From paper to digital, without breaking the revenue.

At SPEOS, bpost group, I aligned business, IT and operations around a common platform. Six pilot clients out of six validated the direction.

12 internal interviews · 6 pilot clients · signed Concept Report · MVP moved into production

Read the essentials

The essentials in 40 seconds

SPEOS, bpost group · Industrial postal · 2024–2025

Turning a postal offer built channel by channel into a shared experience, then giving the teams the means to keep it evolving.

The problem

  • Belgian mail volumes decline by about 8% a year.
  • Five separate entry points, no common customer journey.
  • Business protected the paper revenue.
  • IT drove the Agile transformation.
  • The design function did not exist yet.

My role

  • CX, UX and service design consultant, for twelve months.
  • Align business, IT and operations.
  • Build the shared customer journey.
  • Define the platform and the roadmap.
  • Embed UX and service design practices.

The decisions

  • Unify the five entry points into one platform.
  • Prioritise onboarding and monitoring.
  • Test the concepts with pilot clients.
  • Turn the pain points into a product backlog.

The result

  • Six pilot clients out of six validated the direction.
  • Engie test: 4.03 out of 5.
  • 76-page Concept Report signed by the sponsor.
  • The validated scope moved into production.
  • The teams had a shared frame to carry on.

How I got there

The method in detail, for those who want to dig deeper. You can also stop at the essentials above.

01

Listening before designing

The teams talked about their tools; the clients lived one journey.

  • 12 internal experts interviewed, from operations to IT.
  • 6 pilot clients met, across the three segments, including Luminus.
  • A benchmark of the digital players already taking the SMEs.
  • The AS IS analysed tool by tool, screen by screen.
  • Goal: understand how SPEOS delivers its service, and what each role expects from a single platform.
An offer built channel by channelFive entry points, several processes and little visibility for the client
One shared target experienceFrom import to distribution, with a vision shared across business, operations, product and IT
Field validation6 pilot clients out of 6 validate the new experience
The transformation consisted of making an offer historically distributed by channel readable as a single customer experience.
The myspeos portal: a catalogue of separate applications, from Archive to Track & Trace, each with its own entrance. The entry point is a catalogue of separate applications: each capability lives in its own tool, and no journey connects them.
The Production Follow-up tool: a dense technical table, without alerts or error states, client references masked. Production follow-up works as a black box: no alerts, no error handling, no tracked quantities, and a nomenclature that is not the client's.
The Track & Trace tool: the list of shipments with its own filters and its own nomenclature, recipient names masked. Production and delivery live in two tools, with two nomenclatures: following a shipment end to end is impossible.
The Archive tool: a search form by document number, with no link to production or delivery. The archives for audit and billing live apart, impossible to correlate with production and delivery: painstaking work that pushes clients to support and generates billing errors.
The existing situation at the time of the research, captured in a test environment, personal data and client references masked. These observations, crossed with the internal and external interviews, were then refined in the customer journey workshop. Move between screens with the arrows.
02

The research defined the MVP

The costliest pain points set the roadmap.

  • Onboarding depended on IT, with a time-to-market counted in months.
  • Errors surfaced too late, debugging was manual.
  • Little visibility on processing after sending.
  • Too many support requests for routine operations.
  • Priority: make onboarding and monitoring more autonomous.

Product decision

Prioritise onboarding and monitoring before advanced reporting.

01 · Cross-functional research

12 internal expertsIT, operations, finance, customer service, marketing, sales and production
6 pilot clientsThe three market segments, including Luminus
2 Engie usersResponsible for document flows, in a scored test

02 · Ten irritants, four families

AccelerateLong integrations, manual processes, time-to-market measured in months
EmpowerDependency on support, lack of self-service, batches impossible to correct partially
Make visibleBlack-box effect, hard-to-read statuses, lack of alerts and traceability
Make reliableErrors hard to diagnose, complex billing, proof requirements

03 · Four product answers

OnboardingReduce IT dependencies, speed up activation
MonitoringReal-time visibility on batches, files and errors
Reports & ArchivesProofs, logs and reports, centralised
BillingTraceable costs and statuses

04 · Field validation

4,03 / 5Combined score of the Engie test
9 / 10Average recommendation score
3 scenariosDashboard, error management, audit trail
2 usersA qualitative test, not a statistic
From interviews to tested concepts: ten irritants grouped into four value domains, then validated with users responsible for critical document flows.
"A good tool, for him, is a tool that is invisible when everything works, and clear when things go wrong."

Excerpt from the Nicolas Marchal persona, responsible for document flows, one of the two personas documented in depth to frame the design.

