COSYLAB - UX/UI INITIATIVE
From support role to profit center:
The UX/UI shift
The company’s core business has long been engineering services. As UX/UI team lead, I saw an opportunity to position UX/UI as a standalone service. Unlocking new value for clients and expanding our market potential with minimal investment.
My role
Design Team Lead
Mentor
Deliverables
UX UI Service Sales Toolkit
Business Plan and Process
Case Study
Team
UX UI Designer
Marketing Dept.
Domain Lead
Usability Engineer
Timeline
2023
Note: Due to the sensitive nature of the information, I’m unable to share specific details. However, I will present the process I led and the strategy I pitched.
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Opportunity
Become a profit center
Traditionally, UX/UI design is viewed as a support function in software and engineering service companies. Repositioning it as a profit center would bring extra value to the design team and the company.
More work, more people
After a few months as UX/UI team lead, I noticed a pattern: clients often hired external UX agencies while requesting engineering services from us. These agencies lacked deep product understanding, leading to extra hours from our designers, ultimately adding cost for clients. So then I thought: Why not offer UX/UI as a standalone service? This would secure our roles and allow us to be involved earlier and more meaningfully in projects.
Support the growth
Building a business initiative takes resources, and great work gets done by a team of people. Supporting my team's growth by actively involving them and delegating tasks beyond daily meetings and design work will push them out of the ordinary.
Development process
To convince the engineering and sales team of the value in selling UX/UI as a service, I needed a solid and transparent plan.
Market research
We began by researching the market to identify our strengths and weaknesses. This helped us understand the expectations and requirements for UX/UI design agencies specializing in medical devices and large-scale scientific software.
Competitive audit
We analyzed the offerings and unique characteristics of 20 competitors. This audit showed that while many top-rated UX/UI agencies excel in usability and design, they often lack deep engineering knowledge and familiarity with strict regulations in medical-grade software.
Key insights
Most UX/UI agencies focus on general usability but fall short on understanding regulatory standards and complex engineering needs critical in medical device software.
The price difference for similar design services between top-rated agencies and others was as much as threefold.
As of 2023, fewer than 50 UX/UI design agencies in Europe and USA specialize in healthcare and medical software.
How to position UX/UI Design as a service in the Medical Market?
Unique selling point
Expertise in medical-grade software
Minimizing overhead while delivering optimal outcomes
A multidisciplinary team
Engineers, usability engineers and UX/UI designers under one roof
IEC 62366 compliance
Usability engineers approved in international standard for medical device usability engineering
Internal value
The initiative requires no extra effort from the team, allowing flexible adaptation to project pipelines while maintaining smooth operations.
Launch activities
List of key activities I conducted to launch the initiative.
Result
Team development and skill growth
Increased recognition of UX/UI design across the company
A ready-to-deploy business plan, case study, and sales toolkit
Estimated
€50,000
in additional annual revenue
Identified market opportunity to generate
3%
of new business leads
Requiring
Zero
additional resource investment in establishing UX/UI as a standalone service
Key takeaway
The art of persuasion
Gaining internal buy-in was more challenging than developing the initiative itself. Early-stage ideas require multiple rounds of convincing before they gain traction, just like no one wants to bite into an unripe apple.
The right amount of leadership
Delegate effectively and trust my team. By guiding rather than stepping in, I have created space for team members to grow and given myself room to focus on what mattered as a manager. In the long run, this approach benefits everyone.
Alignment and timing
Driving organizational change is a long-term effort. The initiative didn’t take off during my time at the company, partly because it wasn’t aligned with immediate priorities. For a new idea to succeed, timing and internal alignment can be just as critical as the concept itself.
