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Christmas is approaching fast, and I assume that many of you – just like me – are still on the lookout for presents for your loved ones.
And just like every other year, the main question is which present is best suited for who. And inevitably, just like every other year too, some people will be less than enthralled with the Christmas presents they receive!
As good a place as any to start searching for the right present is Google, a source of innumerable hits if you enter “how to find the best Christmas presents” as your search term.
When I did that, one of the first three hits was “13 Tips on Finding the Perfect Christmas Gift”.
This contained the following list:
1. DO NOT FEEL YOU HAVE TO BUY EXPENSIVE GIFTS
2. MAKE THE GIFT FUN
3. ASK THEM
4. CREATE A LIST
5. SEARCH ONLINE FOR IDEAS
6. MAKE A SIMPLE GIFT
7. SPEND PLENTY OF TIME LOOKING FOR THE IDEAL GIFT
8. KNOW THE PERSON THAT YOU ARE BUYING FOR
9. REMEMBER THE GOOD DAYS
10. BETTER TO BROWSE
11. IT’S OKAY TO STALK
12. THINK ABOUT YOURSELF
13. LET YOURSELF LOVE
My initial recommendation
If you are reading this on December 24, and have still have Christmas presents to buy, I strongly recommend stopping at this point and following the link and tips above.
So why am I writing a blog about Christmas presents?
Well, first of all, because this is the most relevant time of year to write about Christmas presents! But then there is one more thing that makes this important to me.
As always, there are a lot of similarities in life. And the same applies for selecting the right Christmas present and improving the user experience of an enterprise user
So what I’d like to do now is to take the first six points from “13 tips on Finding the Perfect Christmas Gift”, look at them from a UX point of view and translate each of them into UX statements. Let’s see how it works.
1. "DO NOT FEEL YOU HAVE TO BUY EXPENSIVE GIFTS"
UX Translation: DON’T FALL INTO THE TRAP OF THINKING THAT IMPROVING UX HAS TO COST A LOT OF MONEY.
Improving user experience does not always involve splashing the cash. In many cases – while performing your research – you will discover a lot of things that can be changed quite easily, such as optimizing the user’s workplace, optimizing the process flow for this user or optimizing the software that the user is working with. Probably it’s sufficient to just customize a small part of the software or to make a minor change to the UI that can be rolled out quickly without fuss. All of this can go a long way if you really know what the user needs.
2. "MAKE THE GIFT FUN"
UX Translation: REALIZE THAT FUN FOR AN ENTERPRISE USER STARTS BY BEING LISTENED TO AND TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
Do you consider the question of whether or not users have fun in their work to be irrelevant? Well I'm sorry to say this, but it has to be fun! Here though, fun is not just a question of adding a cool user interface or a brand new super quick desktop PC with a huge screen. It’s far more important for users to feel that they are being listened to, and that their needs are considered. This is where the fun starts!
3. "ASK THEM"
UX Translation: ASK YOUR USERS WHAT THEY WANT AND WHAT THEY NEED.
You’ll probably see that I’ve already mentioned this point. Listen to your users instead of giving them something that they probably don’t want or need, or even worse something that doesn’t even make them more efficient.
4. "CREATE A LIST"
UX Translation: CREATE A UX ROADMAP THAT SETS OUT YOUR ENTERPRISE UX STRATEGY
This is probably the most important thing of all: A list. Let’s call this list the UX roadmap. And before you create your list, make sure that you have an enterprise UX strategy detailing what your goals are and how these relate to the goals of your business. Alongside your users, the other part of the enterprise that you definitively need to satisfy are the business goals.
5. "SEARCH ONLINE FOR IDEAS"
UX Translation: USE THE SAP EA EXPLORER TO FIND IDEAS AND INSPIRATION
Yes, you can search online for UX ideas and options too. How? Where? Just use the SAP EA Explorer.
6. "MAKE A SIMPLE GIFT"
UX Translation: LOOK FOR SIMPLE IMPROVEMENTS AND SIMPLE SOLUTIONS
This is more or less obvious from a UX point of view. While Power Users are still part of the setup and require our attention as well, in all enterprises nowadays the focus is on casual users and their needs. Simple solutions are therefore what we are looking for. Despite their simplicity, many of these will also satisfy Power Users, who require more functions and steer the more complex parts of business processes.
Have a great Christmas and a happy new year,
-JJ (@JJComment)
