Portal Evolution
Gamma is a leading provider of unified communications services in the UK. As the UK’s #1 SIP Trunks provider, their Portal was the central hub through which channel partners and businesses managed their products, services and orders – but it had grown into something unwieldy. 147 navigation links.
Order journeys requiring up to 88 clicks. No price transparency. No self-service. Users calling support to make even the smallest account changes.
I was brought in to redesign the Portal from the ground up – simplifying navigation, streamlining order journeys and giving users the tools to manage their own accounts without picking up the phone.
My role
I led the UX/UI design on Portal Evolution for the duration of my time at Gamma. I conducted user research, ran interviews, mapped journeys, built wireframes and prototypes and worked closely with product and engineering teams throughout.
The work covered navigation redesign, a new landing page, a self-serve My Products area, a full profile and account area, order journey redesign across all product types and content and terminology improvements across the entire platform.
The UX patterns I defined for the SIP Trunk order journey (the largest and most complex) were refined and rolled out across all order types on the platform.
Research:
Site mapping
The first thing I did was build a full site map of the Portal – going through every single navigation link and making notes on what each page required the user to do. All 147 of them.
The exercise surfaced some immediate and recurring issues
Beyond the sheer volume, the platform had significant inconsistency problems – buttons labelled as Continue, Next and Proceed across different pages; spelling and grammar errors throughout; Download buttons appearing before a search had been performed; and unusual, inconsistent UX behaviour across the board.
It was clear that rather than having a dedicated page for every individual action, the priority was to consolidate – removing duplicates, merging where possible and replacing scattered functionality with global features.
Research:
User interviews: Creating a new order
To understand the ordering experience firsthand I interviewed users as they created new orders on the platform, observing their behaviour and gathering feedback at each step.
The SIP Trunk order journey was the focus – one of the most common and most complex flows on the platform.
Step 1:
Contact details
Every order started by requiring users to enter their full contact details from scratch – account selection, email, name, company name, phone and mobile numbers and business type. Every single time.
Step 2:
Product details
Users had to select a security level for their product from options that were heavily jargon-laden with no clear explanation of what each option included or what the cost difference was.
A mandatory confirmation checkbox was regularly missed because it had been pushed down the page as more content was added over time.
Step 3:
Build details
A warning message at the top of the page stated “It is vital that CPE information is correct” – but most users didn’t know what a SBC or IP-PBX was.
Step 4:
Service configuration
Users set up fraud limits and call blocking preferences. Default fraud limits were considered too high by several users, and the format for entering multiple email addresses was unclear despite the field label referencing it.
Step 5:
Call manager configuration
An optional upgrade step – but with no indication of what the upgrade would cost.
Step 6:
Number selection
Users selected area codes and quantities for phone numbers, with options for consecutive or random ordering.
Step 7:
Order complete
After completing all steps, the user accepted terms and conditions and submitted the order – which was then emailed to the accounts team to calculate costs and send an invoice back. Days later.
Research:
Journey mapping
After completing the user interviews I mapped the full current SIP Trunk order journey in detail – every click, every interaction, every optional step – and compared it against a proposed redesigned flow.
Current flow
Click count:
Between 52-88 clicks
In its simplest form the current journey required 52 clicks. With optional interactions it could reach 88.
Users entered the same information repeatedly, navigated blind through a folder structure with no price visibility and submitted orders that disappeared into an email queue for days.
Proposed flow
Click count:
Between 15-30 clicks
The redesigned flow brought the minimum down to 15 clicks.
Pre-populated profile data removed the need to re-enter contact details. Price transparency was built into the flow. Orders were processed in real time rather than sent to accounts.
The same refined UX patterns were identified, documented and rolled out across all order types on the platform.
Key challenges:
147 navigation links with no clear structure
Challenge
Users couldn’t find what they needed.
The navigation had grown organically over time into an unmanageable list of links with no logical grouping.
