Global UX Creative Direction, User Research, UXA/UXD, Agency Owner
AICPA (American Institute of Certified Professional Accountants) is the largest organization of CPAs in the country, and has deep ties with similar organizations around the world. Over 50 websites comprise the AICPA universe, including membership, ecommerce, training, editorial, software and content to support international audiences and laws.
For the first time in its history, AICPA needed all of their websites reviewed, rearchitected and redesigned into a new master architecture that would support enterprise member-based content management with personalization and regionalization.
AICPA needed a user experience leader and team to provide perspective and design a new system for a wide range of user archetypes, diverse stakeholder needs, multiple technology platforms, and all aligned with their corporate goals and user’s needs.
As creative director and agency owner, Ted Billups led a team of 8 UX researchers and designers to successfully create a master system that accommodated complex use cases, a new brand direction with sub-brands, a vast array of content types, ecommerce, new enterprise content management (Adobe Experience Manager) and integration with a multitude of technologies.
The project included user testing on the existing systems and iterative user testing on functional prototypes. Usability issues were classified by severity and resolved accordingly. The stakeholder team spanned multiple business units, tiers and locations.
The solution focused on the priorities as established by stakeholders, users needs and the topmost usability challenges. Membership and renewals increased, content engagement increased and a benchmark for success via User Centered Design was established in the organization.
The site was implemented using Adobe Experience Manager with personalized/regionalized content for language, location and business rules.
