Web Development
Kellogg’s, the international food brand and parent company to Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Eggo, Cheez-It, and more, was wasting resources on employee technical support questions and requests. In order to make it easier for employees to get answers to commonly asked questions and quickly add requests for new hardware/software, Kellogg’s approached Marcel to update the employee portal user experience.
The Challenge
With employees distributed across the globe, Kellogg’s relied heavily on a phone-based support system to manage software and hardware requests, address employee questions, and gather feedback. While effective in function, the system quickly became costly and inefficient, averaging $15 per call and placing a significant strain on internal resources. To reduce costs while maintaining service quality, Kellogg’s sought to transition these interactions into a self-service employee portal. They partnered with Marcel Digital to rethink the entire portal experience, ensuring it could handle requests efficiently, answer common questions, and be easily adopted by employees with minimal training.
High Support Costs Driven by Phone-Based Requests
The existing support line was resource-intensive and expensive, creating an unsustainable model for handling routine employee needs.
Need for a Scalable, Intuitive Self-Service Portal
Kellogg’s required a digital solution that could centralize requests, provide clear answers to common questions, and simplify workflows without sacrificing support quality.
Ensuring High Adoption With Minimal Training
The new portal needed to be intuitive enough for employees worldwide to use confidently, reducing reliance on support staff and minimizing onboarding time.
The Analysis
Marcel Digital began the project with a thorough evaluation of Kellogg’s existing employee portal to understand how employees interacted with it, where friction occurred, and what improvements would create the greatest impact. Through collaborative sessions with key stakeholders, the team gathered detailed usability metrics, internal feedback, and clear requirements that would shape the redesigned experience.
Evaluating the Current Portal Experience
UX experts conducted a deep audit of the portal to identify pain points, workflow bottlenecks, and areas of confusion.
Usage patterns and behavioral data helped clarify how employees were navigating the system and where they were getting stuck.
Gathering Stakeholder Insights & Requirements
Kellogg’s stakeholders presented usability findings and internal performance metrics that highlighted key issues.
Feedback from support teams and employees informed the functional priorities needed for a more efficient, intuitive portal.
Defining Core Portal Features for Success
The team identified essential elements that the redesigned portal must support, including:
A streamlined process for requesting new software or hardware
An accessible, comprehensive Knowledge Base for self-service answers
These requirements became the foundation for improving usability and reducing reliance on phone-based support.
The Solution
Marcel Digital transformed Kellogg’s employee portal through a highly collaborative, design-led process grounded in user insights. By mapping the full employee journey, validating concepts with stakeholders, and testing features in a controlled environment, the team delivered a streamlined, intuitive portal that reduced support reliance and empowered employees to self-serve with ease.
Collaborative Wireframing & Experience Mapping
The UX team began with ideation sessions, whiteboarding, and detailed wireframes that outlined every step of the employee journey, from login through the Knowledge Base.
Wireframes served as the blueprint for aligning functionality with real user needs and creating a frictionless experience.
Design Partnership & Iterative Development
Marcel Digital worked hand-in-hand with Kellogg’s design team to evolve wireframes into polished, brand-aligned interface designs.
The new portal was built within a test environment, allowing Kellogg’s stakeholders to validate features, workflows, and functionalities before launch.
User Feedback-Driven Refinement
Employee end users were surveyed throughout development to gather feedback on usability and navigation.
Insights directly informed refinements that made the portal simpler, clearer, and easier to adopt across Kellogg’s global workforce.
The Results
The redesigned employee portal delivered a simplified, intuitive experience that empowered employees to self-serve, reduced reliance on phone support, and significantly lowered internal costs. By making key features easier to find and elevating request and Knowledge Base tools, the new portal drove measurable improvements across usability, adoption, and operational efficiency.
Improved Usability & Faster Access to Key Resources
A clearer, streamlined layout made essential assets, tools, and information easier for employees to locate, reducing friction and improving the overall experience.
Major Shift Toward Self-Service Adoption
With request forms and the Knowledge Base prominently featured, employees increasingly used the portal to submit issues and find answers, reducing dependence on phone-based support.
Significant Reduction in Support Calls & Operational Costs
The enhanced portal experience led to a 57% decrease in support phone calls, enabling employees to resolve issues independently.
This drop in call volume resulted in approximately 75% lower support-related costs, achieving Kellogg’s goal of reducing expenses while improving accessibility and efficiency.
