Unifying budget management at Coca-Cola: from fragmentation to a scalable system

The problem and the solution:

Tool fragmentation at Coca-Cola limited operational efficiency. My role as Sr. designer was to lead the transition towards a unified platform (ICPT) that standardised strategic decisions.

Challenges and strategic decisions

The scope dilemma:

With a schedule of 7 months, we gave priority to the standardisation of the most critical workflows over secondary features, which secured the viability of the MVP.

Validation with users:

The design decisions were not assumptions; we validated them through interviews with members of the investment committee, which let us adjust the interface and reduce the cognitive load of campaign management.

A system, not loose screens

We designed a scalable design system to remove the visual inconsistency between regions. Component reuse also cut the operational load times and secured a coherent brand identity across the whole web app.

Collaboration and technical viability

A brilliant design is useless if nobody can build it. I worked closely with a team of 4 developers to make sure every component was technically viable.

We put handoff methods in place with clear technical specifications, in order to avoid translation errors in the code. Weekly synchronisation sessions audited technical viability before the close of each sprint.

Business impact

The result of the unification was a tangible improvement in operational efficiency.

Efficiency:

Less operational friction through the standardisation of global processes.

Scalability

A unified design system that allows future integrations in an agile way.

UX

An intuitive interface focused on fast and precise decisions.

Final reflection

My key lesson on this project: seniority is not measured in the number of pixels, but in how your design decisions solve real business problems and make the work of the development team easier.