Aktana

Sr. Director of UX

At the end of 2023, Tact.ai was acquired by Aktana where I continue to contribute to the mission of inspiring better patient care by designing intuitive, AI-driven solutions that help pharmaceutical and life sciences companies streamline their go-to-market strategies with precision and adaptability across the product lifecycle.

The impact of this work is evident: top global pharmaceutical companies using Aktana's solutions have achieved up to 22% increased operational efficiency and 6% sales lift within their first year of implementation.

Caveat

Ongoing Work

As my work at Aktana is ongoing, much of what I'm doing isn't available to show at this time. If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out. Thanks for understanding.

Copilot

Adapting Tact to Aktana

Coming over to Aktana from Tact, my first priority was to update the Tact app to align with Aktana's styles and taxonomy.

This was primarily a matter of updating a few key colors globally, as my approach to visual design relies on using colors and visual elements sparingly, leveraging gestalt principles to expose relationships and meaning.

We also adjusted flows and navigation to accommodate changes in the feature set, ensuring the app seamlessly supported Aktana's evolving focus. These updates reflected the shift in priorities while maintaining an intuitive user experience.

With the addition of Copilot, Aktana moved beyond AI-driven recommendations into the CEP domain.

Marketing

From UI to Your Eye

As one of the people most familiar with Copilot's value, I've worked closely with marketing to position the app on the website and in sales pitches, highlighting its transformative capabilities.

While I wouldn't want to be responsible for all the copy on a website, I've often been a part of the process in developing a company's pitch, reviewing materials, or helping out with visuals.

Aktana Action Agents

From GenAI to Agentic AI

Combining lessons learned from Copilot's GenAI assistant and workflows, I'm currently designing Aktana's Action Agents.

Problem Statement
Develop an intuitive, CRM-agnostic AI interface that seamlessly integrates with existing systems (e.g., Veeva, Salesforce) to assist life sciences field teams in pre-call planning, call logging, and strategic decision-making.

The solution should leverage large language models (LLMs) to provide conversational AI capabilities, streamline workflows, and enhance healthcare professional (HCP) engagement.

Design Challenges
  1. Balancing Automation and User Control
  2. Communicating AI Confidence
  3. Streamlining Workflow Integration
  4. Minimizing Cognitive Load
  5. Encouraging Adoption and Engagement
  6. Data Security and Privacy Concerns

By addressing these usability challenges, the interface can provide a seamless, intuitive experience that boosts adoption and empowers users to achieve their goals efficiently.

Thinking about these challenges, it became apparent to me the typical measures of usability will fall short for agents. I'm working on a methodology that borrows from information theory and uses entropy as a measure.

Design

Refresh & Redesign

Problem Statement
The current admin app, initially developed for internal use, has grown organically over many years without a consistent vision or design strategy.

The lack of a unified approach has led to inconsistent navigation, a disjointed UI, overlapping features, performance issues, and significant friction for both new and experienced users.

To support the growing demands of the organization, the app must be redesigned with a focus on modernizing its interface, streamlining workflows, and improving overall performance.

The redesign is on track to provide a cohesive user experience, align with modern design standards, and enable scalability for future needs. It prioritizes usability, reliability, and efficiency, ensuring the app becomes an intuitive and powerful tool for all users.