Posts Tagged "customer focused design"

It happens all the time

Umlungu has been going for more than 10 years. In that time, we have seen many companies make the same mistake over and over. We thought we’d share the mistake with you, and how it can be avoided.

Out with the old system, in with the new

We give you Company X, which:

• Is a customer-centric business. No customers, no revenue.
• Has had the same system in place for a number of years. Without this system, there would be no users and therefore no business.

They want to advance their old, tired but otherwise functional system that lies at the heart of their business with a new one.

The new system will be bigger, faster and more efficient. Sure, it’s expensive, but it makes complete business sense. The world is changing and Company X has to advance, or lose out by having a diminishing share of a growing marketplace. At least, this is what management and the IT department tell shareholders…

But here’s what the IT department doesn’t say

The IT department, for various reasons ranging from customer ignorance to corporate pressure, neglect to tell shareholders that despite its shortcomings, the old system was at least predictable. More importantly, the staff (and customers) who used the system had learnt to live with it, warts and all.

The business jumps on board…

The project goes ahead. Engineers engineer, developers develop and project managers cajole and threaten. A deadline is set. As it looms, developers work longer hours and then nights. Then weekends. The testing phase is nibbled into. Finally, system functionality is cut as the deadline is shifted one last time. Then, the system is unleashed…

Only to find the ship is on stormy waters

First there is relief: It is done. Then, the users do what users do. They use. Or at least they try to. Frustration builds when they realise they can’t do what they need to do, or what they used to do. They get unintelligible error messages. They can’t log in. They try again. And again. The system starts to grind. The call centre is flooded. Users complain, and finally… give up.

The business tries to make nice with the customers

After all this frustration, the final straw for most customers is a trite message posted to the system that starts with the words “Thank you for your patience…” and ends with the equally conciliatory but completely untrue “…for your benefit”.

The ugly truth: It was never to the customer’s benefit

The fact is, throughout this long, expensive process, Company X never paused to consider the simple truth that: “Our only source of income is our customers. Customers use our online systems. We must consider their experience and the customer process when we build these systems.”

Umlungu believes in benefit to the customer

Whenever we are asked to build or consult on a new system, our engineers and developers always design the system with your customers in mind. We’ve seen the story described above time and time again. We can simply bow our heads in sympathy. For the customers.

Talk to us today about customer focused systems.