Solution
I restructured the entire navigation into two clear sections: My Products – where users could view, manage and self-serve their active products and services – and Create New – where users could place new orders.
147 links, two sections. Everything had a home.
Key challenges:
Fragmented, repetitive order journeys
Challenge
Users entered the same information from scratch every time they placed an order.
Journeys were long, jargon-heavy and offered no price transparency until days after submission.
Solution
I designed a profile area where users could pre-populate their details once, ready to be pulled into any order journey automatically.
I reduced and simplified the mandatory fields, removed jargon throughout the platform, introduced real-time price transparency via a receipt-style panel and eliminated the accounts email queue by processing orders directly.
Click count for the SIP Trunk journey dropped from 52-88 down to 15-30.
Key challenges:
No self-service capability
Challenge
Any change to a product, service or account – however small – required users to call or email support.
There was no way to manage anything independently.
Solution
I designed a My Products area giving users full visibility and control over their active services.
Users could upgrade, downgrade, toggle bolt-ons on and off, edit site details and manage equipment – all without contacting support.
Pricing was shown in real time for every change.
Ideation:
Landing page
The vision for the new Portal started with a landing page that gave users an immediate overview of their products, services, sites and locations on login.
The navigation was stripped back to just two areas – My Products and Create New – replacing the sprawling 147-link menu with something users could actually orientate themselves within.
Wireframes and final designs:
My products
My products page
The screen was split into two panels – active services and sites on the left, with the right panel dynamically updating to show relevant details based on what was selected.
If nothing was selected, the right panel provided guidance prompting users to interact with the left.
Edit an active service
Selecting a specific service revealed its current level, location and any available upgrades or bolt-ons – all with pricing shown clearly.
Users could upgrade, downgrade or toggle bolt-ons on and off themselves, with the cost difference visible at a glance. No more waiting days for accounts to recalculate and respond.
Edit a site
Selecting a site allowed users to edit the address and contact numbers, view all active services at that location and toggle services on or off as needed.
Each site’s equipment was also manageable from the same screen.
Final designs:
Profile area
One of the most impactful changes to the order journey was the introduction of a dedicated profile area – a place for users to store their details once, so the platform could pre-populate them automatically whenever a new order was created.
Account overview
A centralised dashboard giving users a summary of their account – active products, recent orders and key account details at a glance.
Personal information
Users could store their name, email, phone and mobile numbers and company details here – the same information previously required from scratch at the start of every order journey.
Payment methods
Users could save and manage their preferred payment methods, removing the need to re-enter card or billing details with each transaction.
Orders overview
A full history of past and in-progress orders, giving users visibility of where each order was in the process without needing to contact support.
Notification settings
Users could control which communications they received and how – managing email and platform notifications based on their preferences.
Login and security
Password management, two-factor authentication settings and account security controls – all manageable without contacting support.
Final designs:
Create your order
Price transparency
One of the most consistent pieces of feedback across user interviews was the complete lack of pricing visibility during the ordering process. Users submitted orders without knowing what they’d cost – then waited days for accounts to come back with a figure.
I introduced a receipt-style panel that appeared as users built their order, showing the running cost in real time. Upsell and add-on opportunities were surfaced within the same panel, with savings shown clearly when users added complementary products.
Reduced jargon
The Portal was full of technical acronyms, inconsistent terminology and confusing labels that users – even experienced ones – struggled with.
I reviewed and rewrote the content across the entire platform getting policy sign-off, replacing jargon with plain language, standardising button labels, clarifying field descriptions and removing ambiguity throughout.
The goal was simple: if a user doesn’t know what something means, they can’t make a good decision.
Simplified order journeys
The profile area fed directly into the order flows – with details pre-populated from the user’s saved profile, the need to re-enter information on every order was eliminated.
Users who hadn’t yet set up a profile were given the option at the end of a form to save their entered details to their profile for next time.
For channel partners managing multiple customers, the same approach scaled naturally – users could simply select the relevant customer account and their details would populate accordingly.
