Aravind Rangaswamy

Aravind Rangaswamy

WORKFLOw BUILDEr · WEB

Empowering teams to define SaaS renewal approval flows

Productiv, a SaaS management platform, was well-received for its license optimization capabilities, but this core offering was often seen as a one-time activity, limiting long-term ROI. To address this, the App Procurement Hub (APH) was introduced to streamline recurring app renewals, automate workflows, and integrate contract data, driving sustained engagement and value.

From ideation to release it took us 6 months, including a beta release. APH was launched in Dec 2022, was a very well received by our customers. The success of APH resulted in creating a new product offering Enterprise Suite which included all of Productiv core offering plus APH.

ABOUT PRODUCTIV

Productiv is a SaaS management platform that helps organizations optimize software investments by providing insights into usage, automating workflows, and enabling data-driven decisions.

Challenge

Design a workflow builder for Procurement managers to build custom SaaS renewal approval & review process, to ensure timely renewal & get more time for vendor negotiations.

My ROLe

I was responsible for the gathering requirements, conducting user research, design iterations, user testing, design handoff and QA. For this project i collaborated with CPO and Eng lead during ideation phase and later on with development team

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Inefficient renewal process, driving up costs

Procurement managers struggle with managing app renewals due to delayed approvals, reliance on manual processes, and challenges coordinating stakeholders across IT, Finance, and department heads. These inefficiencies lead to missed deadlines, auto-renewals, limited negotiation power, and unclear accountability, resulting in increased costs and reduced flexibility.

User RESEARCH & INSIGHTS

Understanding software procurement & related challenges

Our research aimed to understand the primary challenges faced during app procurement and renewals. The focus was on identifying key pain points, required attributes for renewals, stakeholder involvement, and existing inefficiencies in the process.

Method

Insights

Results

I synthesized the data obtained as part of the user research to identify key patterns and potential solutions.

Ideation

  • To ideate the solution, i conducted a How Might We exercise to identify potential solutions, along with CPO & Engineering manager

  • Once we identified the potential solutions, we then narrowed down the solutions based on feasibility.

  • The features were then sorted based on features intended for MVP, and future releases.


Method

Insights

Results

I synthesized the data obtained as part of the user research to identify key patterns and potential solutions.

Ideation

  • To ideate the solution, i conducted a How Might We exercise to identify potential solutions, along with CPO & Engineering manager

  • Once we identified the potential solutions, we then narrowed down the solutions based on feasibility.

  • The features were then sorted based on features intended for MVP, and future releases.


PERSONA

“I wish i have more time to be on top of my renewals”

IDEATION

Researching ideal interaction model for workflow builder

Identify interaction pattern

Getting inspired by industry leaders in workflow builder space, and identifying a interaction pattern that suits our solution.

Understanding domain taxonomy

Task flows

Identify interaction pattern

Getting inspired by industry leaders in workflow builder space, and identifying a interaction pattern that suits our solution.

Understanding domain taxonomy

Task flows

BETA release

Renewal workflow

As part of the MVP beta release we launched workflow builder to aid users model their renewal workflow process into the product via the builder

ITERATION

Addressing user feedback

Post releasing the MVP we spoke to users to identify potential gaps and areas of improvement, we spoke to Procurement and IT users across 5 companies who started using our MVP. Although most of the them agreed the solution did address their pain point of automating renewals. They did share feedback around the limitations of feature

Interaction didn’t work well for building complex workflows

Need ability trigger steps in parallel

Users complained that

navigating a complex

workflow was difficult

Based on the feedback received i iterated on the designs and delivered the final mocks to the development team along with the design documentation

FINAL DESIGNS

We launched the workflow builder product in Dec 2022

The feature was well received by our customers and it helped Productiv to venture into a new domain of procurement

Impact

Enhancing user engagement and driving ROI growth

Workflow builder successfully validated the hypothesis that addressing app renewals as a recurring pain point would enhance user engagement and generate revenue. By automating and streamlining renewal processes, it positioned Productiv as a critical tool for managing SaaS lifecycles, creating value for customers and strengthening Productiv's market position.

25%

Increased Engagement

during the MVP

phase.

40%

Time Savings: as reported by

Procurement teams

15%

Revenue Growth

Aravind Rangaswamy · aravindrswamy@gmail.com · 669 225 8310

LinkedIn

Aravind Rangaswamy · aravindrswamy@gmail.com · 669 225 8310

LinkedIn