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A lightweight messaging tool for enterprise internal communication

BlueCard Chat

SUMMARY

Streamline internal communication experience within U.S. health insurance giant

For decades BCBSA’s outdated messaging hobbled internal communication, so the organization was now overhauling the platform to speed workflows and response times.

ROLE

UX Strategist & Designer

DELIVERABLES

User Research

User Journey

Alignment Workshop

Feature Prioritization

Usability Testing

UX/UI

Micro Interaction

UX Writing

RESULT

Reduce chat processing time by 67% and further improve BCBSA's core business efficiencies

Over the course of 10 months, I worked closely with the BCBSA product team to scope and build the first internal chat tool from scratch. Using a mixed UX methods and workshops, we discovered and defined how the chat tool could serve BCBSA's core business, claim processing, eventually, improve health services for millions of Americans.

Before

After

CHALLENGE

The BCBSA team gave us an ambitious but vague goal—to transform their classic internal email system to a real-time chat. But why？

To better understand my responsibilities and challenges in this project, I listed the following key challenges after our initial stakeholder interviews:

How can we spark users' confidence for a workflow no one has tried yet?

User Experience(UX)

Why the legacy system falls short—and how live chat fills the gap?

Product Value

What feature we should include in our first version of design?

Work Scope

UX APPROACH

Understanding chat holistically

After diagnosing the project at its early stage and unclear scope, my primary goal was to understand the overview value of 'chat' scenario to the daily work of BCBSA employees. Thus, I initiated our research with a core learning goal:

“What role will our chat tool play in the user's workflow and BCBSA's business?”

So how I answer the questions and address the above challenges?

Strategy 01: Discover product value -> Identify context, value and success

Hosted stakeholder interviews and mapped the chat-centered stakeholder ecosystem: I want to understand the entire before-and-after story of BCBSA internal chats, e.g. target users, collaboration patterns, and reporting lines.
Reached out to managers and administrative level to collect key success metrics, and reflecting how those metrics present BCBSA's real mission: "Increase access to health insurance and improve health for all Americans"
Outlined user journey with 20+ user behavioral insights.

I introduced the JTBD model in stakeholder interviews to help leadership see frontline realities and how these needs shape business decisions.

I synchronized the stakeholder map with each role’s JTBD, helping the product team see how stakeholder-customer dependencies impact business and product scope.

Strategy 02: Shape seamless UX -> Seeing the problem from the routines

Conducted field studies & think-aloud sessions:

Collected insights on user behaviors, pain points, and existing workflows.
Created Personas & “A Day in the Life” Mapping, documented end-to-end personal workflows for target user types.

I created personas for each user segment (e.g., chat initiators, managers) to present user data at an individual level, including tool preferences, learning confidence, work habits, and expectations.

Distilled high-value design opportunities by 'Reach/Impact/Effort' from research

Strategy 03: Define project scope -> Facilitate team decision making

Hosted product alignment workshop with PMs and tech leads:

Aligned research insights and user journeys via framing as Job-to-be-done(JTBD)s, highlighting their business value.
Sorted JTBDs by 'Must-have/Will-have/Wish-to-have/Never-have', facilitating decisions on product roadmap.
Understood development priorities and trade-offs.

Together, we reviewed design opportunities(framed as JTBDs) and sorted them by 'Must-have/Will-have/Wish-to-have/Never-have'

RESEARCH WINS

In addition to guiding the direction of design——

The research findings (e.g., alignment workshops, user journeys, and stakeholder maps) helped develop the product roadmap for the coming year.

Some stakeholder interview quotes helped us define key performance metrics to validate solutions and track product success.

WHO WERE WE DESIGNING FOR

BCBSA Admin/Claim Manager
Claim Processor
Chat Agent
(Indirect)Patients/BCBSA Members
(Indirect)Healthcare Providers

INSIGHT

Smooth chats are key to connecting the current BCBSA claims processing workflow.

I use this journey map to reveal the position of the chat function at the global and micro levels:

The chat function was created to support BCBSA's overall insurance claims process and help it achieve its business goals more efficiently.
Chat-related behavior is not limited to sending messages, but also includes the entire data query process.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

I defined four core design principles to help me and my product team to design, evaluate and critique the UX details.

Efficiency

Resolve chats fast—cut duplicate clicks and distractions.

Full Context

Keep all relevant data within reach; eliminate data hunts.

Easy-to-learn

Make every action obvious; less training required.

Authenticity

Ship data-verified, consistent, error-free messages.

BlueCard Chat streamlined operations across BCBSA and its 34 subsidiaries, significantly boosting efficiency and ultimately enhancing healthcare delivery for millions of Americans.

FULL CONTEXT & AUTHENTICITY

Integrate chat into the workflow

User scenario

Claim processors had to juggle several tabs—copy-pasting claim data and running spell-checks between windows.