How I led the design strategy that transformed enterprise procurement

 

Driving $20M revenue through strategic UX leadership at a Fortune 500-backed B2B platform

 

Executive Summary

As Lead UX Designer at Varis (Office Depot's SaaS division), I established and executed the design strategy that transformed a failing B2B platform into a $20M revenue driver. Leading design coordination across 7+ feature teams, I redesigned the enterprise procurement experience for Fortune 500 clients including Lowe's, Domino's, and Ulta Beauty—saving users 30+ minutes per purchase while reducing platform bounce rates from 30% to 15%.

🎯 Key Leadership Achievements:

  • Strategic Impact: Designed platform strategy that captured $20M in new revenue within 12 months

  • Team Leadership: Managed design operations across 7+ feature teams

  • Organizational Change: Created design-led culture, elevating UX from afterthought to business driver

 
 
 
 
 

The Business Challenge

The Context:

B2B procurement involves sourcing items, negotiating agreed-on prices and contracts, and managing supplier relationships. Varis, an Office Depot subsidiary, built a one-stop shopping platform for large companies (1000+ employees) including Lowe's, Advance Auto Parts, Ulta Beauty, Domino's, and trade organizations like manufacturers and teachers.

The Problem:

When I joined, the platform had critical UX failures that were driving "rogue spending" (employees bypassing approved contracts to shop on Amazon instead):

  • Outdated Technology: An airplane technician spent 30+ minutes just to order essential machine parts

  • No Personalization: Retail store managers resorted to handwritten shopping lists

  • Broken Search: Only 4 filters available; searching "laptop" returned laptop cases and keyboards because the term appeared in product descriptions

The Stakes:

With millions in daily transactions across the platform, these UX failures were costing Fortune 500 clients significant money in compliance violations and missed contract savings.

My Strategic Opportunity:

Transform procurement from a necessary evil into a competitive advantage by applying consumer-grade UX patterns (Amazon, Walmart, Target) to enterprise workflows.

 

I led comprehensive discovery to understand the gap between enterprise user needs and consumer-grade expectations:

Key Research Insights:

  1. Time-Critical Workflows: Most employees reorder the same items repeatedly but had no efficient way to do so

  2. Consumer Expectations vs. Enterprise Reality: Users expected Amazon-like personalization but enterprise platforms lacked the data infrastructure

  3. Mobile-First Reality: Employees initiated orders during work hours on mobile devices but platform wasn't optimized

Research-Driven Strategy Development

 
 
“I literally keep a notebook of part numbers because your search doesn’t work. If I can’t find what I need in 5 minutes, I just call our old supplier.”
— Procurement Manager, Manufacturing Client
 
 

Research Leadership:

  • Conducted 20+ user research initiatives across client organizations

  • Led quarterly "Walk-the-Experience" sessions with end-users and cross-functional observers

  • Facilitated alignment workshops including Job Definition workshops and Design Studio sessions

Strategic Design Decision:

Prioritize speed and personalization using purchasing behavior data, applying consumer patterns while maintaining enterprise-grade compliance and security.

 

Product Design Innovation

Strategic Approach: Applied consumer-grade UX patterns to enterprise workflows while maintaining compliance and security standards.

Core Design Solutions:

  1. Homepage Optimization - Eliminated clutter, surfaced quick-reorder options → addressed primary user behavior

  2. Search Intelligence - Grew from 4 basic filters to comprehensive filtering system, prioritized product names in search results → improved discovery efficiency

  3. Visual Product Confirmation - Large hero images, related products → enabled confident purchasing decisions

  4. Personalization at Scale - Shopping lists, reorder alerts → saved 30+ minutes per purchase

  5. Enterprise Accessibility - WCAG compliance across platform → expanded market reach and usability

 

Measured Impact & Business Outcomes

Revenue & Growth Metrics

  • 💰 $20M Platform Revenue: Generated within first year after Q4 2022 launch

  • ⚡ 67% Faster Conversion: Dramatic reduction in search-to-checkout time

  • 🎯 Reduced Rogue Spending: Decreased unauthorized purchasing through improved user experience

Operational & Design Excellence

  • Feature Velocity: Delivered 75+ feature improvements prioritized by scope, feasibility, and customer value

  • Design Leadership: Mentored 5+ junior designers and developers while coordinating 7+ product teams

  • Research Impact: 20+ user research initiatives directly informed product strategy

User Experience Transformation

  • Time Savings: Streamlined workflows saved employees 30+ minutes per purchase

  • Personalization Success: Shopping lists and reorder features eliminated manual tracking

  • Accessibility Achievement: Remediated 15+ homepage accessibility issues, achieving WCAG compliance

 

Strategic Leadership Under Pressure

Navigating Organizational Pivots
Working at a 200-person startup meant quarterly shifts in company priorities (customer acquisition → retention → platform optimization). My approach:

  • Business Context Mastery: Invested time understanding the strategic rationale behind each pivot

  • User Advocacy Consistency: Maintained user-centered design principles despite changing business priorities

  • Adaptive Execution: Translated new business goals into design strategy without losing momentum on core UX improvements

Research & Workshop Facilitation Leadership

  • Planned and conducted 20+ user research initiatives

  • Led quarterly "Walk-the-Experience" sessions with end-users and cross-functional observers

  • Facilitated alignment workshops (Job Definition workshops, Design Studio sessions)

  • Mentored 5+ junior designers and developers

Enterprise UX Innovation Challenge
Unlike consumer platforms with billions of data points, enterprise B2B required creative approaches to personalization:

  • Data Constraints: Limited user behavior data compared to Amazon/Target

  • Solution: Leveraged internal subject matter experts and targeted UX research to inform design decisions

  • Validation Strategy: Close collaboration with client organizations to test assumptions

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