{"id":1123,"date":"2025-12-31T12:13:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/?page_id=1123"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T14:58:46","slug":"turning-around-an-underperforming-enterprise-operations-platform","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/?page_id=1123","title":{"rendered":"Turning Around an Underperforming Enterprise Operations Platform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Product Owner Case Study (Confidential)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

Confidentiality Notice:<\/strong> Company and system identifiers have been anonymised to respect confidentiality. This case study focuses on product leadership, decision-making, and outcomes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Overview<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I took ownership of a multi-module enterprise operations platform used across customer service, depot operations, and delivery workflows within a UK-based food and logistics organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform had been built and deployed, but it was not delivering meaningful value in practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • adoption was low<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • trust in the system was weak<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • teams relied on workarounds outside the product<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Rather than adding more features, I treated it as a focused product turnaround\u2014resetting the roadmap around measurable outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    My Role<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I owned product strategy, prioritisation, and delivery. I worked closely with engineering, operations leadership, and frontline users (customer service advisors, depot managers, and drivers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My goals were to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • improve adoption and day-to-day usage<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • restore confidence in the platform<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • align the product to real operational workflows<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • deliver measurable outcomes for both users and the business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n

      The Core Problem (What I Diagnosed)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Through discovery sessions with customer service advisors, depot managers, and drivers, three root causes became clear:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1) Workflow misalignment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      The platform did not fully reflect how work was performed day-to-day, creating friction and reducing confidence during time-critical operational tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      2) Low perceived value at decision points<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      Users struggled to see how the platform helped them complete key tasks faster or more reliably, limiting repeat usage and adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      3) Operational gaps in exception handling<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      Operational edge cases and handovers were not adequately supported, forcing teams back into manual processes and lowering trust in the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      These were not \u201cUX-only\u201d problems. They were product-value and adoption problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      What I Did (Approach)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      I reset the product direction around three principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1) Design for real operational workflows<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      I prioritised end-to-end task journeys and ensured workflows reflected real-world constraints and handovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      2) Stabilise trust before expanding capability<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      In operational platforms, reliability and clarity must come first. I prioritised usability, performance, and workflow clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      3) Measure success through outcomes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

      I aligned stakeholders on success metrics tied to adoption, satisfaction, and transaction throughput\u2014not output or feature volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • structured discovery sessions with each user group<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • reprioritising the roadmap around high-friction workflows<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • focusing releases on a small number of high-impact changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n

        Delivery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        Within my first six months, I led:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Two major platform releases<\/strong> focused on workflow clarity, usability improvements, and reliability<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • One major Driver App release<\/strong>, improving frontline experience and increasing daily usage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          Each release was outcome-led and validated through user feedback and adoption signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          Results \/ Impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • Improved NPS from \u201380 to +85<\/strong> within six months<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Achieved the highest transaction volumes in the last five years<\/strong> immediately following the first major release<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Delivered a major Driver App release and scaled adoption to 350+ active users<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Rebuilt stakeholder confidence in the platform as a trusted operational system<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            \n\n\n\n

            Key Learnings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
              \n
            • Adoption improves fastest when products align to real decision-making moments<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • In operational products, trust and reliability are prerequisites for innovation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
            • Small, focused releases tied to outcomes outperform broad feature expansion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
              \n\n\n\n

              What I Would Do Next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
                \n
              • Improve operational analytics to proactively surface friction and exceptions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Reduce manual exception handling through smarter workflows<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Continue expanding adoption by embedding the platform into daily operational routines<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                Product Owner Case Study (Confidential) Confidentiality Notice: Company and system identifiers have been anonymised to respect confidentiality. This case study focuses on product leadership, decision-making, and outcomes. Overview I took ownership of a multi-module enterprise operations platform used across customer service, depot operations, and delivery workflows within a UK-based food and logistics organisation. The platform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1123","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1123\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilrajees.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}