Case Studies

Experience & Transformation Leader
~ Design, Product, Research, Strategy & Delivery ~
Cartoon-style illustration of Catherine Hills with shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes, and a bright smile.

My work spans sectors, including pre‑acquisition readiness, post‑acquisition integration, service transformation, AI‑enabled experience strategy and enterprise‑scale capability uplift. Each case study demonstrates how I bring structure to ambiguity, align cross‑functional teams and deliver outcomes that are human‑centred, technically sound and commercially meaningful.

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Selected strategy & delivery case studies

👉🏼$2B Platform Integration - Single Platform Experience

After a venture capital-led $2B deal, two professional learning platform ecosystems were brought together, requiring the integration of two complex ecosystems across web and mobile. In my role as Product Design and Experience Research Director for the line of business that was the acquired platform, I partnered with other leaders on the integration program to merge the platforms, align teams across geographies and deliver a seamless customer experience.

Activities

To reach our goals: 

  • Co-led cross‑functional teams across AU, US, and LATAM with delivery leadership trios (AU/US).
  • Benchmarked both platforms, mapped E2E journeys, redesigned IA and unified feature sets.
  • Rebuilt AU design operations and stabilised the team through six restructures.
  • Partnered with engineering, product, and data to prioritise high‑value milestones.
  • Co-directed and co-delivered the Single Platform Experience across web and mobile across regions (APAC/US) and integrated business lines, including the India Technology Centre.

Results

Outcomes reached: 

  • Enabled customer migration and reduced operational complexity.
  • Met milestones as agreed with VC firm.
  • Improved learner activation and engagement.
  • Recognised as Ways of Working PDLC Champion and Values Ambassador.

Key Reflection

I partner in leading high‑stakes, multi‑platform integrations with clarity, alignment and customer‑centred decision‑making.

👉🏼 Creating a New $18M+ Line of Business

Gartner identified a major gap in our SAAS platform ecosystem offering: limited support for cohort‑based learning.  In my role as Product Design and Experience Research Director for the line of business we ran, we decided to build on existing knowledge of group learning and B2B and B2C learner experiences, to validate the opportunity and shape a new product line.

Activities

To reach our goals, I led the following tasks: 

  • Directed mixed‑methods research across AU and US.
  • Conducted enterprise leader interviews, learner surveys, and competitive analysis.
  • Facilitated cross‑functional workshops to align product, engineering across the global line of business.
  • Presented findings to executives including CEO, CPO, and CRO.

Results

Outcomes reached: 

  • Identified a conservatively sized $18M ARR opportunity.
  • Secured C‑level endorsement to standup a delivery stream and MVP delivery milestones.
  • Established the “Group Learning Foundations” domain and kicked off pilots.
  • Lifted team engagement after 18 months of integration fatigue.
  • Hands-On learning recognised as a leader by Forrester.

Key Reflection

Together with key partners and my team, I identified new revenue opportunities, validated them rigorously and influenced executive decision‑making.

👉🏼 Global AI Offer & Curriculum Build

A global organisation needed a coherent, scalable AI learning offer to meet rapidly growing demand across government, financial services, telecommunications, and private sector organisations. The concept required structure, curriculum materials and a clear operating model. In my role as Director I stood up an internal offer and curriculum delivery team that was supported by members of the Data & AI, engineering, change and the global leadership team.

Activities

To reach our goals: 

  • Designed the Offer Structure:  In my role as Director, the team and I designed a two‑phase model, Discovery and Training Delivery, that combined organisational maturity assessment, role family mapping, capability uplift, and hands‑on AI learning experiences.
  • Built the Curriculum: The team and I developed the curriculum using existing materials, global thought leadership, and sector‑specific tailoring. This included demos, hands‑on activities, and flexible learning pathways suitable for different industries.
  • Aligned Global Stakeholders: I established collaboration channels across Australia, the UK, APAC and India. I socialised strategy drafts, contributed to global review forums and ensured the offer aligned with the global offer portfolio.
  • Drove Cross‑Sector Engagement: I validated the offer with multiple industries and prepared for a global government pilot, ensuring materials, delivery models and stakeholder alignment were in place.

Results

Outcomes reached: 

  • A globally aligned, market‑ready offer
  • A complete AI curriculum and delivery model integrated into the global organisation approach
  • Cross‑sector traction across government, financial services, telecommunications and private health
  • Strengthened collaboration across business lines and regions
  • A clear pathway to scalable AI capability uplift across industries

Key Reflection

This work demonstrates my ability to take an emerging, ambiguous concept and turn it into a globally aligned, commercially relevant offer. It highlights my strengths in strategic design, curriculum development, cross‑functional leadership, and multi‑region collaboration, creating scalable, ethical and future‑ready AI capability uplift for organisations navigating rapid technological change.

👉🏼Generative AI Product Experience

The organisation operated in an increasingly competitive enterprise learning market, with customer retention under pressure and competitors accelerating their AI‑enabled offerings. At the same time, the workforce disruption caused by generative AI created urgent demand for practical, skills‑based AI learning. The existing “hands‑on learning” platform was a strategic differentiator, but it lacked integrated AI experiences that could meet this moment.

Our first Generative AI learning experience within the Hands‑On platform required the oversight of translating emerging AI capabilities into a safe, scalable learner experience; aligning product, engineering, and design teams across an organisation undergoing significant change; and delivering a release in time for a major sales conference and customer commitments.

Our team defined the end‑to‑end learner experience for a suite of AI sandboxes in the Hands-On Playground, including the Prompt Sandbox, AI Cloud Sandboxes, and SageMaker Notebook, with the goal of enabling learners to experiment with LLMs, cloud AI services, and ML tooling in a controlled, simulated environment.

