UX/UI

Designing UX for business software: the solution in two steps

| 21 May 2019 | Andrea Maioli
basi di ux per gestionali e1558430853821 1 Instant Developer

Even though many might think that we are in the age of User Centered Design, for people who like me have had a chance to provide consulting for hundreds of software companies, it is easy to see that this is not at all obvious.

Why is it so difficult for so many software companies to design systems around their users? First of all, we need to realize that behind this little definition lies a true cultural revolution. For decades, most development efforts went into creating business type software. In these cases, the method used to design these systems starts with which data need to be processed, and at most extended to studying the processes that involve that data. The human factor has always been missing from this line of reasoning.

Even today, in consulting efforts aimed at modernizing designing processes, the standard response to these prompts is: “In any case, we don’t make apps, those questions only concern the apps, business applications still work like they used to, so we don’t need it.” Unfortunately, this isn’t true. Users today are accustomed to the dozens of user-centric apps that they use every day, and they expect to interact with all IT services with the same simplicity and immediacy.

So the question is important and urgent: for many, a change of mindset is necessary in order to stay relevant. The problem is, how? What is the course of action for people who have designed for years using other methods? And even before that, from the point of view of the people who have to manage the project: is it worth the trouble to ask the people who design business software to consider a certain attention to the UX, or is it just easier to use someone who already has this skill?

In my experience, I have found that input from a UX designer is only critical for certain types of applications, in particular those for end customers (B2C). In the case of business applications, it is instead possible to evolve your own design skills in a User-Centric way and achieve satisfactory results even from just taking this step. And in any case, we will already be predisposed to integrate the work of a professional designer, something that is far from easy when there’s no common cultural terrain.

So what are the steps that designers of business systems can use to begin putting the user at the center of their work? Here I’d like to talk about what I saw work in our company, which has handled these conversions for quite some time.

The conversion takes two steps:

  • Learn to know your user.
  • Be familiar with a series of standard UX solutions to adopt.

Being able to design a completely customized UX requires a specific skill that is often – erroneously – considered beyond the possibilities of people who have always operated differently. Experience in the field confirms that by tackling these two points you can design business applications with a UX that’s acceptable for modern users: simply decide to pursue this course.

If you feel ready to make the move, shortly we’ll address in this blog the first step in learning to know your user. Keep following us!

Andrea Maioli
CEO & Co-Founder
I'm focused on Instant Developer from first thing in the morning until late at night. I work on software engineering, natural language processing, and all the ways to best capitalize on new technologies.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Posts you may be interested in

Instant Developer Cloud 24.0: Develop with style, protect your work

Instant Developer Cloud 24.0 is all spruced up with more modern new graphics, offering you an even more pleasant and intuitive working environment.  But its...

Read More

Instant Developer Foundation 23.0: One graphics engine for two

The moment you've been waiting for is here.Instant Developer Foundation 23.0 represents a huge leap forward in the evolution of our development platforms. The key...

Read More

Instant Developer Cloud 23.0: the perfect tool for developing cloud back office software

With the release of Instant Developer Cloud 23.0 we've taken a big step forward with our cloud-native software development and distribution platform: the process of...

Read More

Stay up to date

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on news, events, releases, webinars and lots of other news about Instant Developer products.

    Having read the policy (available here) provided by Pro Gamma SpA, I consent to the processing of my personal data in order to send the newsletter.*