What is Enterprise UX and Why Does it Matter?
17 Sep 2021
17 Sep 2021
Enterprises often have applications to assist them with their internal operations and processes. The primary reason to build such internal app solutions is that they could help the employees by making their work simpler and easier. But, more than solving the actual problem, many times, such apps themselves become a bigger problem for the enterprise.
Why does it happen though?
The reason for the applications not performing well is mostly because of the poor enterprise UX. The level of significance that is given to the consumer UX doesn’t extend to enterprise solutions. Wondering why? Cause there is a substantial shift in priority, goals, and the quality between the two. Enterprise UX is very much different from consumer UX. It has its own challenges and problems that developers and designers have to work to navigate. Comparing with consumer UX, often, enterprises seem to struggle with one intricate question--What do we get by investing in the UX design of internal solutions?
Well, a lot. Right from sales and productivity to employee satisfaction, an enterprise stands to gain a lot from various aspects.
Before digging further into the significance of enterprise UX, let us first see what enterprise UX is in the first place.
Enterprise UX is basically the design of enterprise app solutions for internal usage. The users of these application solutions are the employees of the enterprise and not the end customers. So depending on the enterprise requirements, goals, priorities, domains, job roles, etc., these solutions are completely custom-made. Some of the examples of these solutions are HR management systems, ERP systems, and CRM systems.
Even though these solutions are not used by the general customers of the enterprise, user experience is extremely crucial as it directly impacts the company’s outcome. When employees are given efficient tools that simplify and optimize their work processes, it directly reflects on the bottom-line productivity and efficiency of the enterprise.
Regardless of the industry or domain, consumer UX receives more attention, appreciation, feedback, and investment than enterprise UX. Of course, there are a lot of factors that made enterprise UX the way it is right now. In this section, we will see the top challenges that enterprise UX faces on a frequent basis.
Unlike consumer UX, conducting UX research for a better understanding of enterprise users is actually not feasible as designers will be working with the buyers and not the end-users. This creates the hurdle between expectations and reality. And most times, buyers are not very sure what the end-user wants or needs.
In the enterprise app solution development, stakeholders of various power will be involved and this creates a high chance for conflicts in opinion. Sometimes, designers add features that don’t suit the solution well just because they were suggested by the powerhouse “stakeholders.” Outcome? End-users have to deal with app discrepancies and features that are foreign to them and do not meet their requirements.
As enterprise apps are custom-made, getting feedback from the end-user, in this case, employees, might be difficult as the designers have to reach out to them and find a free slot to test the app. Hence it is a far-fetched possibility.
Often, enterprise applications are used by hundreds or thousands of employees. So to give a demo to every employee is practically impossible. To keep everyone on the same page on how to use the solution, extensive documentation on the usage of the application is crucial. The importance of documentation increases with the complexity of the app. The more functionalities and features the application has, the more detailed your documentation should be.
As there will be various departments and too many employees in an enterprise working on different projects. Now, this may create some problems such as non-compliance with guidelines, or inconsistencies in functionalities, which may lead to a reduction in brand image. An effective enterprise solution will help bring consistency in functionalities and user experience as it includes tables, objects, patterns, etc.
Every enterprise will have a set of rules and processes that employees are bound to follow. whether it is a legal requirement, privacy, or any other internal issue. For employees to best adhere to these processes, it is suggested to execute some best practices or stick to specific checklists. For instance, there may be some 3rd-party apps available for certain functionalities. But due to enterprise adherence, employees may not be able to use those solutions. So designers can take care of this part while creating UX for the enterprise solution.
Enterprise solutions are made to improve work efficiency. For instance, abbreviating labels could offer you more screen space but the end-user may not understand it, which further can create more misunderstanding. So one way to make sure the ease of understanding the solution through abbreviating labels is by providing a tour or an overview of important elements using arrows or some interactive approach.
Yes, we know it’s a challenge to get the end-user feedback. But it’s not impossible. Discuss with the end-users how their feedback adds value to the enterprise solution. Considering the end-user opinions can benefit the users equally well. So try to convince them on the same, you might accomplish more than you initially anticipated.
Over the last decade, enterprise UX has grown at a drastic rate. Gone are the days when enterprise UX’s focus used to be on the software and logistics utilized in businesses and making sure that such a solution was developed well to meet the requirements of the business. But today, enterprise UX consists of a smooth, intuitive interface, interactive design, and user-centric design.