See the pain points in detail and how they translated into the product
IrritantConsequenceProduct answerValidation or insight
New client integration too slowIT dependency, time-to-market in weeks or monthsGuided onboarding: channels, connectors and workflows in self-serviceThe Concept Report's "IT-less onboarding" proposition explicitly targets reducing IT dependencies
No visibility after sendingDependency on an intermediary, manual checkingReal-time dashboard: statuses per batch, file and documentBest score of the Engie test: 4.0 and 4.8 out of 5 depending on the user
Generic error messages, batch blocked by a single fileManual debugging, dependency on supportCause identified, partial reprocessing, stop or restart file by fileThe test confirms the need: reprocess a document without resending the whole batch
Difficult traceability and auditLow reassurance for business, legal and compliance teamsAudit trail: timestamps, downloadable proofs, history and metadataReassurance at 1 out of 5 for one of the two users: sent back to design as a priority
Scattered reporting, complex billingErrors, operational costs, usage hard to controlReports, archives and billing in the same architectureThe value propositions target cost control, traceability and compliance
From irritants to product decisions: each row links an observed problem, its consequence, the designed answer and what the field said about it.
03

Five entry points replaced by one common platform

Clients no longer had to understand SPEOS's internal organisation to use its services. The proposition fit in one sentence, voiced by business and IT alike: one platform, from paper to digital without a break.

  • A single point of entry.
  • Shared navigation and interaction rules, set by the design system.
  • A continuous journey: import, define, distribute, monitor.
  • Business complexity remains, presented to the right role at the right moment.
01 Import The client brings in their data and documents, once.
02 Define They compose and configure their mailings, whatever the channel.
03 Distribute Paper or digital, from the same platform.
A one-stop platform, from creation to distribution. Recreated from the Concept Report artefact.
Before · one capability per toolConfiguration, production, tracking and archiving relied on separate applications and logics.
After · one continuous journeyThe same moments are connected in a single platform: configure, produce, track, understand and act.
From one tool per capability to a continuous journey: chapter 05 shows that journey, moment by moment.
04

The customer journey on the wall aligns the teams on 10 pain points

With the concept on the table, all departments rebuilt the journey together, on a wall rather than in a PowerPoint.

  • In the room: project managers, product owners, IT architects, business and operations.
  • Frictions are pinned where they block, in the words of those who live them.
  • 10 pain points placed on the journey, from onboarding delays to opaque billing.
  • Dot voting aligns the departments on priorities; onboarding comes out on top.
  • The digital transcription of the journey feeds the concept report.
The customer journey workshop: participants standing at the wall, Large Account, SME and Integrators segments, post-its placed on the phases. Business, IT and operations at the same wall: everyone pins their frictions on the shared journey, not in their own lane.
Two participants write a friction directly on the wall, T2M post-it in the foreground. Frictions are written where they block, in the words of the person who lives them.
Three participants work at the table, workshop cards and documents in front of them. At the table, each participant prepares and argues their priorities before pinning them on the wall.
The Personalities of Interest slide over the workshop photo: personas weighted by votes, IT & Operations Managers leading with 8 votes. The personas of interest, weighted by the workshop votes: IT & Operations Managers dominate with 8 votes.
The MVP and MVP++ prioritisation matrix over the workshop wall photo: the Onboarding card weighs 5, tied to time-to-market. The prioritised features: onboarding weighs 5 in the MVP row, tied to time-to-market; the rest follows in MVP and MVP++.
The customer journey workshop, from the wall session to the decisions: this shared work is what aligned IT and Business on the same personas and the same priorities. Move between screens with the arrows.
The complete Customer Journey Map: Large Account, SME and Integrators rows, columns from onboarding to support, friction post-its on every phase.
The digital transcription of the complete journey, as it feeds the concept report: three segments, six phases from onboarding to support, ten pain points, and the red dots of the priority votes. The frame scrolls left to right; hover or touch to take control.
05

Two critical moments redesigned

Onboarding: configure a service without depending on an IT project.

  • A guided journey in four steps, from channel activation to client invitation.
  • Connectors created without an IT ticket.
  • Field mapping with the mouse, no code.
  • Patterns reused for every new use case.
The channel activation screen, with the four-step guided journey in the side panel. The guided journey sets the logic: four steps, from channel activation to inviting the client.
The mapping modal: source fields linked with the mouse to the Peppol target fields. The heart of "IT-less": fields are linked with the mouse, source to target, with no coding knowledge at all.
The workflow creation modal: connector, data tool and Peppol channel. From configuration to automation: the sending workflow is composed in one modal, routing included.
Prototype of the target vision, demo data: the same pattern of progress, configuration and confirmation guides every step.

AI demo Figma demo

Monitoring: see errors before they become incidents.

  • Processing status, from batch to document.
  • Alerts that distinguish errors, expected actions and confirmations.
  • A failed document is reprocessed without resending the batch.
  • History and evidence stay available for audit.
"Moustafa is not looking for a 'cool' product, but an ultra-reliable cockpit to steer his documents."

