Health & Wellbeing | Service Design | B2B | Digital Transformation
One Service: Transforming AXA Health's Corporate Experience
Client
AXA Health
Timeline
8 months
Role
Design Director
Overview & Challenge
AXA Health was on a mission to move beyond their traditional role as an insurance provider to help people bring out their best selves through wellbeing services. However, the market was already saturated with wellbeing products. Our challenge was to create a market-leading vision and launch a Minimum Viable Product that could deliver affordable, personalised, and expert-led services in this competitive landscape.
Key Challenges
- Identifying which patients needed urgent referral for specialist care
- Standardising the comprehensive patient evaluation process
- Creating a digital tool that healthcare professionals with varying technical skills could use easily
- Designing for different healthcare scenarios and practitioner roles (pharmacists, nurses, GPs)
- Addressing the liability concerns associated with health recommendations
- Balancing clinical requirements with usability and patient experience
- Integrating the tool with existing healthcare workflows
My Approach & Contribution
As Service Design Director, I led a transformation program focused on understanding the current state and designing a unified future vision. I embedded myself with the AXA team to drive collaboration across traditionally siloed health departments.
What I did
1. Conducted extensive research to identify pain points in the current system
3. Led 6 focused design sprints covering mental health, occupational health, proactive wellbeing, and other key areas
5. Created current and future state journeys and service blueprints for each sprint
7. Worked with solution architects to assess technical feasibility
2. Created a unified service concept with representatives from all health departments
4. Collaborated with clinical experts to understand operational barriers and requirements
6. Developed mobile wireframes to visualize improved user journeys
8. Tested concepts with employees and line managers
We recognized that the fragmentation of health services created significant barriers to employee wellbeing. Our solution focused on four key recommendations:
Simplify Access
Reduced the process from 17 steps to just one simple entry point2.
ntegrated Appointment Booking
Developed a single appointment system across all services
Eliminate Redundancies
Identified and removed repetitive steps (forms, conversations)
Digital Transformation
Designed a unified mobile interface to access all services
Results & Impact
01
Created a "One Service" concept that employees and line managers found extremely valuable
03
Improved collaboration between previously siloed health departments
05
Established design patterns for future health service innovations
02
Significantly reduced time needed to access health services
04
Retained major corporate clients including Barclays and Facebook
06
Enhanced employee wellness support through more accessible services
Key Learnings
Break complex challenges into focused design sprints. Tackling distinct areas (mental health, occupational health, wellbeing) separately allowed us to address unique needs while maintaining a cohesive vision—an approach I'd recommend for any multifaceted service ecosystem.
Simplicity and clinical integrity aren't opposing forces. The most effective healthcare experiences don't sacrifice either—they find the elegant middle ground where usability actually enhances safety and effectiveness rather than compromising it.
Regulated environments benefit most from systematic design. Rather than seeing regulations as limitations, using structured service design methodologies creates space for meaningful innovation while respecting necessary boundaries and requirements.
 |  |  |
|---|
