Finastra

Optimizing open-source development for an open-banking org

While Finastra had already embraced the value of open source and Drupal, their previous site was cumbersome to use and expensive to maintain. Finastra produces a lot of content across verticals and solutions, and one of a CMS’s primary uses is to, well, manage content.

But Finastra’s output had outgrown its tools. It not only needed a fresh approach to managing content on the backend (to enable product and marketing managers to work effectively) but it also needed to present the content in a clear, digestible way for users. More for more’s sake is rarely useful, and our challenge was to focus on only showing customers what they needed to know at any given stage.

Banking on simplification to improve site performance

With a footprint and product portfolio as vast as Finastra’s, it’s easy to let buckets and silos define a site’s navigation. But Finastra believed in the power of simplicity, and so do we. Our challenge was to see just how far we could go paring down the navigation while still communicating all that Finastra does.

A few rounds of navigation workshops informed by stakeholder discovery and user research produced clear categories that aligned with the business’ focus and user terminology. This is always a balance between what a business wants users to know, and what users think they need.  

The new nav is segmented into large solution groups while limiting and prioritizing menu items within each. The end result? Users can find what they need, without becoming overwhelmed.

Investing in user experience to serve the right content

After years of working with enterprise B2B organizations, we see common problems occur and recur—so we've developed an arsenal of proven solutions to fix them. 

A single-page conversion approach at the right stage of the buyer's journey, for example, ensures that everything a user needs to make their first decision is on the page.

Multiply this approach across entire sections of the site and you have dozens, hundreds, of high-performing pages rather than a complex, pie-in-the-sky “path” that you hope users take (spoiler, they won’t). With this approach, Finastra’s users find what they need, whether they’re coming from organic search, paid campaigns, or from the homepage.

Design that pays dividends on web performance

With solid UX in place, Finastra wanted to bet big on a new look and feel. This was about a brand refresh, after all. But like other projects we’ve done where a brand has been defined but not tested, Finastra had room to explore.

While FinTech has a reputation for conservative design, Finastra’s new look embraces drama and moody excitement. It’s bold (and not in the bland blue and gray corporate sort of way). But Finastra’s design system is not just about pretty colors. For example, contrast is used sparingly to call attention to the right elements. If everything within a design is shouting to a user, everything becomes noise.

Content management made simple with Paragon

Building a better content management experience for marketers was a primary goal for this site. We used Paragon, our open-source Drupal distribution for B2B, which provides drag-and-drop editing, easy media management, and a clean UI out of the box. 

Simple, reusable content components based on a clear underlying taxonomy connects Finastra's content to solutions, themes, and regions—all managed and applied automatically. Admins write, tag, and post content, and the Drupal site ensures it gets where it needs to go.

Invested in making fintech content feel personal

While the concept of intelligent web personalization is a staple among marketers, B2B companies still struggle to make this vision a reality. Even with Drupal, where tools like Smart Content exist to enable real-time personalization, there are challenges beyond technology—this is where strategy becomes key.

We built a personalization approach for Finastra centered on helping a user navigate the vast amount of resource content available. We could not simply list every resource and hope for the best. Instead, we developed what we dubbed the “Viewpoints Explorer.” Embedded across the site, this “smart library” remembers the topic of interest a user selected in previous web sessions. That saved topic of interest follows the user around the site and merges with the subject of the existing page to display a small set of hyper-relevant content.

Outcome

The collaboration led to a significant transformation of Finastra's digital presence:

• Increased Engagement: The new website saw a notable increase in user interactions, including a rise in contact form submissions and gated content access.

• Improved Visibility: There was a substantial increase in users accessing the website via organic search.

• Award Recognition: The project received the 2022 Acquia Engage Award in the "Leader of the Pack – Financial Services" category, highlighting its exceptional digital experience.

These outcomes underscore the successful partnership between Finastra and Elevated Third in creating a user-centric, efficient, and award-winning digital platform.