UX and Business: Hand in Hand

What is Business?

A basic definition of Business is: “It refers to the organized efforts and activities of individuals to produce and sell goods and services to the customer for profit.” So being very practical and blunt, every business’s (apart from charitable ventures) goal is to generate revenue and maximize the profit.

In order to maximize the profit companies usually leave aside and pay very minimal attention to the source of the profit, which is the User. Companies invest in Development of the product, marketing, without even having a good research on the need of the product/service amongst the users. There is no vetting of the idea and proof of concept but still companies go all guns firing in developing and marketing the application leading their product to a dead-end. There is a lot of back and forth in the development process and a study tells that 50% of developer’s time is spent in doing rework which has its own time and cost additions.

To curb this and in order to generate profit we need the end user to be satisfied which is only possible when the user has achieved their goal or fulfilled their task. So every aspect in business boils down to the customer, either we are making a product or providing a service, User is always kept in mind and then the product/service is shaped accordingly.

Which introduces us to the term Experience.

User Experience

Wireframes and prototyping is not User Experience.

So there is a misinterpretation in understanding UX and it’s always considered to be a small part of User Interface. Instead user experience is one of the major aspects not only in software business but also in any hardware business or service and UI is just the implementation of the UX. User experience is all about creating and developing an easy to use, seamless and self-intuitive interface for anything and everything that a user wants to do on your product to achieve their goal.

“The intersection of business goals and the users’ needs is a fertile ground where you can build experiences that delight users and provide value to the organization”

User Experience (UX) is the battlefield on which businesses wage and win the battle for the user. Everyone might have an opinion, but the user is the final judge of the quality of your UX. And the quality of your UX is one of the decisive factors for a user to choose between you and your competitor. But that is just one side of the story. Your UX also impacts your organization. The level of ambition, the internal processes, mindset and tool-set that is required to deliver the right experience shape your organization. Your User Experience is a tool to achieve your strategic goals both externally and internally. You create a tool and the tool shapes you.

So to conclude, a business without a good user experience won’t survive long.