Activity Sync is an internal sales productivity tool at Dell Technologies that automatically logs scheduled meetings from Outlook, SalesWorks, and Salesforce to generate trip reports. While this automation helped streamline reporting for planned meetings, it left a major gap in capturing ad-hoc sales conversations, which are often critical touchpoints.As the Lead UX/Product Designer, I was tasked with designing a streamlined manual entry experience for these impromptu meetings. The challenge was to create a solution that aligned with the fast-paced, mobile-first lifestyles of Dell’s global sales team, who often had limited time for administrative tasks.Through deep user research, task flow redesign, and contextual automation, I developed an intuitive workflow within Activity Sync that reduced meeting logging time by over 60%, improved data completeness, and increased CRM engagement. The project not only enhanced usability but also unlocked significant business value by recovering previously lost sales activity data.
To design an efficient and intuitive workflow for logging ad-hoc sales meetings within the Activity Sync platform, enabling Dell’s global sales team to capture critical client interactions with minimal effort, improve data accuracy in the CRM, and support scalable, insights-driven decision-making.
As the Lead UX/Product Designer, I followed a user-centered, iterative Design Thinking process to improve how global sales reps at Dell Technologies log impromptu meetings. The goal was to reduce friction, accommodate diverse work styles, and increase CRM data completeness. Each phase of the process was grounded in user empathy and business value alignment.
Business & Design Goals
Before defining design directions, I aligned closely with business stakeholders and sales operations leaders to internalize the strategic goals behind Activity Sync’s expansion:
Identify Users
We outlined their user audience's identity and wanted to ensure that the landing page is designed to meet their needs. We first wanted to establish a clear user pathway that satisfies different users' goals by thinking through scenarios that focus on the new user, recurring user, and potential investor.
User Discovery
I conducted qualitative research across multiple time zones, focusing on how salespeople work, where they lose efficiency, and how technology can blend into their limited admin windows.
- User Interviews with global sales reps
- Contextual Inquiry through shadowing and observation
- Sales Operations Workshops to map internal pain points
Insights Identified
- Sales reps spend minimal time (often 1–2 hours weekly) on laptops, and mostly on-the-go
- The current Salesforce-based flow for ad-hoc meetings was frustrating and time-consuming
- Users skipped logging meetings, causing data gaps in opportunity tracking and client history
User Personas
I developed personas based on key behavior patterns:
- Global Road Warrior – constantly traveling, limited laptop time, prefers quick mobile-friendly solutions
- Ops-Minded Rep – highly organized, prefers linking meetings to contacts/opportunities for performance tracking
- New Joiner – unfamiliar with processes, seeks intuitive, guided flows
User Needs & Pain Points
- A fast and familiar way to log unscheduled meetings
- Auto-fill and smart suggestions for reducing manual entry
- Visual clarity to distinguish between synced and manual entries
- Contact linking without redundant input
User Flow Redesign
I restructured the meeting creation flow to reflect real-world behavior and task frequency:
- Clear CTA: “Create New Trip”
- Auto-prefill subject, summary, and action items for recurring accounts
- Inline meeting type/date/status selectorsSmart contact suggestions (based on recent or account history)
Information Architecture Updates
- Divided meeting creation into digestible steps
- Grouped fields logically: Meeting Info → Opportunity → Contacts
- Ensured mobile-first layout for future scalability
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
To tackle the complexity of logging ad-hoc meetings in a way that aligned with how global sales reps actually worked, I began the design phase by creating multiple low-fidelity user flows that captured different paths a user might take to complete a meeting log. These flows varied in their entry points, form progression, contact management, and review logic.
Multiple Flow Concepts
Each flow was designed in Whimsical and evaluated for key traits like:
- Simplicity & SpeedSupport for automation (auto-fill from prior data)
- Clarity for distinguishing Outlook vs. ad-hoc entries
- Ease of linking accounts, opportunities, and contacts
Some flows followed a linear, step-by-step model, while others offered more flexibility through editable tables or inline forms. Each was crafted to reflect the diversity of workflows observed in our interviews from power users who wanted minimal friction, to newer reps who needed more hand-holding.
