3 Reasons Why Enterprises Need to be UX Friendly

UX friendly design applies to just about everything, enterprises need to take is seriously because users know a bad experience when they encounter one and it impacts your brand.

UX friendly

Image Source: Microsoft

 

A lot of Enterprise software has a bad reputation of being clumsy and rightly so. Many Microsoft products come to mind… do you remember internet explorer or the Microsoft Band?

 

In large organizations, the focus tends to be on managing clients and stakeholders, recording information, and maintaining profits. As a result, the complexities of enterprise software and the unfavorable experience it gives to users are often overlooked. But UX is an integral part of enterprise solutions. Whether a product, app, or software is UX friendly can determine whether or not that product is going to have success.

 

Today, several organizations are recognizing this fact. Of the many reasons that enterprises strive to be UX friendly, three stand out.

They are people, productivity, and profits.

Let’s explore these 3 Ps to fully grasp the importance of enterprise UX

1. People

In the priority hierarchy of enterprise software, people (users) have traditionally been at the lowest level. For a long time, the enterprise users tolerated the inefficient software. But the scenario is changing today. As consumer apps are focusing on delivering exceptional user experience, good UX has become a basic expectation of every digital user. Employees who use user-centric digital platforms in their daily lives are voicing their dissatisfaction with clumsy enterprise software. 

Moreover, the enterprise decision makers and software development team have come to recognize the influence of user-friendly solutions for better employee experience. They are beginning to realize the adversities that arise from pushing enterprise users at the bottom of the hierarchy. To add to it, several reports show there is an increase in productivity and better efficiency in organizations’ workflow when enterprises focus on UX. 

 

Profits

Bad UX has a direct impact on the revenue of organizations. There are multiple ways in which this manifests in an enterprise. A commonly seen scenario is when heavily invested enterprise solutions are abandoned before completion. This happens often and bad UX is one major factor that contributes to this loss. 

 

Another way in which bad UX affects profits is it increases the amount of rework, errors and training efforts. Non-intuitive software makes onboarding difficult, thus calling for extensive internal training for new employees. Moreover, the clumsy workflow raises the chances of errors, which are often caught in the last stage. The error-fixing then requires more time and effort and creates losses. 

Today, enterprises can calculate the potential ROI of their UX investments using metrics such as conversion rate, drop-off rate, usage percentage, etc. The benefits of using a UX centered solution can be identified using these measurables. This empowers the enterprise stakeholders to create results-driven and action-oriented decisions for organizations. 

Productivity

The more difficult a software is to use, the lower is the productivity of the user. Complex software eats time like nothing else. It challenges the users in every action, straining their mental resources and leaving them unfocused to do important tasks. This fall in productivity not only affects the output of that particular employee but also extends to others who collaborate with them. 

Hard to use technology leads to absenteeism, poor customer service, and high attrition rates. Good UX enables employees to do their job faster and easier. Even if it looks like a small change when considering individual employees’ work, overall it causes massive improvements in productivity for the entire organization. A good example is of Oracle which saw an increase in productivity, adding up to millions, by improving their database application. 

 

Wrapping Up

25% of software development projects fail due to mismanaged UX. Developing products with good UX is not only good for the users, but also for businesses. It is said that for every $1 invested in UX, the ROI is between $2 – $100. The success stories of many organizations – big and small – which reaped amazing benefits from investing in UX are testaments to it. 

 

For enterprise solutions of the modern age, UX is vital. It is not just enough for software to satisfy the functional requirements. Equally important is to consider the end users and create a solution that empower them, not complicate their lives. This realization has driven many enterprises to build an in-house UX team or partner with a UI UX design agency to weave UX into the fabric of their operations.