Project Overview

From Stalled Redesign to a $37M+ Revenue ‍

‍In 2022, I led a high-agility, 10-person task force to pivot a stalled 2-year legacy project into a modern, AI-powered Self-Service Portal. By bridging the gap between our legacy and modern design systems, we delivered a framework that scaled to 1,800+ enterprises and achieved $37.1M in public-facing annual revenue.

1. The Challenge: A Global Stagnation

The Customer Portal redesign was paralyzed. Despite a massive global team, we were stuck in the "hand-off" phase.

• Design Stalling: We faced endless requests for new mockups outside the initial scope.
• Engineering Friction: The technical team was overwhelmed. They were forced to validate open-source code in GitHub against Zendesk support tickets under extreme time pressure, all for a product scope they felt was "too small" for Liferay’s true capabilities.

2. The Discovery: Bridging the "System Gap"

Leadership believed we lacked the technical components for a modern portal because our newest design system (Dialect) wasn't yet fully ready in React.

My Strategy: Working across both custom and core teams, I identified a "hidden" path. I mapped the high-fidelity functionality of Dialect onto the robust, 100% implemented logic of our Lexicon system. I proved to the CEO and stakeholders that we already had the Out-of-the-Box (OOTB) capabilities—we just needed to apply a modern "look" over the existing functional bones.

3. The Solution: The Self-Service MVP

The CEO authorized a secret, 10-person "strike team" to build an MVP. As the sole designer, I focused on three pillars of Self-Service Intelligence:

• AI-Powered Support: Integrated chatbots and intelligent search to drastically reduce manual support tickets.
• User Empowerment: Built a centralized hub for Knowledge Bases, FAQs, and Community Forums.
• Operational Efficiency: Designed tailored dashboards for Order and Subscription management, moving away from manual requests.

4. Impact & Results

By trusting the engineering team's desire for a more robust product and leveraging existing technical frameworks, the MVP became the new company standard.

Business Transformation

• Revenue: Generated $37.1M+ in Annual Revenue.
• Scalability: Enabled 1,800+ enterprise customers to leverage Liferay’s full integration potential.
• Institutional Impact Led to a project: Audit & Merge our two design systems.

Comparison: Legacy vs. Innovation