“Our goal is to create a digital service that exceeds customer expectations and experiences in B2B services. We chose Huld as our partner because we had previous experience of good cooperation. We got an excellent expert from Huld to our team to take care of UX/UI development across the entire portal.” –Mareena Löfgrén, Product Manager, Valmet Customer Portal.
Valmet is one of the world’s leading suppliers and developers of process technology, automation solutions and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. With automation and flow control solutions, Valmet serves an even wider customer base in the process industry.
Valmet has created a Customer Portal for its customers where they can easily utilize Valmet’s digital services. The portal provides customers with easy access to documents, Valmet’s industrial internet applications, training services, equipment information, spare parts catalogs, and order tracking. The Salesforce-based customer portal has added value and enhanced the service experience of Valmet’s customers.
Valmet wanted to develop the interface and user experience of the Customer Portal to serve its customers’ needs even better. Valmet chose Huld, who had already evaluated the usability of the Customer Portal and has extensive experience in UX/UI design.
The cooperation between Valmet and Huld began with a workshop to map the current state of the Customer Portal and define new features and their prioritization. The goal of the work was to harmonize the appearance of the Customer Portal and improve its usability.
Existing user research data and background material were collected to support the work, including customer interviews and a previously conducted heuristic analysis with Huld. Valmet’s internal stakeholders were also involved in the development work so that all available information could be harnessed to develop the Customer Portal.
“I feel passionate about all of our customers’ projects and products. I made sure that all views were heard to achieve the best results. I contacted Valmet’s stakeholders proactively and gathered the necessary information for UX/UI design. The versatile user interface development was met with positive feedback.” – Lauri Kaartinen, UX/UI Designer, Huld.
Different user roles and ways of using the portal guided the UX/UI design. Features were improved, and new ones were designed with users in focus, whether they were plant managers or machine maintenance personnel.
To meet the diverse needs of users, features such as improved document search, viewing equipment status and maintenance plans, and access to Valmet’s training offerings were developed. The user experience of tracking customer service progress in the portal was also enhanced by streamlining the interface and adjusting features to better meet user needs.
Huld’s UX/UI design unified the visuals of the Customer Portal. For example, the user interface components and buttons were standardized, and the usability of the UI was improved with new navigation. The Customer Portal was made responsive so that it serves Valmet’s customers with screens and devices of all sizes. The technical platform of the Customer Portal was optimized with Lightning Web Runtime technology, reducing load times, which has a big impact on customer satisfaction.
The project proceeded swiftly one feature at a time and in cooperation with various parties – be it Valmet’s stakeholders or other consulting parties in the project – until the entire Customer Portal had been gone through.
The goals set for the development of the Customer Portal were met, and the close cooperation between Huld and Valmet resulted in an even better Customer Portal. Technical debt was paid off with both larger development targets and smaller details that pleased users. The long-planned changes were implemented, and Valmet’s Customer Portal has received both internal and external praise.
“We have received feedback from colleagues who have recently started using the portal as part of their collaboration with customers. One described navigating the portal as easy and intuitive, another was pleased that they could create a case to be solved with the customer at the factory immediately on their phone, and third was proud that our digital services have evolved and that they can confidently present them to customers. We will continue our collaboration with Huld and challenge ourselves with the next content improvements to enhance our customer service.” – Mareena Löfgrén, Product Manager, Valmet Customer Portal.