The results
Portal Evolution
Gamma is a leading provider of unified communications services in the UK. As the UK’s #1 SIP Trunks provider, their Portal was the central hub through which channel partners and businesses managed their products, services and orders – but it had grown into something unwieldy. 147 navigation links.
Order journeys requiring up to 88 clicks. No price transparency. No self-service. Users calling support to make even the smallest account changes.
I was brought in to redesign the Portal from the ground up – simplifying navigation, streamlining order journeys and giving users the tools to manage their own accounts without picking up the phone.
My role
I led the UX/UI design on Portal Evolution for the duration of my time at Gamma. I conducted user research, ran interviews, mapped journeys, built wireframes and prototypes and worked closely with product and engineering teams throughout.
The work covered navigation redesign, a new landing page, a self-serve My Products area, a full profile and account area, order journey redesign across all product types and content and terminology improvements across the entire platform.
The UX patterns I defined for the SIP Trunk order journey (the largest and most complex) were refined and rolled out across all order types on the platform.
Research:
Site mapping
The first thing I did was build a full site map of the Portal – going through every single navigation link and making notes on what each page required the user to do. All 147 of them.
The exercise surfaced some immediate and recurring issues:
Beyond the sheer volume, the platform had significant inconsistency problems – buttons labelled as Continue, Next and Proceed across different pages; spelling and grammar errors throughout; Download buttons appearing before a search had been performed; and unusual, inconsistent UX behaviour across the board.
It was clear that rather than having a dedicated page for every individual action, the priority was to consolidate – removing duplicates, merging where possible and replacing scattered functionality with global features.
Research:
User interviews: Creating a new order
To understand the ordering experience firsthand I interviewed users as they created new orders on the platform, observing their behaviour and gathering feedback at each step.
The SIP Trunk order journey was the focus – one of the most common and most complex flows on the platform.
Step 1:
Contact details
Every order started by requiring users to enter their full contact details from scratch – account selection, email, name, company name, phone and mobile numbers and business type. Every single time.
Step 2:
Product details
Users had to select a security level for their product from options that were heavily jargon-laden with no clear explanation of what each option included or what the cost difference was.
A mandatory confirmation checkbox was regularly missed because it had been pushed down the page as more content was added over time.
Step 3:
Build details
A warning message at the top of the page stated “It is vital that CPE information is correct” – but most users didn’t know what a SBC or IP-PBX was.
Step 4:
Service configuration
Users set up fraud limits and call blocking preferences. Default fraud limits were considered too high by several users, and the format for entering multiple email addresses was unclear despite the field label referencing it.
Step 5:
Call manager configuration
An optional upgrade step – but with no indication of what the upgrade would cost.
Step 6:
Number selection
Users selected area codes and quantities for phone numbers, with options for consecutive or random ordering.
Step 7:
Order complete
After completing all steps, the user accepted terms and conditions and submitted the order – which was then emailed to the accounts team to calculate costs and send an invoice back. Days later.
Research:
Journey mapping
After completing the user interviews I mapped the full current SIP Trunk order journey in detail – every click, every interaction, every optional step – and compared it against a proposed redesigned flow.
Current flow
Click count: Between 52-88
In its simplest form the current journey required 52 clicks. With optional interactions it could reach 88.
Users entered the same information repeatedly, navigated blind through a folder structure with no price visibility and submitted orders that disappeared into an email queue for days.
Proposed flow
Click count: Between 15-30
The redesigned flow brought the minimum down to 15 clicks.
Pre-populated profile data removed the need to re-enter contact details. Price transparency was built into the flow. Orders were processed in real time rather than sent to accounts.
The same refined UX patterns were identified, documented and rolled out across all order types on the platform.
Key challenges:
147 navigation links with no clear structure
Challenge
Users couldn’t find what they needed.
The navigation had grown organically over time into an unmanageable list of links with no logical grouping.
