2008 in review: developments that rocked the world of user experience

Posted by Paul Giurata

When it comes to software, user experience can evolve very rapidly. This time last year, for example, multi-touch was a new term and SaaS was still synonymous with Salesforce.com. Now gesture-based mobile devices are the norm, and most companies that provide services using software, are pursuing a SaaS strategy.

So for today’s post I wanted to look back at 2008 and highlight some of the key developments that rocked the world of what users experience. To help get a broader perspective, I also asked some of Catalyst’ staff (those working over the holidays!) to highlight what they saw as significant trends.

Gilroy - Ux designer

• OCR - It may sound like a simple thing, but the application of optical character recognition software to check scanning on ATM machines was a radical shift in how users interacted with financial institutions. Besides shaving time and adding assurances for the consumer, ATMs using OCR technology enable Day 0 or Day 1 check processing and completely eliminate empty-envelope fraud.
• SRT - Speech recognition technology such as goog-411, another way to give our hands respite from QWERTY keyboards. It’s an automated On-Star.
• Input diversity - from the iphone to the Wii to the Segway, we saw the proliferation of a variety of input mechanisms.

Regis - Interaction architect

• Decline of static HTML - For well over a decade the languages and scripts used to code web pages have severely limited how users could interact with online content. Flash titillated users’ retinas when surfing brochure sites, but HTML tables’ sovereignty was never challenged when one had to check his bank account online. 2008 marked the end of that era, Flex, Silverlight, AJAX and other RIA technologies are blurring the line that used to separate desktop applications from online services. Check boxes surrender to ctrl + click for multiple selection, portlets can be dragged and resized on the fly and data flows more fluidly between clients and servers.

Jessica - UI architect

• iPhone app store - Without a doubt the biggest thing to hit the world of UI was the iPhone 3G and more importantly the opening of the (virtual) doors to the app store. The world of mobile applications has exploded in volume, creativity and diversity and it will only get bigger.  The sales model in which Apple takes a portion of the sales and passes the rest on to the originator has also opened the door to independent software design and development. Growth will be exponential.

Lulu - UI designer

• Designer Tools - Adobe Catalyst (Flex and Air) and Expressions Blend (for WPF and Silverlight) will streamline the designer/developer workflow for building web applications. The process of passing work between designer and developer has always been somewhat challenging. These apps will help make iteration and version control simpler as well as showcasing the interactivity, animation, and functionality of the screens in quick prototypes along the way.

Paul - Managing Partner

• iPhone 3G - The iPhone set a new vision for what user experience can be.
• SaaS gains ground - Software-as-a-Service gained solid ground (about 80% of our engagements) and users now understand the values of SaaS including addressing the full customer life cycle.
• RIAs for mission critical services - We started seeing RIA implementations of mission and business critical applications. This has been a “step function” in UI and has the demonstrated potential to create much more effective and meaningful experiences that streamline business processes and increase productivity.
• The App Store - The first real venue that promises to make users’ phones go beyond being just phones. It provided a viable channel for sales and distribution of low-cost, tightly-focused software.
• Vista’s failure - The failure of Vista proved that consumers and enterprises were no longer completely dependent on the latest offering from Microsoft. This opened the door significantly to SaaS, as well as devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry Storm, etc.

Although the above list is certainly not exhaustive, it is safe to say, that 2008 was even more significant than previous years in terms of having long-term impact on the “experiences” user will have.  If you can think of some other big Ux trends for 2008, please comment and let us know your thoughts.

In the coming week I will post thoughts on the trends in user experience to keep an eye on throughout 2009.

Finding the sweet spot - when is it a perfect match between client and provider?

Posted by Paul Giurata

'Tis the season when companies reflect on their achievements over the past year and begin setting goals for the upcoming year. Catalyst is no different. We've had a great 2008, with many successes, particularly in the SaaS market. We now have a client portfolio of almost 300 enterprise application design projects, with approximately 50 of those being SaaS.

