Grof: Designing new onboarding for users while rebuilding internal tooling
Role
UI design, UX design, user research
Timeline
Q1-Q2 2024
Platform
Web App
About Product
Grof is a trusted corporate and accounting service, helping over 2,000 SME founders in Singapore and Malaysia with compliance, legal documentation, accounting, tax, and regulatory filing.
We rebuilt Grof’s onboarding process to help companies incorporate their business with our agents. Additionally, we enhanced the internal web application, aimed at helping internal teams to manage users’ applications effectively and maintain proper documentation.
BUSINESS PROBLEMS: A COMPLIANCE WAKE-UP CALL
The largest money laundering case in Singapore exposed vulnerability in financial regulations. Grof had to quickly adapt to stricter compliance measurements.
Unfortunately, our existing onboarding system didn’t meet the new regulatory demands, forcing us to pause other projects and rapidly implement changes.
Image: the previous version of Know Your Business (KYB) process
USER PROBLEMS: A UNCLEAR & UNCERTAIN PROCESS
The regulatory shift didn’t just impact businesses. It also created friction for users navigating the onboarding process.
Users included clients using our app and internal teams managing compliance through the admin system. Both groups faced growing frustrations.
Image: the previous version of Know Your Customer (KYC) process
PROJECT TIMELINE & PROCESS: MADE INTO BITE-SIZED
We prioritized the features to ensure we delivering the most important solutions, not wasting resources & time and disrupt the existing flow.
We had a lot on our plate, and it couldn’t be completed in one sitting. So, we created 4 development phases and distributed the features.
Image: The planned timeline. Spoiler: After Phase 2, things didn’t go as expected, we shifted priorities, reduced the scope of some features, and removed one feature entirely.
VALIDATING USER PROBLEMS
We validated the problems by conducting user interviews and analyzing friction points using Hotjar.
User Interviews
Our stakeholders interviewed clients to understand their onboarding experience with the current onboarding process and pain points they encountered.
We also had discussions with the service team to understand their regular workflow.
Hotjar Analysis
We used Hotjar’s Heatmaps to pinpoint where users dropped off during onboarding. Some users submit a report to our customer service team, providing additional insights into their frustrations.
*Due to confidentiality, I am unable to provide further details on these processes.
THE GOAL: REGULATORY CLARITY
How might we digitize and streamline Grof’s onboarding process to ensure compliance with new regulations while improving clarity for clients and efficiency for the internal team?
TURNING UNCERTAINTY INTO ACTION
Throughout the project, we focused on understanding the core issues that both users faced.
Such as identifying the regulatory requirements we needed to meet, and designing a system that balanced both user experience and compliance needs. This section highlights the key problems we tackled and the solutions we implemented.
Understand the type of clients
There are two types of clients: an existing company that wants to change its corporate agency (Transfer In) and a new company incorporated in Singapore (Incorporation).
For Transfer In clients, we solely depend on ACRA for the company information.
Image: The flow of Transfer In client during the company information process
Otherwise, Incorporation clients have to provide their company information. We are also going to check the availability of the company name.
Image: The flow of Incorporation client during the company information process
Data Collecting
The onboarding process is a way for the service team to get to know the company and gather important and necessary information for government regulations, our partner, and Grof’s needs.
Collecting as much important information as we need from clients helps the team to proceed with their request quickly.
Collecting Company Information
The onboarding process allows the service team to get to know the company and gather important and necessary information for government regulations, our partner, and Grof’s needs.
Image: Besides company information, we also collected some additional information from the client.
Collecting Stakeholder Information
The service team will then ensure that the client's credentials align with the nature of the business and verify the legitimate source of their shareholders’ investment funding.
Image: Stakeholder information is collected in two stages: collectively during the KYB process, and individually during the KYC process.
Taking our successful product in
Beyond compliance, Grof also offers financial tools, allowing clients to track spending, manage currencies, and make payments through Grof’s Business Account.
“As our financial tools quite promising, I want to introduce them to new clients, so they know the value we provides. Is it possible?” - Stakeholder.
How might we introduce our financial tool feature to new clients and encourage them to add it?
With the new starting page, we want to make it easier for users to select the service they wish to onboard with us.
Image: Introducing Grof’s financial tools at the start of the onboarding journey, helping users understand the full value of our services from day one.
Let user track their onboarding process
“What is the next step? What should I do next? When can I get the updates?”
These were some of the most common questions from users—reflecting the uncertainty they faced during onboarding.
How might we reduce uncertainty for users by keeping users informed throughout the progress?
We introduced a multi-step progress indicator to break down the onboarding journey into clear, actionable stages. This visual guide gives users a better sense of where they are and what’s coming next.
Image: The breakdown of sidebar components
On the internal side, we implemented a Corp Sec Status dropdown, allowing our service team to update each client’s progress in real-time. These updates are automatically reflected on the user side, ensuring alignment and transparency.
Image: The component of Corp Sec Status in our internal tools.
Make Ops team's job easier during the data-checking process
The major changes in the service team workflow are during the data collection and data checking parts.
Image: The comparison of previous and current service team workflow
Image: New feature where compliance teams can check the screening result of stakeholder and company
Image: New feature document storage within company's application ticket
LAUNCH & TRAINING
After launching the product internally, we conducted a training call with the service team and gave them a week to explore the system before launching it publicly.
The service team includes the corporate secretary, compliance, and client support services. The purpose is to introduce them to the new internal system and onboarding process, so the CSS team can guide users during the process and answer their questions.
OUTCOME & IMPACT
Grof rolled out a new onboarding system for both new and existing clients. So far, 500+ companies and their stakeholders have successfully completed onboarding through the new system.
Restored regulatory compliance at scale by redesigning the onboarding flow to meet updated local regulatory requirements, enabling the business to resume paused initiatives with confidence.
Improved internal team efficiency by 30% by eliminating manual data entry and aligning work-progress tracking across compliance, corporate secretary, and client support services.
LESSON LEARNED
Building the new compliance onboarding process felt like diving into multiple pools at once, balancing operational realities, client expectations, and evolving government regulations. Also, finding the “sweet spot”.
This project taught me an important lesson: some products aren’t meant to be “finished”. In regulated environments, design is a continuous process that must evolve alongside policy changes and enforcement standards.
The most up-to-date version of the product lives in Grof’s platform itself.
A good teamwork made this happen
Obviously, I couldn’t have done this alone. I’m lucky to have amazing teammates (both past and current) who worked closely with me throughout this journey. I deeply appreciate all the effort they put into making this project possible.
Product Design Team: Daphne, Agil, Cecil, and Audrey
Engineering Team: Rega, Rora, Anggita, Bagus, Bram, Abid, Rico and Agus
Service Team: Tingyi, Caiyu, Nadia, Liyana, Ashley, and Krizza
And a big thank you to everyone from other departments whose feedback was invaluable during the process.