apr 005 businessvalue

2020-03-01 163浏览

1.adaptive path R E P O R T S Leveraging BusinessValue:How ROI Changes User Experience Scott Hirsch Business Strategist, Adaptive Path Haas School of Business, 2003 Janice Fraser Partner Adaptive Path Sara Beckman Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley the value of experience www.adaptivepath.com
2.Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Context for the Research Introduction How ROI Relates to User Experience 6 8 Research Findings Is It Possible to Measure the ROI of User Experience? How Are Companies Measuring Value and Why? Figure 1: The User Experience Value Chain The ROI Process Model Figure 2: The ROI Process Model 13 16 17 27 28 Conclusions How To Use This Report Final Thoughts 36 38 Appendices AppendixA:Case Data Bank of America Belkin Cathay Paciﬁc Airways ESPN KQED AppendixB:Bibliography adaptive path 39 40 46 51 56 61 65 Leveraging BusinessValue:How ROI Changes User Experience © 2004 Adaptive Path LLC • All rights reserved • www.adaptivepath.com 2
3.Executive Summary M any in our ﬁeld have long believed that a good user experience delivers business value. We have often seen how aligning product speciﬁcations with business objectives and user needs delivers a real competitive advantage, but — outside of retail e-commerce — we have rarely seen that value being measured and managed. Based on these beliefs and observations, we began a research project in May 2003 to answer the speciﬁc questions “How do companies currently use valuation methods, like return on investment (ROI), to measure the value of user experience?” and “What are the beneﬁts of doing so?” We began with an expectation commonly held in the design ﬁeld, that “measuring the ROI of user experience” would entail applying a general equation, and we expected that our research would reveal the elusive formula. We assumed that armed with this silver bullet, Web development teams would be able to prove their value and thereby garner more credibility and resources within their companies. Even more naively, some of our colleagues encouraged us to seek an answer to the question “What is the ROI of user experience,” hoping for a speciﬁc value, like 500 percent or $234. While our research showed that valuation methods can help managers justify resource increases, it’s impossible to measure ROI for user experience with a simple equation that can be applied across a wide swath of companies and projects. Nor is there a speciﬁc number that represents the general value of user experience. Although there is no silver bullet, what we found was much more interesting. The impact of ROI extends well beyond its obvious beneﬁts in making resource-allocation decisions. Our research revealed that using ROI and other valuation methods helps to evolve design competency within organizations. The valuation methods provide tools for developing and measuring a design strategy as a component of a larger businessstrategy:The ability to “value” user experience design makes it a visible and credible business lever on par with marketing, research and development, and channel strategy. As a result, applying ROI-measuring techniques to user experience investment decisions has a positive impact on how Web teams are structured and perceived within an organization. “Valuing” user experience makes it a credible business lever on par with marketing, R&D, and channel strategy. This explains many of the anecdotal problems that we have encountered at several conference sessions and panel discussions. We have seen successful Web strategies languish for reasons that were diﬃcult to pinpoint. In almost every case, those ﬁrms made no attempt to forecast the future value of user experience design. It was viewed as an expense to minimize rather than an investment that ought to deliver a return. As a result, user experience design was “undervalued,” and successful implementation was doomed by a lack of commitment and support. The adaptive path Leveraging BusinessValue:How ROI Changes User Experience © 2004 Adaptive Path LLC • All rights reserved • www.adaptivepath.com 3
4.ﬁve cases featured in this research study show how companies that take even rudimentary steps toward measuring the long-term value of user experience avoid such political pitfalls. They also tend to have Web development processes and organizational structures that better optimize the value of design. By analyzing data from the user experience projects of ﬁve subject ﬁrms and examining the explicit and implicit methodology used to value those projects, we have learned how and why ﬁrms measure the value of user experience. In this report, we present conceptual frameworks for connecting user behavior to business value and for understanding how to calculate the value of user experience on a project-by-project basis. We believe that design and business managers will ﬁnd these constructs helpful in focusing their Web metrics and General Characteristics of Firms ﬁnancial analytics to tease out the true value of user That Measure Design Value experience design. To address the longer-term structural implications of valuing design, we have also built a theoretical model to describe the developmental stages that ﬁrms go through as they become more adept at measuring ROI. Finally, we present a diagnostic tool to help teams understand the valuation elements of their own design process. We hope that these tools help design and business managers structure their internal discussions to better optimize design investments. We began this exploratory research not knowing what we would ﬁnd, and discovered that ROI is a shift in organizational culture as much as it is a mathematical calculation. The ﬁeld of user experience is at a turning point — ﬁrms that are better able to capture the value of user experience will be the ones that invest in the most ground-breaking projects and minimize waste on shortterm ﬁxes and abandoned projects. This will require a long-term commitment to valuing user experience design as a strategically important investment. We have three hopes for thisreport:First, that it will provide a context and language to start the design community down the right path for understanding ROI and why it is important. Second, that the business and ﬁnance community will begin to expect and help design teams to develop solid business cases for their projects. Finally, that this report provides a solid foundation for future research in both the academic and business communities. adaptive path Evangelism Design teams and business units share the success of design projects and communicate their value throughout the ﬁrm. C-level awareness Senior management can articulate the value of the Web as a competitive advantage and has established an accountability structure to deliver on its promise. Transparent project selection process A structured process is consistently used to collect, screen, and choose the best project ideas. Everyone understands the process, knows how to go about submitting a project for consideration, and the criteria by which the go/no-go decision will be made. Design team independence Organizational structure and transparency of process gives designers “a seat at the table” as an expert peer of business unit managers, marketing managers, project sponsors, engineers, and other stakeholders. Independence grows in parallel with accountability for measurable results. Smart investments Firms that measure design value don’t necessarily invest more money; they invest in more-valuable projects. Because design and business teams are involved in the project scoping and selection process, fewer “bad” projects fall on their plate. Waste is reduced because projects stall less often. Leveraging BusinessValue:How ROI Changes User Experience © 2004 Adaptive Path LLC • All rights reserved • www.adaptivepath.com 4
6.Introduction G ood design is simple, beautiful, easy to use. It creates a sense of purpose and of place. It anticipates and responds to user needs. But aside from these subjective characteristics, how can we know whether a design is “good”? Moreover, how can a business know whether a design was worth the investment of time and money? Without strong product and user interface design, Apple would likely have disappeared long ago. Similarly, without its simplicity of function, Google might have been viewed as just another search engine. These companies approach design diﬀerently:Contrast the iPod’s powerful elegance with Google’s starkly utilitarian interface. Nonetheless, both companies have demonstrated a consistent emphasis on design while their competitors have not. In companies that “get it,” designers, managers, and executives intuitively understand that good design can be a powerful competitive advantage. If good design indeed provides a real beneﬁt, though, it should be possible to calculate its ROI. All you would need are appropriate, measurable values to plug into the equation. But our experience has shown that few companies are attempting such calculations. Why is that? We believe that it’s because we’re accustomed to thinking that design is subjective. The challenge in valuing user experience is in moving away from opinion and toward observation. User experience design is not merely aesthetic. Rather, its aim is to guide and facilitate users’ behavior, which can be observed and measured. To make good business decisions, we need to measure the outcome — and the impact — of designprojects:'>projects: