Today, because of large-scale commoditization, User Experience is the number 1 competitive differentiator across business. The competitive advantage that companies enjoyed a decade ago were factors such as manufacturing strength, power of distribution and mastery of information. We live in the age of the customer and nothing matters more than focusing on customers. Truly, today customer is KING.

With so many people being on various social media forums and easy mobile access, customers know more about a company or its products and services than never before. When customers have all the information at a single click, such as the demand for the product, market price and on-line product reviews, it gives him greater bargaining power. One bad review on Twitter or Facebook can take a chunk of customers away.

In today’s complex business environment, successful businesses are those that have understood people’s ability to connect with technology and in turn their ability to connect with the brand.

When technology is a given, organizations can compete better only if they invest and implement creative and innovative user experiences in the design and development process, be it a product or a software solution. Apple is a great example of how design led innovation can create new markets.

Technology has become all-pervasive, and being socially connected while at work is the norm of the day. Notice how frequently people are banking on the mobile these days.The expanding mobile market and changing consumer preferences are forcing the banking industry to move to mobile commerce. When banking online or making mobile payments, users expect a quick, easy and secure experience. A seamless user experience where people can connect and engage spontaneously while performing their everyday tasks and chores.

Many organizations today use UX for social media and brand optimization. For example, changing with the times, many banks and financial institutions today advertise their products and build their brand on the social media sites along with providing services and solutions to customer inquiries. Many have dedicated applications and web pages on social sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Amazon increased their sales by 29% ($12.83 billion) by simply adding product recommendations for items that were browsed earlier by users. Some analysts are of the opinion that this UX feature increased Amazon’s conversion rate to 60%. 

Since UX is the key competitive differentiator today, it is only natural that it is the pillar of most applications. So, what factors influence new age user experience?

All around, we are witnessing consumer experiences that are designed to be simple, highly personalized and often very engaging. These shifts in consumer experience in everyday life have also led to shifts in workplace expectations. Today’s new age employee demand from HR functions, the same features they experience while interacting in Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. HCM applications today must be fast, easy to use and socially enabled anytime, anywhere and on multiple devices.

When user experience is delightful and engaging, HR managers can build collaborative teams, offer learning, discussions, ratings and reviews, provide feedback on performance review and discover hidden gems within the company. HR managers can automate employee referrals, post jobs on social sites and find potential employees.

All Organizations today, want HR functions to transform into a strategic facilitator in its growth and expansion. With acute talent shortage, it is imperative that HR managers recruit, retain, train, and engage with their global and diverse workforce. A user experience that is simple, personalized and engaging helps him do just that thereby saving the company time and money.

User Experience has now become the key element for any solutions especially HCM applications. HCM product based organizations are investing huge amount on research to build the unrivalled User experience. Hence it is very important for organization looking for HCM solution to look for UX along with functionalities.