Reframing a $40M Enterprise Investment
Business Viability & Experimentation
A proposed $40M enterprise initiative had already gained momentum, but critical assumptions about its long-term viability had never been tested. I helped reassess the business case, prototype the future-state experience, and evaluate the solution through a human-centered and commercial lens. The work redirected $8M toward higher-value opportunities and avoided $16M in implementation costs, ensuring investment decisions were grounded in evidence rather than assumptions.
This work is covered by an NDA; client details and proprietary materials have been anonymized while preserving the strategic approach, design process, and outcomes.
Client Name
Kemper Corporation
Project Name
Reframing a $40M Enterprise Investment
Role
AVP, Business Transformation
Approach
Business Analysis → Assumption Testing → Experience Prototype → Executive Alignment → Investment Decision
Goal
Determine whether a proposed enterprise investment would create sustainable customer and business value before large-scale implementation.
Challenge
A major enterprise initiative had already secured significant investment despite critical assumptions remaining untested, creating substantial financial and operational risk.
Scope
Business Case Development | Opportunity Assessment | Experience Prototyping | Executive Facilitation | Investment Strategy
Location
National
Value Created
$8M redirected | $16M implementation costs avoided | Evidence-based investment strategy
Process
00 Opportunity
How might we validate whether a proposed $40M enterprise investment would create meaningful customer and business value before scaling implementation?
01 Discovery
Understanding the Investment:
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Business case review
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Stakeholder interviews
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Strategic priorities
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Customer journey
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Operational pain points
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Existing assumptions
Key Insights:
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The proposed solution addressed symptoms rather than root causes.
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Critical customer assumptions had never been validated.
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Implementation complexity exceeded anticipated business value.
02 Reframe
Synthesize & Reframe:
The question shifted from:
"How do we implement this?"
to
"Should we implement this at all?"
Problem Statement
The challenge wasn't implementation.
It was determining whether the proposed solution represented the right investment.
Design Principles:
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Evidence before scale.
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Customer value before implementation.
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Experiment before commitment.
03 Experiment
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Rapid prototype
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Future-state experience
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Stakeholder walkthroughs
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Executive feedback
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Scenario testing
The prototype was a learning tool.
04 Learn
The most valuable outcome wasn't the prototype itself—it was the evidence it generated.
By testing assumptions before scaling, we uncovered where the proposed solution created value, where it introduced risk, and where investment would have the greatest strategic impact.
Those insights reshaped executive alignment and informed a more confident investment decision.
05 Decide
Decisions:
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Redirected investment.
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Refined roadmap.
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Prioritized higher-value opportunities.
Impact
$8M Reallocated
Redirected investment toward initiatives with greater strategic value.
Evidence-Based Decisions
Introduced rapid experimentation as a mechanism for executive investment decisions.
$16M Avoided
Prevented implementation costs by validating assumptions before scaling.
Business Viability
Shifted the organization from assumption-driven planning toward evidence-based prioritization.
Reflection
This project reinforced one of the most important lessons of my career: the value of design isn't measured only by what gets built—it's also measured by what shouldn't be built. By testing assumptions before committing to large-scale implementation, we transformed uncertainty into evidence and enabled better strategic decisions.