Shifting Priorities for IT Organizations Draws on UX Talent
There’s change all around us, and the direction of IT organizations is feeling the effects fully. SPR recently surveyed IT and business professionals and the overwhelming theme: There’s a shift in the way IT and the business is partnering and everyone is putting more value on the user experience.
In the survey, 88% of the leading firms surveyed agree that technology organizations are integral to delivering customer-driven products and developing new revenue streams. As an experience design professional, I have seen several trends develop in IT organizations and how they incorporate experience design.
Trend 1:
Hiring Business-minded Technologists
Trend 1:
Hiring Business-minded Technologists
One way this shift is apparent is the type of people that IT organizations hire. They're getting business-minded technologists and growing them into a role where they can take on responsibility to not just assess technology across an organization, but to think strategically about how the business is going to scale with that technology. These technologists are looking at how they can take advantage of emerging technologies and get at what the net benefits are for the business as a whole.
Trend 2:
Partnering Across the Organization
Trend 2:
Partnering Across the Organization
Teams are continuing to make strides toward activating partnerships across the organization, making sure they're communicating and being transparent, and really deepening those partnerships with the different lines of business. This means the relationship between IT, marketing, and all different lines of business, becomes critical. Making steps to collaborate and be active in those partnerships is key to having success and growing the IT organization.
Trend 3:
Responding to Customer Needs
Trend 3:
Responding to Customer Needs
In today’s market, a great customer experience is the key differentiator between organizations that lead and those that don’t. When leaders within an organization actively partner with internal or external UX professionals, they will begin responding to those needs, yes; but even more so, they will understand the needs, shine new light on them, and be able to anticipate what customers will want and need down the road.
Trend 4:
Understanding the Technology Context
Trend 4:
Understanding the Technology Context
The meaningful and valuable things that come out of user experience don’t happen in a vacuum. A lot of this is driven by technology. If we boil it down to basics, good design is really about communication; technology is the medium through which that communication happens. The more that different disciplines come together and communicate, the more value you will gain across the organization, even to the executive level.
Trend 5:
Identifying a Champion
Trend 5:
Identifying a Champion
To shift an organizational mindset can be hard, but the more you can get on the same page with people that are going to help you champion that shift within your organization, the better. Having a champion for user experience in the IT organization is a huge win, because they are oftentimes the ones in the position to manage what the outcomes are for the business, and what the business is driving toward and the end customer.
Putting it into action
These trends for experience design scratch the surface of the shift we are seeing within organizations. The best advice to get started with change is to start small. Find the right opportunity to see value for the business, then build momentum across the organization.