Looking ahead to 2009, there will certainly be new challenges (and opportunities). The full impact of the economic downturn is difficult to assess, but we do know that organizations will be looking to spend wisely on user experience design projects, with a sharp focus on acquiring and keeping customers. We also know that there will continue to be new RIA and user interface design firms springing up (and fading away), all vying for business in a tighter market.

Surviving and thriving in 2009

So for Catalyst, part of our 2009 planning is to identify the type of projects where we bring the highest level of value and clearly differentiate ourselves from potential competition. In other words, where is that sweet spot where the requirements for a client's project perfectly matches our unique experience and skills.

This search for a "sweet spot" is something every service or product company should undertake. It helps to define everything from your BD and marketing, to your capital requirements and hiring.

The sweet spot for Catalyst Resources

In Catalyst's case that perfect sweet spot is when there is a intersection of three client requirements:

1. user experience design of a mission critical business application
2. modular, reusable UI using RIAs, typically applied across a product family or multiple applications
3. a scalable SaaS implementation that is intended to optimize the bottom line

Picture this as a 3D scatter chart, where each axis represents a client requirement. The sweet spot for Catalyst is the point where each client requirement is at the maximum value along each axis.

Of course we work on other RIA and user experience design projects that fall outside of this perfect sweet spot. Any project that requires even one of our particular skills, is a project where we confidently deliver great results. The sweet spot does not necessarily limit the type of projects we undertake. Rather the sweet spot is that point where Catalyst will innovate and execute on a project better than any of our competitors - it is a niche we own.

Other companies have their own sweet spot: Apple's sweet spot, for example might be strong industrial design, integrated software/hardware, and "insanely great" user experience. Costco's sweet spot might be low price, broad selection, helpful staff. In both cases, if a customer needs this intersection of products/services, then it will difficult to find any real competitors.

Finding your own sweet spot

Discovering your company's own sweet spot can require a lot of sober and realistic examination. But the diligence is important, especially in tougher economic times. Look to where you can provide the greatest innovation, the right teams, technological relevance, and a continuing record of delivering bottom line results

Use multi-disciplinary teams to design enterprise RIAs and SaaS

Posted by Paul Giurata

I've written a great deal about the intricacies of designing the user experience for an enterprise RIA or SaaS. These applications typically need to handle very large data sets, scale to service thousands of users, and address complex business logic that encompasses many functional elements and scores to hundreds of screens.

While many organizations attempt to develop their SaaS or RIA using their internal IT department, perhaps assisted by a web design or Flash creative firm, the end result will "feel" like it was built by an IT department. It may be functional, may even be visually pleasing, but it will not identify high value tasks, streamline business processes, increase user productivity, build the brand or drive adoption & use. To achieve this level of business value you need a UI engineering team of experts, each with a different focus, distinct skills and tight accountability.

Multi-disciplinary teams

Based on our experience designing over 270 pieces of software, the most successful projects follow a well-formulated process using a small, highly experienced, multi-disciplinary team comprised of an experience architect, experience designer and experience developer. This collaborative team then works with an organization's IT department to smoothly integrate the design with existing infrastructures and back-end systems.

Each of these primary team members needs to be facile in several different domains and take on different roles at different points in the project timeline. Below are brief explanations of some of these roles.