Activities

To reach our goals: 

  • Under the leadership trio's direction, the team formed a tight, fast‑moving trio model (product, design, engineering) to accelerate feasibility, prototyping and iteration.
  • We used internal engineers and data scientists as SMEs and as proxies for learners to validate technical feasibility, commercial value and learning integrity.
  • The team conducted 'drinking our own champagne' exercises via internal and NDA‑based customer testing to refine value, usability and safety.
  • The MVP prototype was presented by our CPO at the annual sales conference attended by customers, where feedback was collected.
  • Operated through acquisition integration, shifting roadmaps, and high C‑suite visibility.
  • Balanced speed‑to‑market with responsible AI considerations and platform integrity.

Results

Outcomes reached: 

  • Delivered a first‑to‑market GenAI hands‑on learning experience, launched at the sales conference and met with strong customer demand.
  • Strengthened competitive positioning, contributing to the platform receiving the highest possible score in hands‑on learning and innovation in the 2025 Forrester Wave.
  • Built internal AI capability, improving collaboration between engineering, product, data scientists and design.
  • Established a scalable foundation for future AI learning features across cloud, data and ML domains, built on the strengths of the existing cloud offering.

Key Reflection

This initiative was an opportunity to integrate emerging AI capabilities into practical, ethical and scalable learner experiences, while leading cross‑functional teams and our designer through complexity, organisational change, and high‑stakes delivery. It highlighted our team's strength in strategic design, AI‑enabled product innovation and shaping hands‑on learning experiences that met real‑world workforce needs.

👉🏼 HR Branches Strategic Discovery

A department's HR branches were struggling with fragmented service delivery, inconsistent processes, and a ServiceNow instance that was no longer fit for purpose. Staff couldn’t find the right services, teams had new operating models that weren’t supported by the platform, and service performance was difficult to measure.

As the delivery and service design lead, I led a whole‑of‑branch strategic discovery to diagnose the HR service ecosystem, identify systemic issues, and design a future‑state ServiceNow strategy that improved employee experience, operational efficiency and alignment with the Victorian Government’s digital strategy.

Activities

To reach our goals: 

  • Ran a 12‑week discovery across two HR branches, 10+ units, and 25+ workshops.
  • Mapped the HR service ecosystem: service actors, workflows, systems, channels, pain points, KPIs, and inter‑branch dependencies.
  • Conducted architectural reviews and mapped the current‑state ServiceNow configuration, identifying structural issues in case models, security, and service categorisation.
  • Designed a future‑state service model: service‑based case architecture, scalable configuration, improved triage, multi‑channel intake (email, phone, portal), and knowledge‑driven self‑service.
  • Produced a ServiceNow proof‑of‑concept prototype demonstrating improved fulfiller workspace, templates, automation, and integrated Genesys call‑logging.
  • Delivered personas, capability maps, business value maps, a roadmap, and executive presentations aligned to the Victorian Government Digital Strategy.

Results

Outcomes reached: 

  • Created a clear, evidence‑based strategy for a scalable, service‑based ServiceNow HR solution.
  • Improved alignment across HR branches and clarified service ownership, workflows, and KPIs.
  • The prototype validated the future‑state direction and received strong endorsement from HR leadership.
  • Set the foundation for a 20‑week implementation program covering case management, SLAs, knowledge integration, and multi‑channel service access.
  • Set experience principles to enable HR to deliver more consistent, efficient, and measurable service operations

Key Reflection

I bring structure and clarity to large, multi‑unit service ecosystems. By deeply diagnosing the system and aligning stakeholders around a shared service model, I design scalable digital and operational solutions that improve both employee experience and organisational performance.

👉🏼 Policy Innovation & Culturally Competent Community Consultation

A government department was managing complex, high‑stakes program. Service delivery was fragmented, systems were inconsistent, and teams lacked a unified approach to investment assessment, policy evaluation, and service design.

Rural and regional communities, particularly rural and First Nations providers  faced systemic inequities and digital barriers. Leadership needed clarity, alignment, and a strategic direction grounded in lived experience and operational reality.

My role was to lead strategic discovery and human-centered design to deliver the initiative across divisions, to diagnose systemic issues, uplift capability and design future‑state service and policy models that improved equity, operational maturity and digital readiness.

Activities

To reach our goals: 

  •  Led multidisciplinary discovery across policy, operations, digital, and external provider groups.
  • Mapped end‑to‑end service ecosystems, including workflows, governance, data flows, and cross‑agency dependencies.
  • Conducted culturally appropriate engagement with rural and First Nations providers to understand systemic barriers, digital gaps and reporting burdens.
  • Synthesised insights into policy recommendations aligned with Closing the Gap, Digital Service Standards, and national health strategies.
  • Codified processes in capability weuplifted with the Human‑Centred Design Centre of Excellence to embed consistent design practice.
  • Supported digital services internal assurance team with service visioning, process mapping, maturity uplift and operational frameworks.
  • Delivered strategic roadmaps, service blueprints, and recommendations for digital uplift, workforce sustainability, and consumer empowerment.

Results

Outcomes reached: 

  •  Created the a unified view of service gaps across specified provider communities.
  • Strengthened cross‑branch alignment and improved investment assessment processes.
  • Uplifted capability in policy evaluation, HCD, and operational design.
  • Work was recognised internally as high‑impact and low‑cost, and was requested as input to the Productivity Commission.
  • Enabled more equitable, data‑informed policy development and improved readiness for major reforms.

Key Reflection

I excel in high‑complexity, multi‑agency environments where policy, digital, and operations intersect. My work brings clarity to fragmented systems, elevates underrepresented voices and shapes service and policy models that are equitable, scalable and grounded in lived experience.