CRM Redesign

Modular Replacement: Modernized the product one module at a time, rather than through a single cutover. Each new module was designed to deliver a simpler, more capable experience than the legacy module it replaced.

For example, the new Tasks module replaced the legacy Hotlist.

Self-Paced Parallel Migration: Ran the legacy and modern experiences in parallel, allowing existing users to migrate when ready while directing new users to the modern experience.

For example, Tasks launched in late 2023. By late 2025, more than 90% of users had migrated, making the Hotlist ready for deprecation.

Cross-Product UX Updates: Updated UX patterns incrementally to create a consistent, unified experience across the product while the broader modernization was still underway.

For example, about 60% of the product UI was modernized from Aug to Dec 2024, with shared patterns for navigation, tables, forms and actions. The other 40% covers rarely used features and the advanced admin setup. Rebuilding the admin setup carried high back-end risk, so I replaced its old colorful PNG icons with Font Awesome SVG icons to bring it closer to the new UI.

Value-First Prioritization: Modernized the workflows where user and business value was highest, prioritizing high-frequency, high-friction, support-generating workflows.

For example, usage data showed which features few people used, so we merged or retired them. This cut clutter without disrupting active workflows.

The Constraint: Advisors are busy and hard to book, and their data is private. Session recording with outside users was not an option.

How I Learned Anyway:

• Short Guided Walkthroughs: remote sessions with advisors, about 5 users per round.
• Domain Experts: Retained experts in CRM, investment management and insurance confirmed use cases before we built.
• Business Partners: I presented designs at their meetings, held about every two months.
• Dogfooding: Maximizer runs on Maximizer. I watched Sales and Customer Success use new designs with no training, like any first-time user.
• Analytics: Amplitude tracked adoption after launch, and targeted in-app surveys reached specific user groups.

Staged Release: internal team, then trusted business partners, then customers in 2 or 3 groups.

What It Changed: Timeline adoption was low among older accounts. I contacted one of them and learned they preferred a data table to the thread view. I added a table view with a simple switch, and migration rose sharply.

My Initiative: No one asked for it. I saw the pain and made the case.

The Problem: Maximizer has four main record types (Individual, Contact, Household and Lead) and many related ones, such as opportunities, service tickets, notes and documents. To find anything, users had to know its type first, then search one type at a time. If you half-remembered a person's name and did not know how you saved them, finding a note about them meant searching type by type, then digging through their documents.

The Design:

• One search across every record type at once. Type "John" and see every John, whatever type he was saved as.
• Smart Sorting: people sorted by how recently you were in contact with them; other types sorted in the way that fits each one, mostly by date.
• Related Records in the Same View: notes and documents appear under the person they belong to, so users find the right John and his note in one place, then drill in.

Making It Possible: I worked with the back-end team to test whether all record types could be searched at once.

Getting Buy-In: I showed the mockups to the VP of Engineering. He backed it, and the back-end team ran the test. It passed. I then checked the design with business partners and a small group of users, and their positive feedback completed the case.

The Result: 68% of users adopted Global Search in its first month.

Adapt Existing Product: Adapted the Sales CRM to financial and insurance workflows rather than rebuilding from scratch.

For example, repurposed the existing Customer Service module for financial workflows instead of building a new one. It shifted from sales-ticket handling to client-process tracking (Account States), so advisors can see exactly where each client sits: KYC, compliance review, and other multi-step stages.

Reduce Context Switching: Expanded the CRM beyond relationship management by bringing key account data and communications into one place, giving advisors a more complete view of each client.

For example, integrations with data lakes and custodians, allowing advisors to access account information without switching between applications.

For example, custodian and data-lake integrations matched fields with lookup tables, such as Name to First Name. Common fields matched, but variations and unknown fields had to be mapped by hand. I pushed the back-end team to match fields with AI instead. Only field names are sent, never client data. Most manual mapping disappeared.

Insight Instead of Data Dump: Turned raw account data into actionable insights with drill-downs, KPIs, and alerts.

For example, partnered with a PM to pitch two modules for aggregated data, KPIs, and client alerts. Both were approved and implemented.

Results Tied Directly to Design:

• UI and UX support tickets dropped from more than 10 a day to near zero.
• Calls shifted from "How do I...?" and "Why does it...?" to "Please add this feature." The CEO read that as trust recovering: customers who ask for features plan to stay.
• A high-value firm with many seats asked us to add a feature to the UI. I traced what they were really trying to do, and showed them the existing Workflows module already did it better. That saved 2 months of engineering on a change no other customer needed.
• Global Search reached 68% adoption in its first month.
• More than 90% of users moved from the legacy Hotlist to the new Tasks module at their own pace.
• A major Canadian wealth and insurance firm approved only three CRMs for its branches. Maximizer was one of them, and we won its first three branches ahead of the other two. Integrations with data lakes and custodians that were easy to install and easy to understand gave sales the edge.

Evidence Over Opinion

Maximizer is an engineering-led company, and the rebuild-or-renovate debate could have stalled for months. Instead of arguing, I brought evidence: support-ticket trends, competitor teardowns and a heuristic audit, turned into one clear product direction. The technical path stayed with engineering. The product direction was backed by data. Takeaway: influence comes from owning the evidence.

Protect Livelihoods First

Users earn their income through this product. A slower migration that never broke anyone's day was worth more than a fast cutover.

Reuse Before Rebuild

When the customer focus changed, the strongest move was not a new product but a new purpose for existing parts. Reuse kept what users already knew and let us move fast.

Accessibility as a Standard

I sold WCAG AA to a management team that first saw it as a cost. When a low-vision client still struggled in production, I worked with them directly. I raised contrast above AA in two key places and kept the tab order they already knew, which also helped keyboard power users.