workstation. These methods included heuristic evaluations of current systems, observational interviews and demos with stakeholders, and focus groups to gather qualitative insights.

Current state process maps, journey maps, and persona research was utilized to build a foundational understanding before going into design sprints to refine solutions.

Because Cambridge offers a wide range of services—from investment management and compliance support to practice management and marketing—there are many different personas and user segments to consider. We conducted empathy mapping and user interviews to gain deeper insights into users and their pain points. A Jobs-To-Be-Done inventory further clarified key goals, ensuring our design solutions were intuitive, efficient, and impactful.

User Interviews

In-depth user interviews were conducted to gather insights for the development of a new advisor workstation to ensure it aligned with the daily operational and strategic planning needs of advisors and their teams.

These interviews provided valuable feedback that shaped key functionalities and UX strategy for the Workstation. Including key objectives of streamlined workflows, enhanced data visibility, and personalized user experiences, ensuring the platform aligned with the daily operations and strategic goals of advisors and their teams.

Impactful Insights From Users

Smarter Navigation – Reduce tab overload by creating a more intuitive, streamlined experience.
Less Manual Data Entry – Integrate CRM and automate redundant inputs to save time.
Advanced Reporting – Give users deeper insights with customizable reports and data visualizations.
Role-Based Workflows – Let users customize their workstation to fit their daily tasks and work style.
Proactive Error Prevention – Provide real-time help and smarter error handling to reduce NIGOs and frustration.

Heuristic Evaluation

Usability findings pointed to some key areas where the workstation could work for advisors, not against them. Errors are frustrating when input fields and messages are all over the place (Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors). Navigation is a wild ride, with multiple patterns making it harder to get things done (Consistency and Standards). Accessibility gaps—like missing alt tags and poor text contrast—make the experience less inclusive (Flexibility and Efficiency of Use). And advisors are stuck bouncing between disconnected tools instead of having one intuitive, all-in-one workflow (Match Between System and the Real World). The solution? A smarter, more cohesive workstation that simplifies navigation, improves error handling, prioritizes accessibility, and creates a seamless workflow—helping advisors focus on what they do best.

Competitive Analysis

We analyzed top financial advisor platforms—Morningstar, Practifi, Envestnet, LPL ClientWorks, Orion, AssetMark, and Commonwealth—to spot strengths and gaps. Key trends? Streamlined navigation, mobile accessibility, and API integrations leading the way. By evaluating client management, reporting, and portfolio tracking, we uncovered opportunities to make the Advisor Workstation more competitive, seamless, and future-ready.

User Personas

By conducting UX empathy map sessions with our users groups we took an affinity mapping approach to identify two persona groups as our primary product users: Financial Professionals and Clients. We further identified three persona archetypes based on specific business segmentations financial professionals fall in to.

Financial Professionals

Clients

Business Segmentations

Design Sprints

I facilitated design sprints with product teams, stakeholders and users to rapidly solve complex problems, generate innovative ideas, and test solutions in a condensed timeframe, using the Google Venture Design Sprint Methodology. These sprints enabled teams to move quickly from ideation to tangible prototypes that were tested with real users, reducing the risk and cost of lengthy development cycles.

By focusing on a clear process—understanding the problem, sketching solutions, deciding on the best approach, prototyping, and gathering feedback—design sprints fostered collaboration, creativity, and user-centered design, helping teams validate concepts before committing to full-scale production. This approach allowed the organization to innovate quickly and efficiently while minimizing uncertainty, which was previously identified as a pain point amongst product teams.

Title: Financial Advisor Workstation Experience
Purpose: To create a more meaningful and productive digital experience for financial professionals.

Project Goals

💡 Optimize Independence

Keep Cambridge’s core value of independence at the forefront by offering advisors a flexible, integrated workstation. A unified experience seamlessly connects their chosen tools, streamlining workflows and providing a clear, consolidated view of client data.

🔧 Flexibility

Build experiences that adapt to individual advisor needs. Custom dashboards, workflows, and reports ensure teams have the right insights and tools at their fingertips. Features like task management, system alerts, and in-app team management make work smoother and more efficient.

🚀 Intuitive Workflows

Reduce friction and cognitive load by surfacing relevant details and automation at the right moment. Smarter workflows boost productivity, minimize errors, and help advisors focus on what matters most—serving their clients.

Design Iterations

Bringing the financial advisor workstation to life was a hands-on, collaborative process. We kicked things off with sketches, design sprints, and real-time feedback from advisors, making sure every layout and workflow felt intuitive. Rapid prototyping let us test ideas quickly—advisors and admins weighed in on usability, navigation, and task flows. With each round of feedback, we refined and improved, ensuring the final design wasn’t just functional but actually made their daily work smoother and more efficient.

Wireframed Concepts

Prototypes

Building a Design System: The Blueprint for a Seamless Advisor Experience

The Cambridge design system keeps everything seamless and structured, offering a collection of reusable components and patterns that streamline design and development. With tools like Figma and Storybook, designers and developers stay aligned, ensuring smooth handoffs and WCAG-compliant accessibility. By standardizing elements, we speed up workflows, reduce errors, and enhance the experience for financial professionals and their clients.

To build a strong foundation, I used my Building Design Systems Workbook, which provided a structured framework covering style guides, component libraries, usage guidelines, and backend integration. This ensured the system was not just visually cohesive but also engineered for smooth implementation. Through continuous testing and iteration, we continue to refine and optimize the system.