Before the pandemic, Walmart Home Office associates received technical support in person. The shift to remote work forced associates, many who were non–tech-savvy, to rely on fragmented resources and limited expertise to troubleshoot device issues on their own.
As remote work became the norm, the Associate Digital Experience (ADE) organization identified an opportunity to decommission legacy tools, avoid rising support ticket costs, and improve associate satisfaction through a centralized solution, MyTech.
37%
INDUSTRY
Enterprise Software, Associate Experiences
Business Objective
Cost Avoidance
MY ROLE
As the UX Lead, I contributed hands-on design, while facilitating cross-functional communication and overseeing the scope of work.
TIMEFRAME
14 weeks
TEAM
UX Research Team
2 UX/UI Designers
Cross-functional partners in Product, Business, and Engineering
For Walmart Home Office associates, support resources existed, but were fragmented, difficult to discover, and inconsistently structured.
As a result, associates defaulted to opening support tickets for routine issues—driving unnecessary volume and cost for problems that could have been resolved through self-service.
An enterprise self-service platform for global Walmart Home Office associates to monitor hardware and software, manage security, and resolve technical issues in one central place.
Our business partners established the business goals, while associates voiced their pain points, needs, and goals through surveys and interviews with UX research.
Business Goals
Best Outcomes at Lowest Cost
Recommend solutions that fit associates' needs at the best value possible.
Maintain Productivity
Save time and money by providing associates with self-supporting solutions.
Mitigate Security Risks
Ensure associates are safe from data leaks and exposure of personal information.
Increase User Satisfaction
Boost associate confidence that the business will provide support quickly and efficiently.
User Goals
Technical Empowerment
Trust that technology will work as expected when it's needed to.
Fast Problem Solving
Quick and easy access to solutions without having to be an IT expert.
Proactive Support
Timely awareness of technical issues and how to take appropriate action.
While the "Tech Bar" website aimed to support associates through FAQs, videos, and additional resources, the page was difficult to navigate and contained many redirects.
The plan was to replace "Tech Bar" by integrating tech support into MyTech.
I conducted an audit and shared notes on Tech Bar's content and functionality.
EARLY INSIGHTS
Associates Expect a Single Place to Access Tech Support
The UX research team conducted an exploratory survey, which gave us a baseline understanding of associate experiences and expectations for a tech support platform.
Key Capabilities
Access to a "Help Center"
Find resources
Talk to an expert (in-person or virtually)
Submit a ticket / Track open tickets
Call by phone
The design was grounded in four (4) sequential levels of help, prioritizing in-context guidance and error prevention.
By surfacing the right information at the right time and enabling self-service, users only escalated to expert help when necessary.
The pathway from problem to solution levels up from automated, to discoverable, to reachable.
Looking at Help and Resource Centers, I documented how other products enable self-help for users in similar contexts.
USER FLOWS
Mapping the
Tech Support Funnel
After establishing design principles and UI patterns, we mapped the high-level journey. This helped us visualize how users might flow through the Help Center experience.
The existence of a Design System allowed us to move quickly from user flows to high-fidelity designs. I worked closely with another designer to mock up concepts, ensuring that we satisfied the use cases, upheld design system compliance, and implemented UX best practices.
In our weekly design reviews, we walked through the flows, aligning with Product and Business on internal workflows, while checking with Engineering on technical feasibility.
VALIDATION & OPPORTUNITIES
Feedback from
Concept Testing
The UX research team conducted concept testing to validate early design assumptions, understand user expectations, and identify potential areas of confusion.
The help panel function conflicted with established UI conventions and seemed unfamiliar. Users assumed links would disrupt their current task, reducing engagement with the panel.
Additionally, users did not consistently recognize "Ask Sam" as a chatbot.
After finalizing the designs, I worked closely with another designer to prepare a detailed handoff for engineering. The handoff documented key user flows, design decisions, design-system components, and micro-interactions to support accurate implementation.
ENTERPRISE METRICS
Driving Impact and Results
The "Help Center" in MyTech delivered measurable impact across cost savings, support ticket avoidance, and employee adoption. By centralizing and streamlining access to technical support, MyTech's "Help Center" quickly became the #1 self-service feature of the platform.
Cost Savings
Adoption
BEHIND THE SCENES
UX Lead Toolkit
Getting organized, I created materials to get designers and cross-functional partners on the "same page." By centralizing critical information and establishing communication cadences, team members spent less time looking for answers and more time focusing on research, design, and alignment.
UX Project Management Template
