Will Wharfe

• Global Head of Customer experience for HSBC’s Digital channels (desktop and mobile - for example HSBCnet and HSBCnet mobile) across 55 markets and 20 languages
• Responsible for product and user research: ethnographic and product specific… in multiple markets (eg SG, US, CN, CA, MY, UK) and both for corporate and business banking.
  Hiring and managing design resource in UK, Pune and Guangzhou and UX/ /user research to support c 50-70 projects per quarter annually delivering everything from an innovative new product (HSBC Global Wallet e.g.) to regulatory changes a other business as usual updates. A key part of the role was developing and mentoring the team… we built a very highly performing team.
• Designing and managing a system for monitoring all customer feedback to ensure issues were addressed promptly
• Collaborated with internal team members to resolve customer concerns and deliver enhanced customer experiences.
• Identifying improvements to reduce helpdesk calls and improve overall customer experience: helpdesk calls reduced by 30% in 2022 alone.
• Managed the design and design governance for all payments screens 2015-2023 - for all 55 markets, including projects such as UK Pay's Confirmation of Payee and Effective Customer Warning. Additionally the design for ISO payments, initially for Thailand, the design for which will be rolled out for UK ISO in 2023.

• Managed the initial stages of the customer experience transformation of HSBC's international banking platform: HSBCnet
• Conducted deep-dive research into customer issues and customer needs
• Created a customer experience strategy to improve NPS and CSAT scores and reduce customer complaints.
• Managed UX/UI teams both in-house and from agencies
• Managed evolution of the HSBC Wholesale design system to increase design quality and consistency
• Collaborated with designers and software development team leads to produce a React UI component library to help speed up development and rollout of high-quality features/experiences in the digital channel
• By 2019 Helpdesk calls reduced by 40% compared to 2015 before the transformation. Complaints reduced by 50%.

• Working with Chief Digital Officer to define a digital product strategy and roadmap for Investment and Pensions Europe
• Managing email migration and driving email optimization
• Enabling automation of relevant personalized email communications – both for readers and advertisers
• -Use-case analysis and user route optimization for Investment and Pensions Europe's new content marketing solutions

Achievements

• Drove complete re-launch of desktop and mobile sites for four financial brands: Money Marketing, Mortgage Strategy, Fundweb and Corporate Adviser. Record traffic, increase ad impressions and greater user engagement through revised commenting mechanism.
• Complete overhaul of The Lawyer navigation to present 3rd party content optimally and improve conversion rate for lead generation features.
• Sales leads increased threefold.

• Documented user stories, specifications, and product features into detailed work order to communicate across teams and build mandatory requirements.
• Coordinated project planning and execution with team members and team leads.
• Reviewed sales, customer concerns, and new opportunities to drive business strategy at weekly planning sessions.
• Prioritized roadmap in order to achieve product goals and metrics.
• Integrated (technical + in-bound linking) SEO work transformed UGC teaching resources collection into global user acquisition engine. Over 14,000 new teacher registrations per week – driven by over 500,000 resources.
• Successful integration of over 3,500 Teacher’s TV videos Managed complete overhaul of community functions – adding public/ private groups option, blogging, range of social media functions and public profile (software deployed May 2013.)
• Launched US version of TES (www.sharemylesson.com) and Indian version (www.tesindia.com). Both sites with new look/feel and new taxonomy for content.
• Defined monetized product/service for individual teachers – following in-depth user research/ analysis. Launched May 2013.
• Jobs traffic and revenue increased – bucking industry caused by recession
• Worked with cross-disciplinary team to map out technical plan to transform scalability/ extensibility of the TES platform

Key roles

Reporting monthly to the board; managing development and maintenance of e-learning software – ensuring that the application performed well at all times. Managing key contractors (software, hosting, IT support) and in-house team of 3 (1 technical manager, 2 project managers).

Achievements

Under my direction the software was completely re-written and both student and teacher interfaces were completely re-designed. Usage of the application by students doubled following re-design.

Increased sales and sales margin

SAM Learning is a subscription product and so the increased usage and huge improvement in performance was a massive factor in helping the sales team to win subscription renewals. A decline in subscription renewals in 2006-7 was reversed in 2007-8.

Awards

SAM Learning Plus won the BETT Award in January, 2007