In today's fast-paced digital world, businesses are constantly striving to deliver exceptional customer experiences while enhancing employee productivity. A crucial factor in achieving these goals is through improving the user experience (UX).
By optimising both customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX), companies can not only boost satisfaction, but also streamline operations and save valuable resources.
In this blog post, we will explore how investing in UX improvements, combined with application modernisation, can lead to significant cost and time savings for your organisation.
Gaining a Competitive Edge
So why is UX design modernisation necessary?
For starters, in application modernisation, UX plays an important role in ensuring businesses stay competitive and meet the constantly changing user expectations.
What’s more, fast and regular advancements demand that companies keep up with the latest trends in UX. By modernising UX, businesses can provide a positive user experience and establish a competitive edge, which translates into long-term customer loyalty.
Certainly, an essential component of digital transformation is a UX application modernisation project. According to Forbes, citing a study by Forrester, on average, every $1 invested in UX design generates $100, while industry analysts also reveal that around 44% of CIOs say that company growth is being held back by legacy software.
So, once taking the transformation plunge, how does UX design benefit application modernisation, and how can you build a successful business case? Here are 2 ‘five-star’ conversation starters:
1) Enhancing usability and efficiency of the application. This ensures that users can easily navigate, find information, and complete tasks with minimal effort. By streamlining workflows and simplifying interactions, UX design makes the application more accessible, intuitive, and user-friendly.
2)Increasing user engagement and satisfaction by aligning the design with user expectations and behaviour patterns, allowing businesses to create an enjoyable experience. This positive user experience leads to higher levels of satisfaction, increased user loyalty and drives sales and revenue growth.
If those weren’t enough, here are 6 more reasons why investing in UX, in concert with application modernisation, is a smart business move.
Leveraging Application Modernisation:
Application modernisation involves updating or transforming legacy systems to align with current business needs and technological advancements. It encompasses migrating to the cloud, adopting microservices architecture, and incorporating new tools and frameworks. Rather than rebuilding everything from scratch, application modernisation allows organisations to build an improved UX on top of their existing tech stack, reducing costs and minimising disruption.
Drives Customer Loyalty:
User experience encompasses every interaction a person has with a digital product or service. It encompasses usability, accessibility, and the overall satisfaction users derive from their interactions. A positive UX drives customer loyalty, engagement, and advocacy, while a good employee experience boosts productivity, job satisfaction, and retention. Neglecting UX can result in frustrated customers, increased support costs, and disengaged employees.
Delivers Cost Savings:
a. Minimised Development Effort: By modernising existing applications, businesses can leverage their current investments, including infrastructure and codebase, while focusing resources on enhancing UX. This approach eliminates the need for a complete system overhaul, saving time and development costs.
b. Reduced Maintenance Expenses: Legacy systems often require extensive maintenance and support. Modernising applications can simplify the overall system, making it easier to maintain and reducing associated costs in the long run.
Guarantees Time Savings:
a. Faster Deployment: Building on top of existing infrastructure allows for quicker deployment of UX improvements. This is especially beneficial when time-to-market is a crucial factor for businesses.
b. Streamlined Development Process: Application modernisation enables teams to adopt agile development methodologies, allowing for faster iteration and quicker responses to changing customer and employee needs.
Enhanced User Experience:
a. Improved Usability: Upgrading UX elements such as intuitive interfaces, responsive designs, and streamlined workflows can significantly enhance usability. This, in turn, reduces user errors, improves efficiency, and increases customer and employee satisfaction.
b. Seamless Integration: Modernised applications can integrate with other systems, APIs, and platforms, providing a cohesive and frictionless user experience. This integration enables personalised experiences, data synchronisation, and improved operational efficiency.
Boosted Productivity:
a. Streamlined Workflows: By simplifying and optimising user interfaces, businesses can reduce the time and effort required for employees to perform their tasks. This leads to increased productivity and reduced training costs for new hires.
b. Automation and Self-Service: Modernised applications can leverage automation and self-service capabilities, empowering employees and customers to complete routine tasks independently. This reduces reliance on manual processes and frees up valuable resources.
Final Thoughts
Investing in UX improvements, along with application modernisation, is a winning strategy for organisations aiming to save money, time, and effort. By building upon existing technology infrastructure, businesses can deliver exceptional customer experiences and improve employee satisfaction while minimising disruption and cost.
What’s more, embracing UX-focused modernisation can result in long-term benefits, including increased customer loyalty, improved operational efficiency, and a competitive edge in the marketplace. That’s why businesses should take advantage of the power of application modernisation in order to ramp up success in the digital age.
Sidebar: How to Approach UX Design Modernisation - 3 Hot Tips
1) Before embarking on UX modernisation, it’s important to research and understand the needs of your users. Identify their goals, pain points, and challenges they face while using the digital offering. This user-centred approach ensures that the design addresses a user's specific requirements effectively.
2) Evaluate the existing UX to determine which elements should be kept and which need to be improved. Assess the user experience, including usability and visual design aspects. By analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the current design, you can make informed decisions about the changes required for modernisation. This approach is generally more cost-effective and less disruptive to build upon the existing tech stack, rather than starting from scratch.
3) Define clear goals and objectives of the UX modernisation effort. Considering factors such as user satisfaction, improving conversion rates or adapting to new technologies. UX design is a key driver for creating and maintaining a successful digital offering. UX enhances user-friendliness, increases user engagement and boosts satisfaction levels, as well as saving businesses time and money by reducing support costs and operational inefficiencies. By understanding user needs and continually evaluating the current UX, businesses can create and maintain a journey that aligns their applications with user expectations.