Edward Jones | Enterprise Design Adoption
This initiative established a unified design culture across the firm through co-created pilot projects and a structured enablement program.
By training more than 300 associates and empowering 50 design advocates, the program embedded human-centered design practices into both strategic planning and day-to-day operations, driving more consistent, user-focused outcomes across the organization.
Company
IBM Consulting
Industry
Financial Services
Role
Client Program Lead
Executive Design Director
Design Team Leader
Responsibilities
Partnered with executive sponsors and business leaders to align design initiatives with firmwide strategic priorities.
Designed and delivered enablement programs, workshops, and playbooks to accelerate design maturity across teams.
Mentored design advocates and coach candidates to build internal capability and long-term ownership.
Integrated Enterprise Design Thinking into existing operating models, tools, and decision-making processes.
Facilitated cross-functional collaboration between strategy, technology, and business teams to embed design early.
Defined success metrics and feedback loops to continuously improve adoption and effectiveness of design practices
Socialized wins and learnings from pilot projects to drive momentum and organizational buy-in.
✏️ Business Challenge
✍️ The Solution
How might we standardize and operationalize design thinking and agile design practices to support growth, compliance, and client-centric innovation?
Scaled Human-Centered Design at Edward Jones Through Co-Creation and Enablement
Design Thinking Transformation Program
As the three pillars of adoption — People, Practices, and Places — scale over time, design thinking becomes embedded and self-sustaining within the Home Office by Year 3.
Through pilot projects, IBM guided and mentored client teams to apply design thinking hands-on, envisioning key firm experiences and solving complex challenges.
15 Co-Created Pilots
12 Experience Prototypes
600 Wireframes
300+ Associates in Co-Creation Squads
250+ Badged IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioners
Innovation Garage
The Innovation Garage follows this model: understanding and exploring future state visions to a proof-of-concept (PoC) in three to six weeks with leading concepts advancing to the pilot phase
Personas and User Journeys
At Edward Jones, personas and user journeys link the firm’s vision to real experiences — Financial Advisors, Branch Office Administrators, new Advisors, and clients.
By mapping motivations, challenges, and goals — supported by data from prospects to portfolio-managing advisors — we produce empathy-driven insights that guide design, streamline advisor workflows, and improve client experience
The Edward Jones Design System
Our Design System, co-created with inputs from Home Office, Branches and Financial Advisors has Global Impact in terms of creating Best-in-Class experiences for its users.
Internal use: +15k Edward Jones Branches
External use: 8M Clients Globally
Future State Experiences
What-If Analyzer
🧭 Overview
A Branch Member can create, rebalance, and execute on system generated portfolios that align to firm advice and guidance.
🏆 Benefits
Deliver dynamic, personalized planning experiences with advanced customization and side-by-side goal comparisons.
Enable advisors and clients to capture, prioritize, and visualize evolving Wants & Needs across life goals.
Provide real-time insights into how decisions impact overall financial well-being.
Empower data-driven confidence through interactive scenario modeling and stress testing of goal achievement.
Client Playback
🧭 Overview
Provides branch team and clients a synopsis of an appointment, which may include next steps and action items as well as facilitate an understanding of how accounts and the portfolio help clients them achieve what is most important to them.
🏆 Benefits
Tools and insights that meet clients where they are—helping them navigate life’s key moments and make confident, informed financial decisions for lasting well-being.
Intelligent, customizable interface with enriched data views and adaptive layouts
Integrated digital tools to amplify branch visibility and client engagement
Portfolio Wizard
🧭 Overview
A Branch Member can create, rebalance, and execute on system generated portfolios that align to firm advice and guidance.
🏆 Benefits
Improved UI with additional information, screen customization and enhanced playback capabilities
AI-assisted portfolio construction and rebalancing
Support to promote branch/client understanding of diagnostic and product reasoning (the “why”)
“In addition to thinking about our clients, we need to think like our clients.”
Penny Pennington, CEO and Managing Partner
Edward Jones