Excerpt from the Moustafa Ochao persona, print and archiving expert, nearly forty years in the trade with the same client.

The monitoring home page, waiting: 'No files detected yet', with a refresh button. The default page refreshes as soon as a batch is detected on the server: the client sends their zip, the system takes over.
The overview of batches in production: transferred, expected, processed documents, errors, and the row of the batch in progress with its progress bar. The overview of batches in production, with the KPIs that matter to the client: transferred, expected, processed, errors.
A batch's detail expanded under the dashboard: breakdown by channel, statuses Ready, Sent, Delivered, Errors, with filters. A batch's detail opens from the dashboard: where production stands, its errors, and a filtering system designed for the client.
The list of a batch's files: document ID, recipient, channel, language and status, column by column. The list of a batch's files: the information the client actually uses, without superfluous data.
A file's detail: the received / processed / sent timeline, the error log, the document preview and the possible actions. A file's detail, with the timeline: where the error comes from, and which actions to take without going through the help desk.
The notification center: errors, rejection rate, pending documents, paper fallback activated, batch archived. The alerts point directly to the file concerned and the action to take.
Monitoring, from the waiting page to the alerts, screen by screen. Prototype of the target vision, demo data. Move between screens with the arrows.
See the platform's other capabilities: reporting, billing, support, governance
The sendings Reporting view: each batch with its date, workflow, success rate and errors, row expanded on the channel breakdown. Archiving stays consistent with production tracking and distribution, at batch level, with the KPIs that speak to the client's business.
The Documents reporting view: sent and received documents, success and fallback rates, a document's detail with its timeline and preview. The same archiving reaches down to the document, still consistent with production and distribution, with the client's business KPIs.
The Reports view: monthly usage reports with volume, invoiced amount and invoice number, ready to export. A clear audit report, aligned with billing, with the information auditors and the client's accounting need.
The Billing view: invoices by tenant, amount breakdown by region and invoice preview. Simplified, automated billing, derived from the configuration of tenants and departments set up at the start.
The sign-in screen: the client receives their access, enters their email and sets their password, everything is already configured. Client onboarding reduced to a minimum: they receive their access and set their password, everything else is already configured.
The notification preferences panel: alert types and delivery channels, in-app, email, push, Slack or Teams. The client sets their own notification preferences and delivery channels.
The Tickets view: total, pending, solved, deleted, with filters by status, requester and priority. Ticketing is integrated into the platform: resolution speeds up, without going through reception.
The activity logs view: who did what, with the action, scope, role and technical identifiers, personal data masked. Log management shows who does what, and who to contact in case of a problem.
The same foundation carries reporting, billing, support and governance, screen by screen. Prototype of the target vision, demo data. Move between screens with the arrows.
06

Clients validated the direction, not every detail

The tests confirmed the value of the concept and revealed what needed rework.

  • Six pilot clients out of six validated the direction.
  • At Engie, two users evaluated three scenarios: dashboard, error handling, audit trail.
  • The dashboard scored best: 4.4 out of 5 on average.
  • Audit trail reassurance dropped to 1 out of 5 for one user: sent back to design.
  • The test fed the backlog before development: search by file, stop a batch, reprocess a single document.
4,03 / 5combined score across the three scenarios
9 / 10average recommendation score, given by both users on every scenario
2 × 3two users, three scenarios: a qualitative test
1 / 5audit trail reassurance for one of the two users: sent back to design
The scores come from a qualitative test with two Engie users; they indicate a direction of validation, not a large-scale statistical measure.
07

The project had to continue after the mission

The deliverable was not just a platform: it was a shared way of designing and running projects.

  • Junior designers coached: research, journeys, information hierarchy, design system.
  • Developers supported: Figma components translated into reusable Tailwind components.
  • Project managers supported: framing, workshops, prioritisation, field validation, Agile roadmaps.
  • 76-page Concept Report signed by the sponsor.
  • The validated scope moved into production.
Junior designersResearch, journeys, information hierarchy, design system consistency
DevelopersFigma components, shared rules, reusable implementation
Project managersFraming, workshops, prioritisation, field validation, Agile roadmaps
Three levels of coaching to keep the approach alive: design consistently, implement with shared components and integrate user experience into how projects are steered. Synthesis diagram.
Browse the Concept Report, 76 pages
Page of the SPEOS Concept Report. Use the reader controls to browse the document.
1 / 76
The complete 76-page Concept Report, readable page by page and chapter by chapter: this document, segments, journeys, value propositions and prioritised roadmap, is what the sponsor validated.

Next case

HMS Networks, Ewon The final prototype secured €2M for production.

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