Milford Asset Management has consistently led the way in New Zealand's wealth management sector through its pioneering efforts to create digital experiences that significantly enhance the client experience. This innovative approach has not only set Milford apart in the industry but has also demonstrated their commitment to continuously evolving and improving the way they serve their clients. With a series of successful, tailored digital tools and applications, Milford has shown a proactive approach in adapting to the needs and expectations of their clients, consistently seeking new ways to refine and augment the client experience through technology.
The evolution of Milford's digital landscape, characterised by rapid growth and multiple digital deployments, had reached a pivotal point and needed to be underpinned with a cohesive, rich understanding of what it means to be a client at Milford. The opportunity was to understand:
Purple Shirt used human-centred design to co-develop the Client Experience Framework with Milford. This methodology aimed to deliver deep insights into client needs and behaviours, creating a foundation for actionable improvements to the client experience.
Phase 1: Domain analysis
Initial activities focused on aligning strategic intent and understanding the current client and operational landscapes through workshops and stakeholder interviews. This phase set the foundation for a collaborative and informed framework development process.
Phase 2: Client research
We gathered in-depth insights from Milford clients using targeted interviews. This phase was crucial for understanding the client journey, identifying pain points, and uncovering opportunities to enhance the client experience.
Phase 3: Research synthesis and framework development
The insights gathered were synthesised into practical frameworks that can be used to inform the future client experience, service improvements and importantly provide a horizon based roadmap for where Milford should invest its client experience improvement effort.
The collaboration between Milford and Purple Shirt resulted in significant positive outcomes for Milford, encapsulating both strategic enhancements and operational improvements:
These outcomes have collectively empowered Milford Asset Management to advance their client experience strategies, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and client-focused innovation.
“Working with the Purple Shirt team was an incredibly rewarding experience. We gained deep insights into not just what our clients want to achieve, but also what works for them, what doesn’t and the role they want Milford to play in helping them achieve their goals. Our thinking was challenged throughout the process, and as a result, we now have a robust client experience framework, cemented in client research, to not just guide all future client experience enhancements, but also to help us prioritise which enhancements to go after first.”
