A Structured Approach to

User Experience Strategic Model Unifying Business Strategies

Author: Sushmita Dutt Consultant: Strategic User Experience and Information Architecture for Enterprise Web, Digital Communications, Mobile and Touch-screen user-centric devices.

Let's face it. The market has changed. Technology has altered the way we do business today. Today, each second two new blogs are created, seven PCs are sold, 2.2 million emails are sent, 520 links are clicked, 1,157 videos are viewed on YouTube and 31,000 text messages are sent over mobile network. An unexpected, voluminous growth of Social Media networking has created new groups of online users – the interactive users. Corporations around the world are eager to interact with this user group - the social network influencers experiencing and sharing brands the interactive way. For all customer facing businesses, customer-centricity is pivotal to business success. The adoption of user-centric interactive marketing has mandated knowledge gathering and understanding user behaviors in the digital technology context. Getting User Experience Strategy in place, therefore, has become a necessity to align user perspectives with business strategies and overall operational modes of a company. User experience strategy, in fact, roofs the basic pillars that hold an interactive technology platform together -

Information Architecture User Interactivity Design User Interface Design Data Flow and Business Logic

Strategically conceived user experience helps elevate business strategy to a true value-driven level. Use of digital communication, social media channels, web and mobile networks help build a synchronized user experience which helps create competitive advantage. How do we derive at User Experience Strategies? Here is a structured methodology

 

approach, a model, which illustrates a systematic process in strategizing user experience in sync with strategic business goals:

Methodology highlights:

High impact research at macro level: A bottom-up approach within a corporation - know the internal user group: The company stake holders.

High impact research at micro level: A top down approach involving segmented market study - know the user group: The end users.

Scramble Findings: Cluster user stories by scenarios - which stories create which user scenarios that relate to business requirements.

User flows: Which user pathways relate to - -- Identified Business needs. -- Existing User interface. -- Existing User interaction technologies. -- Existing Usability findings.

Contradictions: Which user stories - -- Contradict expected user paths. -- Are un-identified user paths. -- Are threat to expected user paths.

Digital strategies: Which digital technology is best suited to identified user scenarios for best user experience – -- Micro site. – Blog. -- Social media network. -- Digital communication. -- Cross-platform integration. -- Mobile/Touch screen devices.

Proof of concept: Create quick prototypes to test effectiveness of recommended user experience strategy

User tracking programs: Create interactive programs to measure user’s active participations into recommended digital platforms like blogs and social media networks.

Recommendations: Include user experience recommendations into creative and technical briefs.

Integration: Integrate user experience strategic model into every aspect of company’s user facing operations – from help desk through e-mailers and SMS promotions.

Flag Risks and Contradictions: Document user experience negativities and contradictory feedback and identify “at risk” components to best user experience.

Gap Analysis: Document gaps between actual user experience and expected user behavior stipulated in user experience strategies.

Documentation: Document user experience strategic model for future use and alteration.

Note: The process included in this structured approach to User Experience Strategic model unifying business strategies does not follow the industry standard Waterfall methodology progressing downwards through phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, implementation and maintenance. User Experience methodology is structured but not essentially sequential.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- © Sushmita Dutt. For an in-depth presentation of the User Experience Strategic Model with applicable case studies, please contact author Sushmita Dutt at sushmitadutt@novel-ebiz.com