Sponsor Request Centre

Enhancing and digitizing the way in-plan sponsors connect with Sun Life

Executive Summary

Our main focus was to reduce operational costs in how we serve our Sponsors by reducing NIGO (Not In Good Order) forms, standardizing processes, and drastically improve our service-level agreement. Through this work, we achieved the following business results:

Lowered error rates

75%

Resolution time

faster

Reduced operational costs

~83%

The Design Team

Organization: Sun Life

My role: UX Director
Involved in pre-planing work and conversations with Senior Leaders at the journey level. Oversaw design operations at the feature-level.

Team members:
UX Leads: Sneka Sampath/Pegah Khast
UX Designers: Neha John
UX Writers: Mel Bennet/Nancy Peel
Design Coach: Samanthi Jayetileke

Problem Statement

Sun Life lacked a standardized process for managing Sponsor inquiries. Each case followed its own path — often passed between teams through emails, spreadsheets, and calls — resulting in lost visibility, inconsistent communication, and slow resolution. Cases were frequently rerouted three or more times, compounding inefficiency. Without a centralized system, tracking, measuring, or improving performance was nearly impossible.

Downstream impact:

Overwhelmed internal teams: 75,000 monthly requests could only be processed manually, creating bottlenecks.
High error rates: Manual handling caused a 20% error rate, resulting in additional rework and delays.
Slow response times: Resolution often took over 30 days.
Frustrated Sponsors: Inconsistent communication damaged trust and credibility.

Opportunity

This challenge presented an opportunity to rethink how Sponsor inquiries were managed — end-to-end, not just at the interface level. By addressing pain points for both Sponsors and the Operations team, we aimed to:

Standardize intake and routing to reduce confusion and delays
Automate triage to accelerate case handling
Increase transparency with real-time status updates
Empower Sponsors to control their inquiry outcomes

The goal was to transform a fragmented process into a cohesive, measurable, and user-centred experience that delivered operational efficiency and restored trust.

Our Two-Step Approach

To solve the problem, we took a two-level approach — journey-level to redefine the experience, and feature-level to design tangible solutions.

1. Journey-Level: Redesigning the End-to-End Experience

I was engaged in pre-planning efforts and conversations with Senior Leaders to understand organizational priorities and strategic goals. We mapped the Sponsor inquiry journey from start to finish and identified critical opportunities:

Create consistency: Shift Sponsors to a unified communication channel through small, intentional habit changes.
Streamline triage: Automate routing to the correct team to reduce turnaround time and manual effort.
Improve transparency: Provide real-time status updates to Sponsors.
Empower Sponsors: Enable them to close or continue inquiries, ensuring satisfaction with outcomes.

2. Feature-Level: Bringing the Vision to Life

At the feature level, I oversaw design operations to translate journey insights into tangible solutions:

Engaged stakeholders via Lean UX Canvas, Value Proposition, and journey mapping workshops to align goals and expectations.
Facilitated design sprints with business, technology, and operations teams to identify feature-level problems and co-create solutions.
Ran generative ideation and multiple rounds of testing to refine concepts.
Defined an MVP for quick-to-market delivery.
Created a backlog of improvements for continuous product evolution.

Design Solution

The resulting solution was a centralized digital portal with automated workflows that transformed the Sponsor inquiry experience:

Centralized Inquiry Portal: Single entry point for all Sponsor inquiries.
Automated Case Triage: Rules-based routing to reduce manual handling and accelerate resolution.
Real-Time Status Updates: Sponsors can track progress at any time.
Self-Service Controls: Sponsors can close or escalate inquiries, improving satisfaction and trust.
Integrated Operational Workflows: Dashboards and tracking tools enable Operations to manage volume efficiently, maintain accountability, and measure performance.

This solution combined automation, design, and process improvement to deliver a scalable, transparent, and user-centred experience.

Outcomes & Results

The transformation produced measurable operational and experiential benefits:

Process Standardization: Unified intake and routing eliminated duplicate handling and confusion.
Faster Resolution Times: Cases that previously took over 30 days now resolve within a 5-day SLA.
Reduced Error Rates: Manual errors decreased from 20% to 5%.
Improved Accountability: End-to-end tracking ensures every case is monitored and resolved.
Enhanced Data & Insights: Teams can measure inquiry volume, case types, and response times.
Operational Cost Savings: Eliminating repeated rerouting and reducing manual effort resulted in ~83% reduction in operational costs
Better Sponsor Experience: Sponsors now have visibility and control, restoring trust and confidence.

Reflection & Learnings

This project highlighted the power of holistic design thinking across both journey and feature levels:

Start with the journey: Understanding the end-to-end experience uncovered insights that individual features alone could not solve.
Engage stakeholders early: Workshops, sprints, and leadership conversations ensured alignment, feasibility, and scalability.
Balance quick wins with long-term vision: An MVP delivered immediate impact while leaving room for continuous improvement.
Data drives improvement: Standardization and automation enabled visibility, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making.
Empower users to build trust: Giving Sponsors control and transparency restored confidence and credibility.

The project reinforced that great design is more than usability — it’s about transforming processes, empowering people, and delivering measurable business outcomes.

Let's connect!

There’s more to me than what you see here. If you’d like to know more, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how my experience can help you continue to elevate your company’s digital presence and overall brand.

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