Episode 51 | August 02, 2022
Why design platforming is the secret to scaling UX at enterprise level
Learn how Allstate’s Beverly May scales UX with design platforming, streamlines CX, and drives business impact through user insights and research.
Why design platforming is the secret to scaling UX at enterprise level
When your design team spans dozens—or even hundreds—of people, consistency doesn’t just happen. It has to be built. That’s where design platforming comes in, and according to Beverly May, VP of Research and Design at Allstate, it’s the key to scaling UX across a complex organization.
In a recent episode of Insights Unlocked, Beverly shared how she’s guiding Allstate’s massive digital transformation through a UX lens, creating infrastructure that supports consistency, efficiency, and—most importantly—a better customer experience (CX).
Building a scalable UX strategy
Design platforming, as Beverly defines it, is all about enabling repeatable, scalable processes that unify design efforts across products and teams. “You need repeatable standards, guidelines, and templates that any designer, researcher, or content person can use to hit the ground running,” she explains.
This includes everything from a common design system and shared research repositories to design ops practices and an eight-step UX process that incorporates both qualitative and quantitative research.
Think of it as the operating system for design: invisible to the end user, but absolutely essential for everything to function smoothly.
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UX and CX: a symbiotic relationship
One of the most valuable insights Beverly shared was her take on the relationship between UX and CX. Too often, these terms are treated interchangeably—but they’re not the same.
“To me, CX and UX are symbiotic,” she says. “UX is about the experience of the user—usually in terms of digital product design—while CX is about the delivery and maintenance of that experience across all touchpoints.”
That includes call centers, chatbots, in-store experiences, and even CRM communications. UX creates the blueprint; CX brings it to life and keeps it running.
Driving impact through insight
For Beverly, user insights—especially those hidden in unexpected places—are the bridge between design and business strategy. “Call center data has got to be number one out there,” she notes. “It’s a goldmine of customer insights aggregated at scale.”
By surfacing recurring pain points from call logs, Beverly’s team is able to prioritize high-impact fixes. For instance, after launching a new platform, they learned that customers were frustrated by not being able to self-serve certain policy changes online—a finding that directly shaped the product roadmap.
This isn’t just about improving usability; it’s about reducing operational costs and delivering measurable business value.
Balancing innovation with legacy needs
Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum—especially at companies like Allstate, where legacy systems and long-time customers still shape much of the experience. Beverly approaches this with what she calls a “fast lane, slow lane” mindset.
“You have to keep the lights on for your current users while designing for the future,” she says. That means supporting digital-first customers without alienating those who expect more traditional channels.
The result? A smarter, more inclusive approach to enterprise UX that’s both visionary and grounded.
Final thoughts from Beverly
“Ultimately, we want our users to have consistent, usable, intuitive, great experiences,” Beverly says. “That’s the foundation of what we do.”
Episode links:
- UX meets engineering: Increasing design efficiency at scale: This webinar explores how Universal Robots scaled UX to support over 350 engineers by implementing a scalable design system and integrating UX early in the development process to reduce friction and optimize customer-centric innovation
- A primer to design systems: Making yours in 5 steps: This guide provides a step-by-step approach to creating effective design systems, emphasizing the importance of consistency and collaboration across teams to enhance user experience.
- Building and scaling UX teams for better customer experience: This episode discusses strategies for effectively growing UX teams, balancing skill sets, and fostering collaboration to drive meaningful customer impact.
- How design teams leverage user feedback to transform products: This blog post highlights how successful design teams incorporate user feedback into the design process to create user-centric products that drive loyalty and boost ROI.
