Insurance / Design Ops / Ecosystem

Operational redesign for a fragmented digital ecosystem

UX Design Lab helped a major insurance organization replace fragmented delivery, duplicated work, and team burnout with a shared system of templates, governance, and collaboration — cutting departmental costs by 20% and reducing developer dependency by 60%.

70+

Properties unified

20%

Departmental costs reduced

60%

Developer dependency reduced

1 unified system

Ecosystem

Design OpsDesign SystemsResearchLeadershipGovernance

Introduction

The Problem

The organization initially framed the work as a technical migration, but the underlying issue was operational: fragmented teams, duplicated work, constant firefighting, and burnout.

The Response

Reframed the work around the employee experience before the customer experience.

Industry

Insurance / Enterprise

Services

Design Ops, Design Systems, Research, Leadership, Governance

Problem frame

team burnout, fragmented ecosystem, duplicated effort

Outcome focus

cost reduction, self-service, team alignment

Unified digital ecosystem overview across multiple properties
Recovered overview image from the live digital ecosystem case study.

Why the migration plan was wrong

The organization initially framed the work as a technical migration, but the underlying issue was operational: fragmented teams, duplicated work, constant firefighting, and burnout.

What UX Design Lab changed first

  1. Reframed the work around the employee experience before the customer experience.
  2. Introduced co-creative workflows and modern design tools.
  3. Built a single shared design system and source of truth.
  4. Used grassroots stakeholder coalition building to secure buy-in across business units.
Workshop image showing teams aligning on the ecosystem roadmap
Teams aligning the unified ecosystem roadmap

What the unified ecosystem included

A governed system of templates, information architecture, contribution rules, and collaboration rituals that enabled self-service delivery without losing consistency.

Service blueprint and dependency map for policy lifecycle and rework analysis
Service blueprint and dependency map—surfacing bottlenecks that fueled rework across 70+ properties

The Outcome

The most durable result was not just a unified ecosystem. It was a saner, more collaborative way of working.

-20%

Departmental costs

-60%

Developer dependency

70+ unified

Properties

Revitalized

Operating model

More Work

View all work
Enterprise design system overview spanning multiple branded experiences

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Accessibility governance overview from the live case study

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