User Experience Architect

• Functional requirements definition - work with the product's stakeholder to define an initial set of key functionalities based on business drivers and value proposition
• User studies & ethnography - observe the actual users and usage environments in order to  refine functional requirements and document the actual user scenarios that will drive the User experience design
• Personas - create personas from the information collected during ethnographic studies. These represent typical users and help the design team keep a clear imagine for whom they are designing
• User validation - involve real users throughout the design process to enable testing the coherence of early mockups and ensure potential usability issues are identified early on
• Business process design - look for ways to organize complex business processes into simple logical structures that can be easily communicated
• UI architecture - design consistent behaviors that apply to the User Interface throughout the application. This enable the user to quickly understand, use and predict how the application will behave
• Conceptual models - define conceptual models that help users to naturally comprehend what they are trying to accomplish with the software, the kind of data they are manipulating, how the data is organized and their goals for interaction

User Experience Designer

• Information design - synthesize user requirements into interaction use cases that define a product's usage from a user's perspective
• User interface design - begin with fast, low-fidelity prototypes and iteratively develop into interactive, high-fidelity prototypes, incorporating feedback from user validations throughout to identify how "intuitive" the application is and the value it provides from extended use
• Interaction design - optimize and test navigation, control elements and messaging for user comprehension and efficient and effective use
• Branding and visual design - define the colors, graphics, fonts, motion, polish and fluidity that create the brand experience, always testing with users
• Documentation - provide screen functionality specifications  and visual design style guide

User Experience Developer

• Code clickable models - provide a full clickable model using dynamic data of exactly what that software will be like when it is released
• Presentation layer architecture - map out and validate proposed UI architecture so it is consistent with technical architecture, before writing any code
• Client side technologies - select and implement the UI using the optimal RIA for the users and IT infrastructure (e.g. AJAX, Flex, AIR, Silverlight, Java). Re-factor UI designs into a customized library of UI components, data, and actions
• Server-side technologies - translate what is going on in the back-end systems to communicate with the front-end user UI, requiring fluency in multiple languages and Web services
• Data and business logic implementation - rapidly iterate designs and systematically incorporate feedback to expose and validate that all data elements and UI components are matched to the database schema

Designing user experience for enterprise RIAs and SaaS is complex - no doubt about it. But compromises to the user experience will have a fundamental negative impact on the success of any application, so it is not something you can ignore or marginalize. To maximize business value, you should look for a multi-disciplinary team with diverse skills and tactical experience to design the application and augment the technical development work of your internal IT group.

Innovation in user experience and application design - Part 2

Posted by Paul Giurata

In the previous post I posed a question that is relevant to any enterprise that delivers services via software:  where does innovation really matter and where should it come in to play when defining the user experience for on-premise or SaaS applications. In this post I want to look at each layer of the application user experience and evaluate where there is potential to deliver innovation that has a real impact on increasing the usage, adoption and social media referral of the solution by customers.

When Catalyst defines the user experience of any application, we break it down in five basic layers:

1 - Conceptual Model
2 - Functional Definition
3 - User Interface
4 - Visual Design
5 - Interaction

Conceptual Models

Conceptual models can form the foundation layer for defining the user experience.  When they exist, they help users relate the software to real world things or situations (see an earlier post on Conceptual Models in SaaS).  If you craft the right conceptual model, then you are well on the way to designing an application that not only requires less training and support, but also will be easier to market (traditional and social), have higher adoption/retention rates, and be more intuitive and productive to use.

For example, if you are creating a medical record systems, users already have a familiar and well-understood conceptual model for how to handle records.  Systems based on charts and folders with color codes labels are universal in every medical office.  This forms a solid basis as the conceptual model for the online record system.  How you design the actual UI, interacton, or the functionality you include is flexible. But in this scenario, the conceptual model and user expectations are clearly defined and not the most efficacious place to innovate.

Note: There isn’t always a conceptual model that a user can relate to in a meaningful and intuitive way. But that is a special case that can be managed by focusing on the other layers.

Functional Definition

This is the actual application functionality and features that are delivered to the user.  It is specified as part of the application requirements rather than user experience so it is generally not an opportunity for innovation.  For example, a billing application must be able open customer records and print invoices.

While the functional definition is not an opportunity for innovation, it can be a place to evaluate and streamline workflows. As part of the process for defining the user experience, you necessarily need to identify the business objectives and map the existing process. In our experience this often leads to discovering ways to address inefficiencies, improving customer service, streamline processes to cut costs, or improve reporting and analysis.

