7 things to do before starting your application redesign
A successful redesign of an application isn’t just about looking at the user interface and changing the look of some fields and buttons. If you want to achieve quantifiable results that will have real business impact, you need to look beyond the top level skin of the platform.
The User Experience (UX) process uses research and insights to make informed changes to what, how and when information is presented on screen. By deeply understanding the user goals and workflows, you can streamline processes and make the whole system more efficient.
The good news is that often many changes can be implemented to improve the structure, content, messaging and usability of the system without needing to change the underlying back-end technology infrastructure.
So, before you rush in to make your system look just a bit ‘prettier’, what do you need to do to actually improve the application and make a real difference to the business?
- Secure a realistic budget
If you want to really transform your application it deserves an investment that is proportionate to the value of the application to the business. If the app generates significant revenue for you, take some time to calculate the potential ROI of making the improvements, whether it’s an increase in subscriptions or hours saved through efficiency.
What would an additional 10% increase in sales mean to your business? What is the cost of doing nothing? How many customers will defer to your competitors, if you are failing to meet their needs? What does this mean for your market share?
If efficiency is your goal, how much is a time-saving per person, per hour, worth to you? Could you put a cost-saving figure on that? Making a process more efficient by just 5 minutes per hour for a team of 6 people working 7 hours a day, can lead to a saving of 3.5 hours a day, that’s approximately 70 hours saved a month!
Use these type of calculations to help support your business case for investment.
If budget is a concern, break down the project into chunks. Identify and prioritise the full and partial processes (or journeys) to be reviewed, how many wireframed pages do you need and whether you want a low or high fidelity prototypes? This will help keep the project financially on track.
Remember, scrimping at the early research stages can only lead to problems later in the process. According to Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach by Roger Pressman, it costs up to 100 times more when time and money is spent retrospectively fixing issues after product release.
2. Set achievable work packages
A complex system redesign is a long term project. Defining the whole project then breaking it down into identified phases will make it more manageable and achievable. These phases or sprints, where UX design and development teams work in tandem, enables an agile approach to maximise efficiency and maintain momentum.
3. Involve stakeholders in the process
Key internal stakeholders will have valuable insight, particularly end-user facing roles like sales or account management. Input from staff can help to focus additional user research. This involvement in the process will also help gain internal buy-in once the changes have been implemented.
4. Take users on your journey
Be mindful that people like what they are used to and are often resistant to change.
However, if you communicate with users and even involve them during the change process by explaining what you are doing and, where appropriate, gaining their feedback, it will help them to feel part of the journey and be more open to the changes to come.
5. Don’t forget how people interact with other systems
Understanding how a closed-system application integrates with other systems and processes is an important consideration. Not just from a technical perspective, but understanding the context in which users need to engage with the system and other systems as part of their entire workflow, is valuable insight to help build an effective and efficient solution. Do users need to do a manual look up on another system at a particular point during a process? Could an API created to speed this up, if not could features be added to the interface to help make this easier to manage — such as save options, quick search and options etc?
6. Bring your developers along
If you have an in-house development team, you need a UX agency that will work collaboratively and openly bring the developers along on the journey. There is a very real risk that even after all the UX work is successfully completed, the web developers don’t implement the solutions because they don’t understand why certain decisions are made. Changes to agreed UX solutions can often be made because a developer finds them difficult to implement or they know a different, quicker way to do things, which might save development time but doesn’t help the user.
With complex closed-system application projects, you need an agency that is experienced and comfortable working alongside in-house development teams and that is flexible to adapt to the developers way of working. Bringing the development team along on the journey is vital to success.
7. Find an experienced UX partner
Finally, without in-house UX support you’ll need to find a User Experience agency with a track record of successfully delivering complex application projects.
Managing a complex application UX project requires different expertise to designing a website or user interface. Anticipating the obstacles and issues that may arise, and dealing with them effectively means the project runs more smoothly and efficiently.
DotLabel is an award winning digital UX agency that have experience in working on complex closed-system applications from a variety of industries including financial services, aerospace, utilities, legal and charity sectors.
Are you ready to start your application project now? Contact DotLabel UX and Digital Agency to find out how we can help you manage the user experience research and design needs for your complex closed-system application project.
