AXIS ORBIT
Beyond Banking Services for Small & Medium Businesses
UI/UX
RESEARCH
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
ROLE
Product Designer
TEAM
2 PMs, 2 Designers, 8 Engineers
DURATION
2023 - 2025
OVERVIEW
What is Axis Orbit?
Axis Bank is India’s third-largest private sector bank, offering a full spectrum of financial services across retail, SME, and corporate banking. Neo for Corporates is Axis Bank’s unified digital banking platform - empowering it's current account holders to manage their financial operations efficiently and seamlessly from a single platform.
Built as a part of Neo for Corporates, Axis Orbit is a beyond-banking platform made for small and medium-sized enterprises to streamline and efficiently manage their financial operations.
THE CHALLENGE
An in-house alternative
With the initial onboarding of catering businesses through an external vendor, it presented a problem packed with cross-product integration and timely updates. With the aim to build an in-house alternative, arose the question: How might we help small and medium-sized businesses keep their operations running smoothly while staying in sync with their financial activities?
DESK RESEARCH
Competitor Study
To establish a value proposition through market research, I identified the key players and their business management offerings.
STRENGTHS
Extensive and customizable tools and functionalities
Task automation
Useful analytics aiding revenue generation
Responsive design - optimized for all viewing platforms
Third-party integrations
WEAKNESSES
Steep learning curve for new users
Limited payment and banking service offerings
Poor/non-existent customer support
PRIMARY RESEARCH
User Goals and Pain Points
To understand how we could best tackle and bridge gaps in the existing market, I conducted interviews and collected insights from various small businesses in my locality and within my circle of friends. Within this user group, I identified and synthesised the following insights:
Lack of Centralization
Users feel it to be frustrating to have to go to multiple platforms to manage and keep track of their businesses.
Too Much Information
The vast number of metrics and options shown to the user often confuses them in deciding what to prioritize in order to take decisions.
Missing Out on Important Tasks
Users often miss out on important tasks such as restocks or payment due dates.
Time Taking Tasks
Users find it time-consuming and exhausting to input data and sync real-time values with the business management products.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Business Objectives
While considering user goals and pain points, we also needed to understand and align with the business goals and expectations to design a well-rounded product.
Less Time, More Productivity
Users should be able to complete their tasks and manage their business with minimal time and effort.
Intuitive UI
Users should enjoy using the product, because of its clean, intuitive, and interactive UI.
Smooth Transition and Onboarding
Users should be able to transition to the product seamlessly from other platforms, with minimal friction or learning curve.
ANALYSIS
Relevant Intervention Areas
Guided by UX research and understanding business goals, we turned the found insights to actionable opportunity areas for our designs.
Only that's Necessary
Identify and implement only the mostly used, beneficial and useful features and metrics as an MVP.
Recognizable
Keep the journeys recognizable and similar to existing major business management platforms to reduce learning curve.
Clean and Clear Interface
Keep the journeys simple and clear with easy to follow cues and clean UI.
Reminders and Notifications
Incorporate reminders and notifications for important tasks that need attention.
Least Task Completion Time
Keep every journey simple and concise, with minimum time taken to complete any task.
Maximum Automation
Facilitate maximum automation to keep records on track without much manual effort by the user.
REFINED PROBLEM STATEMENT
How might we onboard and retain SMEs to confidently manage their business and drive financial growth through Axis Orbit?
APPROACH
The development process of Axis Orbit was divided into module-wise two-week sprints. With the actionable insights and opportunities in hand, we devised a few touch points to be followed along with the provided requirements, while designing.
1
Keep it simple and relatable to evoke confidence
2
Simplify journeys for the least task completion time
3
Make it equally compelling for both new and existing users
THE SOLUTION
A highly tailored business management platform that enables SME owners to take informed decisions and actions towards their goals while staying connected to banking services.
ONBOARDING
Quick and Easy Set-up
Axis Orbit onboards users through Neo for Corporates, the banking service provider. For first-time users, the platform begins with a feature overview and a consent approval step to initiate their journey. As part of the MVP, this onboarding flow is designed to briefly introduce the available features while simultaneously handling consent approval - keeping the experience both informative and engaging.
DASHBOARD
Clarity, Control and Action
The dashboard provides a clear overview of key business activities, including account balance, quick actions (like creating invoices or contacts), task management, accounts receivables, top selling items and top paying customers. The layout ensures efficient navigation, prioritized tasks, and real-time insights, all optimized for both desktop and mobile.
CONTACTS
Extensive Business Directory
Contacts module allows users to efficiently manage both customers and vendors in one place. Users can view, add, and edit contact details such as phone numbers, email and bank associations. We have added an easy access to add the contact number as it decides the status of the contact, which is also explicitly informed upfront.
INVENTORY
Easy Stock Management
Inventory module provides a structured overview of all products and services offered. It supports categorization by item type, stock levels, and pricing. Users can quickly search, filter, and manage their inventory, track low-stock items, and generate reports.
SALES ORDER
Quick Sales
With contacts and inventory in place, users can now create sales order with contacts with the stocked items. Within sales order module, users can create, manage and modify sales orders with respect to their details and status.
INVOICE
Faster Payments
The Invoice module enables users to effortlessly create, manage, and track invoices for their business transactions. With a guided form, users can select customers, set due dates, and configure auto-reminders for timely payments.
The module also provides a comprehensive dashboard with key invoice metrics that helps the user to take informed business decisions. Users can also filter the invoice list with respect to the invoice metrics.
A split view design when viewing invoice details makes juggling between invoices faster and effortless. All the necessary information like dates, due date, reminders, amount due and invoice activity are displayed side-by to the invoice listing.
RECONCILIATION
Precise Payments Matching
The Reconciliation module helps users match payments with their corresponding invoices or vice versa, ensuring accurate financial records. It simplifies the process of tracking received amounts, resolving discrepancies, and maintaining up-to-date account statements.
NEXT STEPS
Usability Testing and Payments Integration
Many of the decisions made for this platform have been based on the insights we gathered through our user interviews in the research stage of this project. However, an appropriate next step would be to test our assumptions and validate the user experience choices that we have made. After that, the next major milestone will be the integration of payments within Axis Orbit, which would make business management even smoother.
TAKEAWAYS
I'm grateful to have been part of this project from start to its Phase 1 rollout. As my first professional project, it was an incredible learning experience - getting to contribute meaningfully and make decisions for a large-scale product. I learned how to collaborate effectively with fellow designers, navigate through design ideas, and adapt to evolving directions. Working closely with developers and product managers also gave me hands-on experience with real-world technical constraints, and taught me how to create clear design documentation and presentations that support smooth handoffs.
