The user-centered approach of valantic
SAP CX Consulting – what does that mean for us? It's about consistently putting users at the center of all our efforts and thus improving the customer experience. This is what we do at valantic and what we call the user-centered approach.
People as a success factor
Products and services often have very similar appearances, which is why the customer experience is becoming increasingly important. Regardless of the systems we use to build customer worlds. Whether B2C, B2B or D2C: The customer experience has become a decisive success factor – for almost all industries. The focus continues to be on the people.
For us, it’s all about “bringing people along on a journey” using modern technologies. And to design a customer experience with technology in such a way that it creates lasting enthusiasm. We measure the success of these kinds of customer experience initiatives by user acceptance – based on the user experience (UX). In our user-centered approach (UCA), the focus is specifically on the users. An approach that – when implemented correctly – leads to a better customer experience (CX).
In a nutshell, the user experience (UX) describes the experience that customers have while interacting with a product or service online. If the experience is good, three things happen:
High acceptance of the product is thus the decisive factor for the success of companies in all e-commerce and CRM contexts. But how can a positive customer experience be achieved? What are the prerequisites for developing innovative CX projects that consistently focus on the users’ needs?
More than a methodology
The user-centered approach (UCA) is our answer to many questions – and much more than a project methodology and more than “design thinking”. With the help of our UCA, we think and work together with our clients to shape the future along a focused and coordinated process. We see the UCA methodology as a modular approach for successful CX projects.
Prefabricated solutions? No way!
How do we go about our user-centered approach, and why is it so revolutionary? To really take on the users’ perspective, we separate the so-called task space from the solution space – following the idea of user-centered design. This avoids various risk factors, such as the emergence of “cherry picking” or the development of costly features with low user acceptance. Two factors that could well have a negative impact on the user experience.
The task space
In the task space, we gather detailed information about users’ goals, needs, and pain points. We compare these with the project goals and use them to establish the specific task.
The solution space
In the solution space, we design, pinpoint and implement solutions, validated by real users, which
The user-centered approach covers all project phases and is an optimal modular approach for your CX project due to its interdisciplinary nature. It comprises five phases, which are distinguished by specific method sets and which can be developed in sequence or independently of each other.
Strategy
The Envision Phase is the starting point of any CX initiative. Starting with the question “Why?”, we outline the future together with the company. What does that mean in concrete terms? We establish a vision, develop specific project goals and condense these into a set of essential, measurable success factors – the so-called key performance indicators (KPIs).
Research
In the Discover Phase, we focus on the characteristics and the users’ standard context of application. On the basis of
we dive deep into the needs of the users. We then use personas to sketch a vivid picture of typical visit and use patterns. Including user pain points and the challenges that user needs bring with them when designing a successful customer experience. This forms the basis for our tasks.
Concept creation
With the personas in mind, we develop realistic, innovative ideas and solutions. It is important to us that these solutions offer measurable ease of use and thus true added value. The specific requirements are arranged in the form of user stories in a user story map, evaluated and prioritized.
Wireframes, design mock-ups, and prototypes are developed to make the solutions tangible and experienceable in a timely manner, enabling us to validate them through user testing. In line with the concept of “time machines”, they allow an early look into the future. This strengthens acceptance and trust in the chosen path and arouses enthusiasm – both among users and on the part of the company. Not least because the costs are manageable.
Implementation
In our interdisciplinary and agile teams, developers, designers and UX experts work closely together in a dual-track process. The solutions created in the Create Phase are turned into reality in the Deliver Phase.
New insights into users, the business and changing technologies can be taken into account at any time. This allows for plenty of flexibility and quick changes of course if necessary. Extremely short communication channels, an agile project methodology and a well-coordinated team facilitate project management that can always be relied upon, even in time-critical projects.
Scaling
After the implementation of the MVP (minimum viable product) is complete, the Grow Phase begins – and with it once again the evaluation and validation of the solutions developed. Are all previous assumptions still valid? Have parameters changed? Do corrections need to be made? As soon as answers to all these questions have been found, the implementation of the next releases can be continued.
In this way, an ideal solution for all user groups is created from the initial idea to the final implementation. Various test procedures also help to sustainably develop the potential of the solution after go-live and the individual releases.
On the company side, the user-centered approach (UCA) ensures three important success factors of a project:
The Forrester study “The ROI of CX Transformation” provides some more arguments for why focusing on users and customers pays off:
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