Broker Platform

Overview

At Outfund, I worked on a broker platform built to replace a slow, high friction funding application process with a fast, self serve digital one. Before the platform existed, the broker journey ran on Excel spreadsheets, phone calls, emails and a lot of manual input from the commercial team. Brokers had to ring or email Outfund to create clients, submit business information, or check where an application was. That created delays, extra admin and very little visibility across the funding journey. Because a meaningful chunk of revenue was coming through broker referrals, I spoke with Outfund's account managers and interviewed brokers directly, then took ownership of the project and designed a dedicated broker portal where brokers could create clients, submit applications, upload data, invite CEOs to complete sensitive steps, and track progress on their own.

The problem

The existing broker process was slow, manual and difficult to scale. Broker information lived across Excel spreadsheets, and applications relied on the commercial team manually creating clients and entering details for brokers. Brokers had no clear way to see where their clients were in the application journey, so they were calling or emailing Outfund for updates. Applications could take hours, days or weeks to progress, account managers were buried in admin, client data was fragmented, and commission and bonus information wasn't visible in one place. All of that made it really hard to scale the broker channel across multiple countries.

My role

As UX Designer, I spotted the broker journey as a high impact opportunity and led the UX direction for the new platform, working closely with product managers, developers, account managers, commercial stakeholders and operations. My responsibilities included:

• Researching the existing broker process
• Interviewing brokers and internal account managers
• Mapping the current manual workflow
• Defining the end to end broker journey
• Designing the broker dashboard and application flow
• Designing client, business and document upload flows
• Designing the CEO invite flow for sensitive actions
• Designing application tracking and commission visibility
• Supporting implementation and iteration with developers

Research & discovery

To get under the skin of the problem, I started by speaking with Outfund's account managers to understand how broker relationships were managed, how applications got submitted, and where the internal team was losing the most time. I also interviewed brokers directly to hear it from their side: what information they needed, where they felt blocked, and what would make them feel more confident managing applications on their own. The key insights were pretty consistent. Brokers wanted more control and a clear view of the funding journey. They wanted to stop chasing account managers. Internal teams needed to take admin off their plate. Brokers needed a simple way to invite CEOs to complete sensitive steps. And clear visibility over commission would build trust and motivation.

Ideation & design process

The goal was a self serve broker platform covering the full funding journey end to end. Areas I owned included:

The work moved from mapping the existing manual workflow into low fidelity flows, then high fidelity Figma prototypes, then iterative refinement with developers and stakeholders. The main design challenge was simplifying a complex funding application without stripping out the information Outfund actually needed to assess a business. So the experience had to feel guided, transparent and easy to complete on your own.

Early sketches

From interviews to dashboard.

After interviewing brokers and the sales team, I sketched early dashboard concepts to shape an easy to use experience: three clear ways to start, a quick pipeline overview, and recent applications to keep brokers informed at a glance.

Solution

A self serve broker platform that gave brokers a clear overview of their clients, a guided application journey, and full visibility over progress and commission. It was built around three principles: make the journey self serve, reduce uncertainty, and protect sensitive steps using a CEO invite flow.

• Broker dashboard with client and application overview
• Create a client and business flow without commercial team involvement
• Step by step guided application journey
• Centralised business data and document upload
• CEO invite flow for sensitive actions like bank connection
• Real time application status tracking
• Clear commission and bonus visibility

Challenges & learnings

This project was a good reminder that UX can improve customer experience and business operations at the same time. By spotting a high impact problem, talking directly to account managers and brokers, and leading the design of a self serve solution, I helped turn a fragmented manual process into a scalable digital platform. It reinforced how much value there is in looking past the interface and understanding the wider service journey. The final platform gave brokers more control, took load off the internal team, and helped Outfund grow an important revenue channel across multiple markets.

Outcome

The broker platform turned a slow manual process into a fast, self serve digital one. Application time dropped to under 4 minutes. Brokers could create clients, submit applications, upload information, invite CEOs and track progress without leaning on the commercial team, and around 200 brokers were onboarded across the UK, Spain and Australia. Brokers told us the platform felt clear, easy to use and simple to navigate, and the visibility over status and commission really helped build trust in the process.