User Interface

User Interface is where you really can begin getting the most from innovation. UI is the way the software presents the functionality, the way the user interacts and the way the system communicates. RIAs (via AJAX, Flex, Silverlight, AIR, etc) enable richer, more compelling interface opportunities for creating effective and engaging experiences that drive adoption and reduce churn.

Apple (where I got my start) has built a very successful business model on providing products with dynamic and rich user interfaces.

Visual Design

Visual design refers to the style of the application - the colors, the fonts, the graphics.  A lot of this is the skill of the visual designer in how to be creative and come up with a distinct and compelling look that effectively brands a company.

Visual design is always an opportunity for innovation and consists primarily of four areas: branding, look and feel, information design (which is focused on optimizing user comprehension of actual data) and information and tone of voice. If you visit a Citibank, or Wamu ATM they have worked very hard at creating a tone of voice that is personal and helpful.

Interaction

Historically, web-based mission critical applications had a fairly limited range of interaction (click a button, select a menu, or complete a form).  However interaction using RIA provides a considerable opportunity to create more effective and compelling experiences.  Interaction itself is a very promising emerging area of innovation, as evidenced by the growing use of multi-touch screens, accelerometers, and voice interfaces.  This becomes particularly relevant giving the rapidly growing range of form factors for accessing enterprise SaaS applications.

Innovation across all layers

There are opportunities for innovation at each layer of the user experience. Obviously, this complexity means that it is unlikely for any one individual to have sufficient depth of skills to maximize innovation.  Real and effective innovation requires the combined skills of a UI architect, a UI designer, and a UI developer, working in tandem. 

Where should you innovate in application design? - Part I

Posted by Paul Giurata

I recently had a discussion with a colleague about where to innovate when designing an application or SaaS.  He was pitching a new client that kept repeating how they wanted an innovative design. But they defined innovative as a revolutionary new way for people to think about task X, with a dazzling Flash interface full of bells and whistles.  

The problem he faced (and something every user interface design firm encounters) was whether he should tell the clients what would create the best application or if should he just deliver what they said they wanted. He chose to advise them to do what would be most effective to increase user productivity and application usage - i.e. build the application around universal (not revolutionary) conceptual models and implement a UI that uses effects & interaction as a way to reinforce appropriate behaviors rather than just “dazzle.”   We will see if he gets the contract.

In any case, it got me thinking that it would be intereting to write about where innovation really matters and where it really should come in to play when defining a application. 

Consumer applications lead in innovation

It’s instructive that last week, during the Cloud Computing panel at the Web 2.0 Summit, Google’s Dave Girouard (manager for Google’s enterprise business) talked about how the innovation delivered in the consumer world is so far ahead of what is available in the world of enterprise applications. Girouard was not talking innovation in terms of new functionality, razzle-dazzle,  or new technologies. By innovation he specifically was referring to enhanced user experience that makes it easier for users to accomplish high value scenarios and that drives increased usage.

Application designs are built in layers

When you evaluate any application, you see the design is built on several layers. Each of these layers represents a point where there is the potential for innovation. But there are some layers where the business value to innovate is more compelling than at others.  This is particularly true for SaaS application design, where the value of innovation is defined primarily on the ability to increase the usage and adoption of the solution by customers (new or existing).

In next week’s post I will describe the business proposition for innovation at each layer.

Two birds with one stone:  SaaS application design and business process reengineering

Posted by Paul Giurata

The goal of business process reengineering (BPR) is to redesign how an organization conducts business in order to improve critical measures of performance such as cost, quality, service, and speed.  A company can spend a great deal of money on consultants to develop an implementable BPR retooling plan. But if you are are migrating your application to SaaS, BPR can be a natural “by-product” of the user interface/application design process.

