How to Implement UX in Your Organization
THE BRIEF
This Fortune 500 Payment Network was looking to begin a long-lasting relationship with Apexon. Before beginning any long-term project work, they wanted to make sure we understood what success meant and to ensure we met company-wide business objectives. More than making the client happy, the User Experience (UX) team needed to ensure the client knew what improvements were being worked on and, more importantly, a way to measure success based on the work accomplished. This is a very important exercise for any agile and development teams.
THE CHALLENGE
In defining success, we looked to answer: what is the outcome? Did we solve a problem by empathizing with our users? Did we improve users’ satisfaction? To answer these questions, there needs to be quantifiable metrics in place. Metrics are standards for assessing things like efficiency, performance, and progress, and can also help us make better decisions.
The Apexon UX team delivered the success measurement framework as part of the initial engagement. This included a whitepaper as well as an in-depth study of how measurement and success was determined, and the steps the team would utilize to get there. In addition, a practical tool designed in Excel was created so that each UX effort made could be measured by inputting data and defined metrics in a simple step by step process. (Refer to the infographic below).
With clearly defined success measurements and goals, it was possible to align the UX efforts with the desired outcome and business objectives. Using KPI’s (key performance indicators) helped define the business impact of UX investment on ROI.
There are four major KPI goals within UX:
- Reduce cost
- Increase sales
- Improve effectiveness
- Improve satisfaction
THE SOLUTION
A comprehensive whitepaper defining our UX measurement strategy and process was submitted to the client, along with a presentation to the client leadership team, taking them through the steps and showcasing how our work was fully aligned with the client’s scaled agile framework (SAFe). Although the measurement strategy wasn’t immediately implemented, the overall reception was positive and seen as a very important step in laying the groundwork for internal product teams throughout the organization. Over time, as UX becomes more visible in the organization, more products have started making use of our measurement work, allowing the client to measure the value of success.
