Are you good or great? UX is the key…

You’re probably a very important person

You’re right here on Medium — looking for inspiration… maybe a career change… maybe just an article to bite into on your tea break. Something to ponder over.

… so I wonder if you ever ponder the difference in building a good organisation compared to a great organisation?

Why is it that some businesses ooze confidence, swagger and profitability and seem to effortlessly attract customers? Why do others seem unable to drag their brand into the 21st century?

What’s the secret of greatness?

Well the secret is NOT giving a huge amount of cash to ‘visionary’ consultants or investing in concepts from tired advertising agencies. Incredibly still preferred options by lazy top management in boardrooms all over the world, comfortable with doing business ‘the way they always have’. Their priority being the next quarter’s results — and the bonus in their pockets.

The conclusions of said visionaries almost always end up in the organisation paying top whack for a vision document, and probably some kind of film production. The document will set out a fairly abstract long-term plan, in a world where (very) long-term planning is no longer possible. The concrete tasks required in edging towards greatness are carried out elsewhere…

The secret of greatness is the practice of User Experience (or UX for short)

If you’re too busy to read this entire article, then read these three bullet points and go about your business, you busy person you!

• Great, modern, organisations, with high levels of success, practice UX ‘max’.
• Ordinary organisations use ‘just enough’ UX practice and investment.
• Organisations who have no UX practice implemented could well be dead by the time you reach the end of this article.

And the incredible news? The majority of companies only scratch the surface of the potential of UX…

What is the practice of User Experience? What does a UX team do?

For anyone unfamiliar with the term ‘user experience’ then the basic principles of user experience practice tend to include:

• Digital design
• User research
• Prototyping

Just to be super-clear, that list represents the basic principles of the user experience body of work. Organisations simply must adhere to basic UX principles to stay in the game. Sticking to the bare minimum probably won’t help them become the leaders of their industry though. That requires a far greater and more thorough UX investment.

Organisations that achieve big success and high impact have invested in more than just basic user experience investment.

So your company… are you good… or great?

The good company:

The ‘good’ company invests in UX, but only at a basic minimum level.

Organisations who invest only in UX at a basic, simplistic level tend to be moderate achiever companies. Certainly not game changing, innovative, modern businesses I myself would consider investing in or get excited about, or recommend my friends to use.

Basic level user experience usually involves a narrow remit for the user experience team with a focus purely on marketing, websites and internal tools.

Don’t get me wrong, this “basic level” user experience is necessary; in fact it’s the absolute minimum for any modern business to survive in the challenging modern marketplace. It’s a given.

The great company:

The organisations that weave UX into their entire DNA.

When user experience is taken seriously by an organisation; when the practices of good user experience are interwoven in the fabric of an organisation, this type of company tends to be a pro-active, modern, dynamic success.

When a company takes user experience practice seriously then the real benefits are visible. When the DNA of your company infuses product and service strategy with genuine customer need insights, then that companies services and offerings continue to evolve over time and continue to be desirable over time.

High impact user experience helps keep organisations at the top of their game, stretching from internal culture to external success.

So there is strong UX practice and there is UX practice. If your organisation takes UX seriously, expect higher impact.

How do you turn your company into one of high impact?

When user experience is taken seriously it involves defining solutions that flow across multiple technologies, touchpoints, channels and devices — not just online. User Experience teams that are allowed to act at maximum capacity are able to design for multiple context type from basic web and mobile design to emerging digital channels to service design and offline.

Why the separate in-house department makes sense.

When UX makes a real business difference — the largest impact on actual business results — there tends to be a separate UX department. This makes sense because UX spans product development, marketing, operations, logistics, technology and more. It spans the entire organisation.

Investing in high-impact UX should be a top priority for you. The companies that aim to be human-centred in their designs and lead their markets powered by capitalising on digital technologies do so because they know the value of the UX operation.

If your company is just sprinkling a little UX dust here and there, don’t expect to make huge gains. Don’t expect to change the world. Don’t even expect to change internal processes. This is a digital world we live in, and UX design with a heavy online focus is surely smart. Building a whole-hearted UX operation within your organisation should be top of your Christmas wish list. If you can’t stretch to this, speak to a company like mine who can also let you plug your existing staff resources into a multi-disciplinary team, so you get a team of your own and value for money.

So will your company be good or great?

If you feel you can’t organise, or don’t have the capacity, to build a separate UX Department right now, then feel free to get in touch. Maybe I can help.