A hands-on UX/UI guide for enterprise software development teams, making the business case, what goes into building a strategy for project success and how to calculate the ROI of your next UX project.
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UX and UI may seem like abstract, technical concepts, but they deal with the basic functionality of your application at their core. As technology changes, the way people interact with it — and the expectations they have of how it should work — change, too.
There are a myriad of benefits to updating your UX and UI. However, you’ll need to have a clear objective at the outset of the project. Typical objectives for undertaking a software update include:
As with any business decision, updating your UI and UX interface requires a careful consideration of the costs, the benefits and the opportunities involved in doing so.
UX plays an essential role in client-product communication, and failing to incorporate UX into one’s product strategy can result in massive loss of revenue.
Currently, programmers are shown to spend over half their time doing avoidable reworks. According to the IEEE, of all $1 trillion dollars of development projects that are started, 5 to 15 percent will be abandoned before or shortly after delivery due to poor usability. That means up to $150 billion is lost, something that could be avoided with a user-centered design approach.
Furthermore, 25% of these issues will be related to UX mismanagement, such as poorly defined system requirements, lack of understanding between consumers, developers and users as well as conflict of interest between stakeholders.
An overhaul of your application’s UX and UI can be a major investment, one that many executives and software teams may not even realize they are due to make. After all, once you’ve put in the time and work to complete a project, it’s tempting to think of it as done for good. While it’s obviously counterproductive to needlessly update a platform users are just becoming accustomed to, it’s also easy to lose sight of where your app stands with current trends and user expectations.
So what should motivate a UX or UI overhaul? Here are a few compelling reasons:
UX or UI redesign projects don't have to be major or even outwardly noticeable. Subtle changes to the workflow and effectiveness of your applications can increase user satisfaction and productivity. For example, streamlining a process to reduce the number of screens a user must go through isn't something that will be noticed right away, but it's something that will deliver tangible benefits on an ongoing basis.
Successful businesses are able to adapt and change over time. When your staff has different goals, your internal web applications should change to accommodate them. Instead of trying to shove an old interface into a new business model, a complete redesign of your internal applications will ultimately deliver better long-term value to your users.
Organizational needs change over time. As time goes by, you’ll need to add new features, or remove old ones to ensure that your app continues to add value. Adding new functionality is an opportunity to deepen your users’ engagement
Five years have gone by, and your application is starting to look and, more importantly, feel outdated. It’s time to upgrade the UI to improve the user experience, and align the app with user expectations and current trends.
It can be difficult to provide a consistent user experience across native applications. Companies will move a native app to a web-based app to help centralize their offering. Users can easily access the app from any device and updates are automatic. However, as users are logging on from a desktop or a phone, your interface needs to perform elegantly across multiple platforms and meet user expectations.
Changes in technology play a significant role in how users interact with applications. From support bots to voice-activated interfaces to biometric authentications, apps will need to change as your organization integrates new technologies.
Knowing when to update your user interface requires staying aware of who your users are, and where and how they interact with technology. Responsive design is one of the most illustrative examples of this.
Get this hands-on UX/UI guide for enterprise software development teams, showing how to make the business case and calculate the ROI of your next UX project.
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We hope the guide helps you plan your next UX/UI project. And remember, we’re always here if you have any questions, or need any help.
