Designing a Platform to Streamline
Financial Management for SMEs
TYPE
Self-initiated
PLATFORM
Web Application for Desktop
ROLE
UX Design
UI Design
Research
A close friend of mine has a father who runs a small local finance business, lending money and earning interest on top of the principal. My friend, inspired by this, wanted to start a small enterprise in the fisheries industry.
While talking to him, I learned about the challenges he faced, especially around accessing loans and understanding the benefits offered by the government. He explained how fragmented and complicated the entire process is, which got me thinking about how much easier things could be if there was a more streamlined way for small entrepreneurs to manage finances and access the resources they need. That conversation planted the seed for this project.
"Wouldn't it be great," we thought, "if small businesses could access all their financial tools, insights, and support in one place—without the hassle of juggling multiple platforms or processes?"
What makes financial management so challenging for small businesses?
Understanding this required a deeper dive into their world. I interviewed four small business owners from diverse fields, each highlighting unique struggles. Ravi, who runs
a dairy farm, finds it overwhelming to keep track of cash flow and expenses. Meera,
a boutique owner, struggles with accessing clear government loan benefits. Ramesh, managing a small factory, shared how tough it is to forecast finances, while Shruti,
a freelance designer, talked about her frustration with juggling multiple apps for invoicing and payments.
Synthesizing the key takeaways (using empathy maps) revealed recurring themes:
I’m constantly switching between apps; nothing feels connected or seamless
It’s so confusing to understand which government schemes I can benefit from.
I don’t have a background in finance, so all these numbers just feel overwhelming.
I wish my financial data could guide me instead of me guessing every time.
These insights made it clear that small business owners need a solution that simplifies and consolidates their financial management process.
These insights served as the foundation for building FinLink, a tool designed to empower small businesses with clarity and control over their financial landscape.
Which formed some key insights:
Small business owners often juggle multiple apps for invoicing, expense tracking, and cash flow management, leading to inefficiency and confusion.
Fragmented Tools
Financial data feels complex and disconnected, making it hard for SMEs to extract actionable insights or plan effectively.
Overwhelming Data
Many SMEs struggle to navigate government schemes and loans, leaving potential benefits untapped.
Missed Opportunities
Business owners want financial solutions that are tailored to their specific industry and challenges, rather than one-size-fits-all tools.
Lack of Personalization
Bringing the Vision to Life: Kicking it up to high fidelity
With a clear understanding of the users' pain points from the early testing and a well-defined feature set, it was time to transform the initial sketches and low-fidelity wireframes into high-fidelity designs. The goal was to create a visually appealing, functional, and user-friendly experience that would empower SMBs like Rhea and Nithin to manage their finances with ease.
Introducing the Dashboard
The Dashboard is the central hub of the FinLink platform, providing SMBs with a comprehensive overview of their financial health at a glance. Designed with clarity, simplicity, and usability in mind, the dashboard empowers users like Rhea and Aarav to make data-driven financial decisions with ease.
Got Questions? Let's Connect!
If you're curious about the details of this project or want to dive deeper into the design process, feel free to reach out! All the information you need can be found in the footer below. Let’s chat and explore how we can create meaningful solutions together!
Conclusion
While this case study highlights the dashboard, FinLink offers much more. From in-depth analytics to budgeting, integrations, and financial networking, each screen is thoughtfully designed. There's plenty more to explore, feel free to reach out!
With AI-powered forecasting-FinSight, users can make more informed financial decisions, anticipate trends, and plan for the future with confidence. The platform allows for goal-setting and progress tracking, helping users achieve financial stability and growth.
Looking ahead, there is potential for further development, such as deeper customization, enhanced automation, and smarter insights powered by AI. The journey doesn’t end here, as continuous improvement is essential for any product to meet evolving user needs. Each design decision was rooted in usability, accessibility, and simplicity—ensuring that FinLink remains a valuable tool for SMEs striving for better financial clarity and control.
FinLink makes financial management effortless for SMBs, turning complex data into clear, actionable insights. Beyond the dashboard, it streamlines transactions, budgeting, forecasting, and integrations, giving businesses the clarity and control they need.
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UX Design
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Design Process
Problem & Scope
IA & Wireframing
Iteration & Refinement
High-Fidelity UI Design
Research & Discovery
A structured design process was followed to analyse financial management challenges, ensuring an intuitive and efficient experience for SMBs.
Here’s why SMBs struggle with financial management today
and how FinLink changes the game
To make FinLink stand out, we analyzed top financial tools like QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Xero, and Zoho Books. We compared features like AI forecasting, automation, and user experience—finding gaps FinLink fills to simplify SMB financial management.
Competitive Analysis
Key Differentiators of FinLink
AI-Powered Financial Forecasting (FinSight)
Integrated Business Networking for SMBs
User-Friendly Budgeting & Goal Progress Tracking
Automated Financial Health Indicators
Seamless Collaboration & Permissions for Teams
Here is the radar chart comparing FinLink against competitors like QuickBooks, Xero, Wave and Zoho Books across key parameters. FinLink stands out with higher scores in critical areas like Forecasting, Automation, and User Experience.
Customer Journey Map
The Customer Journey Map traces Rhea's financial management experience, from discovering the platform to achieving her financial goals. It highlights her emotions, pain points, and interactions at each stage, from onboarding to daily use. By understanding her journey, FinLink is designed to deliver a seamless, intuitive experience that addresses her needs and enhances her financial well-being
Information Architecture
FinLink’s Information Architecture ensures seamless navigation, making financial management effortless for SMBs. Every section is structured for clarity, helping users track, plan, and forecast with ease.