Team Evaluation & Decision-Making
I facilitated working sessions with:
- Sales Ops stakeholders
- Internal Salesforce integration specialists
- Product Managers
Together, we analyzed the pros and cons of each low-fi flow. The criteria included:
- Completion timeAccuracy potential
- Feasibility with Salesforce (SDFC) integration
- Learnability for new hires
Key tradeoffs emerged:
- Flows that offered flexibility led to user confusion without strong guidance.
- Guided flows helped ensure data completeness but could feel too rigid for experienced reps.
High-Fidelity Prototypes
After aligning on the optimal hybrid user flow through wireframing and stakeholder feedback, I transitioned into building interactive high-fidelity prototypes in Adobe XD. These prototypes were crafted with precision to reflect realistic UI behavior, helping stakeholders and users visualize the final experience in context.
Key design features included:
Data Automation
Repetitive fields like Subject, Summary, and Action Items were set to prepopulate when linked to existing accounts or opportunities. This reduced manual input and prevented data inconsistency.
Predictive Contact Suggestions
Based on account history and recent activity, the system offered smart suggestions for internal and external contacts streamlining the add-contact process with fewer clicks.
Visual Differentiation
Outlook-synced meetings were visually marked with a blue indicator, while manually entered ad-hoc meetings were left unmarked. This visual cue helped users quickly identify meeting sources within the dashboard.
Flexible Controls
Users could edit, delete (with reason capture for audit logs), and clone previously logged meetings. The clone feature was especially valuable for recurring meeting types—saving significant time and effort.
UI Principles Applied
Minimal Cognitive Load
Clear layout, intuitive grouping of form fields, and progressive disclosure helped users focus on one task at a time.
Input Clarity & Hierarchy
Labels, placeholder guidance, and section dividers ensured each interaction was straightforward and error-proof.
Visual Consistency
The entire interface aligned with Dell’s internal design system, maintaining enterprise-grade visual standards and accessibility compliance.
Usability Testing
I conducted remote usability testing with a diverse group of global sales reps and internal stakeholders. Using real-world scenarios, participants were asked to:
- Create a new ad-hoc meeting
- Link it to an existing account and opportunity
- Add both internal and external contactsSubmit and review the trip entry
Key Findings:
- Some users skipped the final review screen, assuming the data had auto-saved.
- Others struggled with the contact field, often clicking away before typing in a search query.
- Some users weren’t aware that cloning a meeting would also duplicate its contact list.
Iterations Implemented:
- Added subtle progress indicators and emphasized the final “Save” CTA on the review screen.
- Enhanced field-level validation with clear error messages and improved focus states.
- Introduced inline tooltips and helper text for less-used functions (e.g., Clone, Delete).
Cognitive Walkthroughs
Post-launch, I conducted cognitive walkthroughs with target users to evaluate the logical flow of the design. Each walkthrough involved answering a structured set of questions:
“Is this what you expected to see?”
“Are you making progress toward your goal?”
“What would your next action be?”
“What do you expect to happen next?”
This method helped surface subtle usability barriers and guided final refinements that aligned mental models with interface behavior.
Buisness Impact
The redesigned ad-hoc meeting logging experience had a significant impact on both usability and business outcomes.
- Within the first quarter, the new flow saved over 10,000 hours of manual logging time, with a projected annual savings of 120,000 hours.
- The number of activities linked to opportunities increased by 2.5×, and CRM contact creation rose by 3.3×.
- User engagement, measured via customer Net Promoter Score (cNPS), more than doubled, and the form completion rate improved from 52% to 88%.
This transformation positioned Activity Sync as a vital productivity tool for the sales team, closing a critical data gap and enhancing pipeline visibility across the organization.