Financial Intelligence Platform for Ernst & Young
Overview
Business Context
Ernst & Young’s America’s Assurance required a product with a "360-degree view" of companies by aggregating hard financial data (revenue, stock price, ratios) with soft data (social sentiment, news, ESG scores, internal notes) for EY Consultants, Financial Analysts, Partners, or Strategy Teams who need to quickly assess the health of a client or target company.
Problem
- EY Consultants, Financial Analysts, Partners, or Strategy Teams who need to quickly assess the health of a client or target company. has to Open multiple tabs (Bloomberg for stocks, Factiva for news, Excel for ratio analysis).
- Manually collate info and create excel reports
- Struggle to visualize trends (like M&A history) from text-based reports.
- Manually calculate comparisons against industry averages.
Opportunity
To provide a "360-degree view" of companies by aggregating hard financial data (revenue, stock price, ratios) with soft data (social sentiment, news, ESG scores, internal notes).
Product Goals
- 360 degree view of companies by aggregating hard financial data
- Key differentiator of being "trustworthy" and "professional"
- empower analysts to assess a company's financial health and market reputation in minutes
Success Metrics
- avg. user adoption
- reduction in manual search time
- client reports generated
Primary Users
- EY Consultants
- Financial Analysts
- Partners
- Strategy Teams
Stakeholders
- PM
- America's Assurance BU
- Partners
- EY Financial Analysts
KPI
Design Process
Concept & Ideation Exploration
Information Architecture
User Flows
Wireframes & Prototypes
Solution
Grid View
List View
EY Insight
"360-degree view" of companies by aggregating hard financial data
EY Font Icons
EY America's Assurance required font icons for their platforms to reduce load caused by SVG icons. 200+ icons were created and customized for EY America's Assurance platforms.
Handoff
Working closely with the engineers, I was able to deliver the following.
NOTE: The designs started off on Adobe XD and then we migrated to Figma to ensure smooth dev handover.
Deliverables
- EY Insight Design System
- FInal Designs (XD, Figma)
- 250+ Font icons
Outcome
By transforming scattered financial and reputational data into a unified, visual ecosystem, EY in.sight fundamentally changed how consultants approach due diligence. The platform reduced preliminary research time by 85+% turning a 4-hour manual process into a 30-minute automated workflow. More importantly, it empowered partners to move beyond just "crunching numbers" to delivering holistic, data-backed narratives about a company's future. The result was not just faster reporting, but higher-confidence decision-making for EY’s most critical clients.
Results
- Launched in 2020 internally
- 92% average user adoption. Single source replaced 5 disparate tools
- +90% reduction in manual search time
- 2500+ client reports generated (end of 2020)
Learnings
Collaboration with Subject Matter Experts
You can't design what you don't understand. I learned that I couldn't just 'UX' my way through the problem. I had to sit with financial analysts to understand their mental models. Their input was vital in deciding to prioritize the 'Sentiment Analysis' alongside traditional financials, something I wouldn't have known to do on my own.
The Challenge of "Data Density" vs. "Cognitive Load"
I learned that in financial tools, 'white space' isn't always the goal, clarity is. I initially tried to simplify the screens too much, but users pushed back! They needed dense data to make decisions. The challenge wasn't removing data, but using hierarchy and grouping (like the 'Card View'/’List View’) to make it scannable without sacrificing depth.
Designing for "Trust" is as Important as Usability
In Fintech, if the UI doesn't look accurate, users won't trust the data. I realized that visual polish isn't just aesthetic; it’s functional. Misaligned charts or inconsistent spacing made analysts question the validity of the numbers. Strict adherence to the grid and the EY design system was crucial for user confidence.