Conducting Research and Analysis

As the UX Researcher, I conducted in-depth

• User Research: to understand user’s pain points

• Desk research: to understand competition and market fit

I structured the desk and user research findings as follows:

1. Understanding the target audience

   1. Demographic study of ship management company Synergy Marine’s crew helped us to learn about crew rankings, wages, career trajectory, start-to-end process of a ship voyage.

   2. 1:1 interviews with crew of different ranks (e.g. ship masters, engineers, cook, etc) and crew managers (e.g. recruiter, accountant, etc) gave us insights into their financial challenges and preferences.

   3. For example, we learnt that:

      1. As seafarers are wage workers, most do not meet the requirements to apply for a bank credit card. In the SeaBoard app, users may apply for physical and virtual debit cards that allow online and offline purchases - this gives us an edge over our competitors.
         

2. Analysing the financial ecosystem

   1. Analyzed historical data on currency fluctuations (especially between Indian Rupee (INR) to US Dollar (USD)) to quantify the potential financial losses faced by seafarers.

   2. Researched the limitations of banking facilities available to seafarers while at sea. This included identifying gaps in existing banking services and exploring technological possibilities to bridge these gaps.

   3. For example, we learnt that:

      1. Most seafarers prefer to be paid and save in USD but existing set up only allows INR.

      2. Unstable and limited network at sea means seafarers need an app that has low data usage.
         

3. Wage payment systems

   1. Examined how seafarers are paid and studied payroll systems and processes used by ship management companies.

   2. For example, we learnt that:

      1. Monthly wage disbursement is a manual and tedious effort involving multiple stakeholders such as seafarer, ship captain and accountants.
         

4. Security and compliance

   1. Assessed the security requirements and compliance aspects of launching a digital wallet, including data protection and taxation matters.

   2. For example, we learnt that:

      1. Indian seafarers attain different tax residency statuses based on the duration spent outside of the country. This affects their tax rate and the need to declare their income. Since most spend >182 days outside of India, they will be able to hold money in other jurisdictions (in the case of SeaBoard, where money is held in Singapore) without being taxed.
         

5. Market analysis

   1. Analysed the competitive landscape to identify existing solutions addressing similar problems and how they compare with our product.

   2. Identified market gaps and opportunities where our product can provide an edge over competitors.

   3. For example, we learnt that:

      1. The seafarer community is close-knit and many rely on word-of-mouth when making decisions.

      2. Money loaning or chit funds is a value adding feature that most competitors lack.

      3. Many digital wallets are either localized (e.g. PhonePe) or have high focus in the Europe/North America markets (e.g. Revolut).

Mapping User Journeys

As I double hat as the service designer, I helmed the efforts on translating the research findings to a seamless user experience through user journey mapping.

Seafarer's onboarding journey

In-app transfer money flow

• Product Manager

• Product Owner

• Agile Coach