User Flow
Since Rhea is our primary user persona, the user flow will revolve around her primary goal: Effortlessly managing finances and gaining insights. Here's the structure for the user flow:
Displays the current balance, available funds, and pending incoming payments. Users can click the "Forecast" button powered by FinSight AI to predict future cash flow and financial trends.
Balance
Visualizes income, expenses, and the difference for the selected week, month, or year. Users can track category-wise expenses like rent, transportation, food, and electricity, with an option to view a detailed report.
Expense vs Income
Monitor progress toward financial goals like emergency funds, savings, and debt repayment using interactive sliders. Easily edit goals or add funds directly, keeping your financial ambitions on track.
Goals
Track your net worth with insights on equity, cash, and gold, alongside past trends. Use FinSight to forecast future growth and make informed financial decisions.
Net Worth
Displays a graphical overview of cash inflows and outflows over time. Users can access future predictions with the "Forecast" button and view detailed transaction insights via the "Details" option.
Cashflow
Provides an overall financial health score based on key factors like bill payments, cash flow, debt-to-income ratio, and savings health. Each metric is scored individually, with a combined score offering a comprehensive financial well-being snapshot.
Financial Health Indicator
Track upcoming, pending, and completed payments all in one view. Use the dropdown filter to sort payments by status, ensuring timely management of dues and financial commitments.
Payments
The Heart of FinLink
The Settings screen allows users to manage accounts, permissions, and alerts with ease, ensuring control over security and preferences.
Settings
The Reports screen offers clear insights with Financial Statements, Taxes, and Payroll options, enabling users to track expenses, analyse trends, and make informed decisions.
Reports
Considering the interface: Wireframes
Wireframes were essential for shaping FinLink’s dashboard, allowing for quick visualization of complex financial data and faster design decisions while gathering user feedback before high-fidelity UI development. Below are the two folds, latter wireframe appears on scroll.
Rhea and Aarav already have a foundational understanding of their financial needs and the challenges with fragmented banking services. Once the platform gains traction and additional resources, the focus could expand to support a third user type: entrepreneurs who are new to financial management and need guidance to navigate their business's financial journey effectively.
To narrow down the core issues, I created user stories to define what the product should achieve:
Rhea
As a first-time entrepreneur, I want to consolidate all my financial data in one platform, so I can save time and focus on growing my business
Nithin
As a small business owner, I want personalized insights and advice, so I can better understand and manage my cash flow effectively.
Iterating Through Insights
The initial low-fidelity prototype for FinLink was prepared for real user testing.
I distributed it among a diverse group of potential small to medium-sized business users to understand how easily they could navigate the dashboard, understand financial information and perform essential tasks such as tracking expenses, setting goals, and predicting net worth.
After usability testing, I synthesized key observations. This helped me uncover pain points, prioritize changes and align future iterations of the design with real user needs.
Users may need tooltips or onboarding nudges when using the dashboard for the first time.
Some users expected Payments to appear earlier, we learned that urgent actions should always be surfaced above the fold or made sticky.
A few participants said the scroll felt long, we considered a tabbed layout for future versions to reduce vertical fatigue.
It's crucial to test frequently and at the earliest stages, particularly when launching a new product.
Empathy Map
The empathy map for FinLink captures Rhea's needs, motivations, and frustrations, offering a deep understanding of her financial challenges to design a user-centered experience.
Rhea
About
Computer(s)
Laptop (primary),
uses a smartphone for quick financial updates on the go.
Occupation
Owner of a small home-based boutique business
Location
Urban area, Hyderabad, India
Age
32
Tech Proficiency
Intermediate
Comfortable using web applications like Quickbooks,
Google Sheets, and online banking platforms
GOALS
Understand her business's cash flow and where her money is being spent.
Get tailored financial advice to grow her business sustainably.
Have a single platform to track and manage her finances seamlessly.
FRUSTRATIONS
Juggling multiple apps that don’t sync with each other, leading to lost
time.
Lacks financial knowledge and finds it hard to make informed decisions.
Overwhelmed by complex financial terminologies and insights that aren't
actionable.
"I want to manage my finances better, but the process feels overwhelming and scattered."
Rhea is a first-time entrepreneur running a small handmade soap business from her home. Her business has recently gained traction, but managing finances remains a constant struggle. She uses a mix of spreadsheets, banking apps, and accounting tools, but none of them feel integrated or personalized to her needs.
Persona 1
Nithin
About
Computer(s)
Desktop at the office (primary), laptop for remote work,
and smartphone to check updates while on the go.
Occupation
Co-founder and Manager of a wholesale distribution company
Location
Kochi, India
Age
41
Tech Proficiency
Advanced
Skilled with financial tools like Tally, Xero, and enterprise-level
accounting software.
GOALS
Receive actionable insights on fund allocation and business growth
opportunities.
Save time by having all financial tools and reports in one place.
Gain confidence in making decisions based on accurate financial data.
FRUSTRATIONS
Financial tools often provide generic insights that don’t align with his industry needs.
Finds it hard to interpret complex financial reports and metrics.
Feels isolated from tailored solutions that understand the unique challenges of his fisheries business.
"I need better insights to help me grow my business without spending hours crunching numbers."
Aarav runs a medium-sized fisheries business in a small town. While his business is profitable, he often struggles to allocate funds effectively and make confident decisions about expansion. Aarav relies on local accountants and advice from peers but feels disconnected from modern financial tools that could make his life easier.
Persona 2
User Personas
We noticed varying frustrations between small-scale local entrepreneurs and more established SMEs. Personas became a valuable tool to distinguish these two groups with differing challenges, helping us keep their unique needs in focus throughout the design process.