Redesigning Enterprise Document Management for Scale

SoftAce is an enterprise document management and business process automation platform that helps organizations digitize, organize, secure, and manage documents throughout their lifecycle.

The product was initially developed around the operational processes of a specific organization. While it addressed those needs, its existing structure, complex user journeys, and dated interface presented challenges as the business looked to expand into other organizations and sectors.

My responsibilities as Founding & Lead Product Designer, extended beyond interface design into product planning, feature definition, stakeholder reviews, and guiding design execution. I helped in setting design direction and making complex and critical workflows to be much simpler.

SoftAce had a functional foundation, but its experience was not designed to accommodate the varying operational needs of multiple organizations. Whilst engaging the previous solution, here are three challenges that stood out:

The existing navigation combined EDMS and BPMN capabilities, making it difficult for users to locate relevant features. I proposed separating both into distinct modules, with related features grouped around core user activities. This created a clearer journey from onboarding to module selection and everyday document management.

We prioritized EDMS because it served as the primary entry point for users and documents. Focusing on its core workflows allowed us to deliver and gather feedback earlier, while deferring the more complex BPMN experience. This meant deliberately narrowing our initial scope to establish a stronger product foundation before expanding its capabilities.

The existing interface had a legacy appearance, with complex journeys that made everyday tasks difficult to navigate. Beyond improving its visual quality, I focused on creating a more consistent experience across the product.

During a product review, the head of security highlighted the need for an additional layer of authentication to protect access to organizational information. This prompted us to introduce a Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) setup and verification experience.

This was an example of how stakeholder expertise helped us identify a requirement that needed greater attention and translate it into a product improvement.