Case Study: Redesigning a Large-Scale Enterprise Ordering and Administration Platform

For over a decade, MSI operated a mission-critical enterprise platform that powered online food ordering, customer management, reporting, and internal operations for more than 20 large enterprise clients across North America. The system supported millions of users every month and had become deeply embedded in day-to-day business workflows.

I led the complete redesign of this platform, spanning both the consumer-facing ordering experience and the internal administration consoles. The challenge was not simply visual modernization. We needed to untangle years of accumulated design debt, introduce consistency and usability, and do it without disrupting ongoing operations or alienating long-time users.

The Challenge

The platform had grown organically over many years. New features were added quickly to meet business needs, but without a unified design system or shared UX principles. Thousands of screens existed across multiple modules, each solving a local problem but rarely fitting into a cohesive whole.

Different user groups interacted with the system in very different ways. End customers, franchise operators, support staff, and internal teams all had competing goals and expectations. The interface reflected this fragmentation, with inconsistent navigation, duplicated patterns, and workflows that were difficult to learn and even harder to evolve.

On top of that, each enterprise client required deep customization, which further complicated any attempt at change. Many users had built muscle memory around inefficient workflows and were understandably resistant to disruption.

The redesign needed to modernize the experience while preserving business continuity, trust, and operational reliability.

My role: Head of UX

As Head of UX, I owned the end-to-end design strategy and execution across the entire platform.

Defined UX strategy and long-term design vision
Led user research, persona development, and journey mapping
Built a scalable, component-based design system
Partnered with enterprise clients on customization needs
Mentored designers and led design sprints
Worked closely with product managers, engineers, and QA
Drove validation and iteration through testing and analytics

Designing Process

Discovery and understanding the real workflows

The redesign started with deep discovery. I spent significant time interviewing users across roles and client organizations, including franchise operators, support teams, and internal stakeholders. We complemented qualitative research with quantitative data from analytics tools like Amplitude to understand how the platform was actually being used, not just how it was intended to be used.

Through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and UI audits, we identified recurring friction points across both the ordering and admin experiences. We developed more than ten detailed personas and mapped their daily workflows, goals, and pain points.

This work revealed a critical insight. Most usability issues were not caused by individual screens, but by how fragmented systems forced users to jump between tools and mental models. Fixing this required rethinking flows end to end, not just redesigning pages.

UX and design strategy

The design strategy focused on simplification without sacrificing enterprise capability.

We introduced progressive disclosure to manage complexity, showing users only what they needed at the right moment. Dashboards were personalized by role, allowing different users to see the information and tasks most relevant to them. Smart defaults and inline validation reduced manual errors, while role-based permissions ensured flexibility without compromising control.

Rather than attempting a risky "big bang" redesign, we followed a staged rollout approach. New experiences were introduced incrementally, validated through testing and analytics, and refined before being expanded more broadly. This reduced adoption risk and built trust with long-time users.

Every decision was grounded in research, tested prototypes, and real usage data.

Building a scalable design system

A foundational part of the work was creating a scalable design system that could unify the platform across clients and modules.

The system included a shared component library, clear layout and spacing rules, accessibility guidelines, and a theming engine that supported white-label branding for enterprise clients. Documentation and implementation guidance were created to ensure engineers could apply the system consistently without slowing development.

This design system became a force multiplier. It reduced inconsistencies, accelerated feature delivery, and made future innovation possible without reintroducing fragmentation.

Redesigning the online ordering experience

On the consumer side, I led a complete redesign of the online ordering experience.

The new flow focused on clarity, speed, and conversion while supporting the flexibility required by large brands. Users could discover restaurants based on location and preferences, manage carts seamlessly, and take advantage of loyalty programs, promotions, and upsells. Account creation, order history, and preference management were streamlined and intuitive.

At the same time, the experience supported deep customization so each enterprise client could maintain its brand identity without diverging from the core platform.

Rebuilding the enterprise admin console

The administration platform was redesigned to support complex operational workflows across departments.

We introduced role-specific dashboards, clearer task views, and streamlined flows for order management, inventory, reporting, and customer support. Budgeting and revenue tracking tools included inline calculations and clearer data presentation to reduce errors and speed decision-making.

In-app notifications, real-time updates, and contextual guidance helped users understand what required attention without overwhelming them. The result was an admin experience that supported both day-to-day operational work and higher-level strategic oversight.

Outcome and impact

The redesign transformed a fragmented legacy system into a cohesive, modern enterprise platform.

Usability improved across both consumer and admin experiences. Design consistency reduced training and support burden. The new design system enabled faster, safer delivery of new features. Most importantly, the platform evolved without disrupting existing customers or business operations.

The work laid the foundation for continued growth, allowing MSI to support new clients, expand capabilities, and modernize its technology stack with confidence.

✓ Reduced onboarding and training time for new users
✓ Cut development iteration cycles by over 30 percent
✓ Increased ordering conversion rates through streamlined flows
✓ Delivered fully responsive UI across all screens
✓ Supported consistent white-labeled rollouts for 20+ major brands