Solution
I restructured the entire navigation into two clear sections: My Products – where users could view, manage and self-serve their active products and services – and Create New – where users could place new orders.
147 links, two sections. Everything had a home.
Key challenges:
Fragmented, repetitive order journeys
Challenge
Users entered the same information from scratch every time they placed an order.
Journeys were long, jargon-heavy and offered no price transparency until days after submission.
Solution
I designed a profile area where users could pre-populate their details once, ready to be pulled into any order journey automatically.
I reduced and simplified the mandatory fields, removed jargon throughout the platform, introduced real-time price transparency via a receipt-style panel and eliminated the accounts email queue by processing orders directly.
Click count for the SIP Trunk journey dropped from 52-88 down to 15-30.
Key challenges:
No self-service capability
Challenge
Any change to a product, service or account – however small – required users to call or email support.
There was no way to manage anything independently.
Solution
I designed a My Products area giving users full visibility and control over their active services.
Users could upgrade, downgrade, toggle bolt-ons on and off, edit site details and manage equipment – all without contacting support.
Pricing was shown in real time for every change.
Ideation:
Landing page
The vision for the new Portal started with a landing page that gave users an immediate overview of their products, services, sites and locations on login.
The navigation was stripped back to just two areas – My Products and Create New – replacing the sprawling 147-link menu with something users could actually orientate themselves within.
Wireframes and final designs:
My products
The screen was split into two panels – active services and sites on the left, with the right panel dynamically updating to show relevant details based on what was selected.
If nothing was selected, the right panel provided guidance prompting users to interact with the left.
Edit an active service
Selecting a specific service revealed its current level, location and any available upgrades or bolt-ons – all with pricing shown clearly.
Users could upgrade, downgrade or toggle bolt-ons on and off themselves, with the cost difference visible at a glance. No more waiting days for accounts to recalculate and respond.
Edit a site
Selecting a site allowed users to edit the address and contact numbers, view all active services at that location and toggle services on or off as needed.
Each site’s equipment was also manageable from the same screen.
Final designs:
Profile area
One of the most impactful changes to the order journey was the introduction of a dedicated profile area – a place for users to store their details once, so the platform could pre-populate them automatically whenever a new order was created.
Account overview
A centralised dashboard giving users a summary of their account – active products, recent orders and key account details at a glance.
Personal information
Users could store their name, email, phone and mobile numbers and company details here – the same information previously required from scratch at the start of every order journey.
Payment methods
Users could save and manage their preferred payment methods, removing the need to re-enter card or billing details with each transaction.
Orders overview
A full history of past and in-progress orders, giving users visibility of where each order was in the process without needing to contact support.
Notification settings
Users could control which communications they received and how – managing email and platform notifications based on their preferences.
Login and security
Password management, two-factor authentication settings and account security controls – all manageable without contacting support.
Final designs:
Create your order
Price transparency
One of the most consistent pieces of feedback across user interviews was the complete lack of pricing visibility during the ordering process. Users submitted orders without knowing what they’d cost – then waited days for accounts to come back with a figure.
I introduced a receipt-style panel that appeared as users built their order, showing the running cost in real time. Upsell and add-on opportunities were surfaced within the same panel, with savings shown clearly when users added complementary products.
Reduced jargon
The Portal was full of technical acronyms, inconsistent terminology and confusing labels that users – even experienced ones – struggled with.
I reviewed and rewrote the content across the entire platform getting policy sign-off, replacing jargon with plain language, standardising button labels, clarifying field descriptions and removing ambiguity throughout.
The goal was simple: if a user doesn’t know what something means, they can’t make a good decision.
Simplified order journeys
The profile area fed directly into the order flows – with details pre-populated from the user’s saved profile, the need to re-enter information on every order was eliminated.
Users who hadn’t yet set up a profile were given the option at the end of a form to save their entered details to their profile for next time.
For channel partners managing multiple customers, the same approach scaled naturally – users could simply select the relevant customer account and their details would populate accordingly.