Typically, application design and UI are viewed as a medium to access a software’s functionality. But optimizing the user interface for a SaaS or business application is not simply about enhancing usability. The UI is also the tangible part of business process itself.  The way a user interacts with the application should tightly map to the workflow and business objectives.  Streamlining and validating the application UI necessarily means streamlining and validating the business process.

For example, Catalyst was tasked with the redesign for the UI of a bond trading application that handled billions of dollars in securities a year. As part of the application design, we re-evaluated the real-world workflow corresponding to the business scenarios of trading bonds. We worked with stakeholders to identify the business objectives and map the existing process. By focusing on high value scenarios and applying the right conceptual models as a foundation for the UI, we were able to not only streamline the number applications screens, but also could help the firm streamline the process in the real world. (i.e BPR).

Importantly, the user-validation techniques we applied to the UI, could also be applied to the change in business processes. With UI and processes tightly coupled, we could iteratively refine both to quickly achieve meaningful business enhancements.

The factors that drive companies to understake BPR - addressing inefficiencies. improving customer service, streamlining processes to cut costs, or improving reporting and analysis are also the by-products of well-designed user interface and application design. This is particularly true in the design of SaaS applications, where the focus is on providing a service and addressing the full customer life cycle.

Don’t stay the course

Posted by Paul Giurata

This year’s downturn economy is forcing many organizations to choose between offering software solutions that “stay the course” or those that “adapt and embrace change”. For many companies, it is difficult to pull away from a traditional business model that’s been profitable, even though they know that the model faces significant threats and that profitability will wane.

The quintessential business school case study for this phenomenon is Kodak. Kodak tried to hold on to their profitable traditional film business long past the point where the signs were clear that digital photography was a threat and was going to overtake their existing business. They ignored the red flags and rode their business into the ground.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is another example of a fundamental threat to an old way of doing business. On-premise enterprise application vendors run the risk of pointedly ignoring this threat long enough to end up hurting their viability as a business.

Some enterprise software providers actually use the current economic crises as a justification for the decision to “stay the course”. They rationalize that they just don’t have the money and resources to invest in a new SaaS application or that with today’s market they would need to lower their SaaS pricing, so better to wait, until they can charge more. Instead they try to extend the lifespan of their current on-premise software by marketing it with terms like “tried and true, “stable, “tested, secure.” But marketing to customers’ fears can only trump a software wave for so long.

The reality is that now is the time to be investing in SaaS. But the reality is also that SaaS will require fundamental shifts in how a company does business. ReadWriteWeb recently published an article on how some of the big players like IBM have embraced SaaS. What I found most interesting in their post was some of the reasons they gave for why on-premise vendors so want to avoid SaaS.

• Putting SaaS financing on an old product is simply the ASP model and that is terrible economics. You will report horrible results to investors for a long time before it turns positive. In other words, you can’t just port an existing product to SaaS, you have to design for SaaS, focusing on multi-tenant architecture, high value scenarios , the right conceptual models and the full SaaS customer life cycle.
• However carefully you position your SaaS offering versus your traditional product, you will legitimize SaaS to your conservative clients and hasten the decline of your traditional business. Sad but true. A user-validated, well-designed SaaS that is always on and available, from any location, will definitely capture the attention of even the most risk-averse “I hate change” customer. So while it may impact your on-premise software business, it is better that the SaaS solution comes from you, rather then have your customers find it from your competition.
• Your current client base is not much help. You need to position the new SaaS offering for a new market, where you will be competing on a level playing field with the start-ups. Basically this means you need to be nimble, you need to use agile development techniques, and you need to think of innovation, not as new features, but as application design/UI that increases the usage and adoption of your solution by current and future customers.

Of course a move to a SaaS model is not an all-or-nothing, off-then-on proposition.  Many companies can offer hybrid solutions that help their customer bridge on-premise and on-line solutions. But regardless, now is the time to be exploring SaaS and acting like an agile start-up. Take the lesson of Kodak to heart and don’t stay the course.