The ability to find what is behind a technological need is a valuable quality when designing a technical solution. What is this all about and how can your business benefit? Find out here.
When talking about software solutions design it’s not surprising that many still minimize its importance and reduce it to a merely esthetic and functional activity. If you understand the UX/UI design from this perspective, it is more likely your business is incurring in overruns, delays, and, worst of all, you are not generating added value for you and your own customers.
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Now then, where is the importance of software design? The answer is simple: to go beyond the obvious!
This means that a software development company, besides understanding the primary needs of a client, must have the ability to investigate and analyze –at a deeper level– the needs, contexts, and realities of the contracting company in order to define the best solution (application).
“In general, the customer arrives with an idea of what he needs, but, as consultants and experts in software solutions design, we go further on this and find what is been required. There is a lot of information that is underlying the needs, information that is not revealed and in which it is necessary to inquire”, says Santiago Arcucci, designer at Hexacta.
Software design to accomplish a task or to satisfy the user?
Although it seems that the software design is based on a corporate need, the reality is that the particular needs and objectives of the user’s solution also play an essential role when it comes to UX/UI design.
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“If in a first meeting with the client –continued Arcucci–, he expressed, for example, that his need is having a billing system, it may happen that the technical solution should not only focus on the development of that kind of system, but on creating a solution that allows him to improve the control of the sales per employee, having account reports in real-time or, why not, optimizing the stock of products”. It is just right there where the objectives of the application’s end-user enter into the playing field.
A software development must also be designed in such a way that it allows the person to fulfill and achieve his particular goals. “Both the objectives the application should meet and the user’s objectives are key elements to achieve a complete user experience. These two factors are subordinate to each other”, stresses Arcucci.
On the other hand, there are other “ingredients” as the feasibility, costs, adaptation to new technologies, and the context in which the solution is designed, which are also part of this equation. Without losing the focus on the aim, it is important that your technological partner considers these items that are related to your own business and determine the best solution for you and, at best, provides you diverse alternatives.
For example, a good consulting service in software will inform you if the project is feasible to do (that the technology required exists or is accessible), if the cost of production justifies that particular development or if the best is to create another type of solution.
“Considering the above –says the designer– is where a real negotiation begins between what has to be fulfilled (the task of the implementation) and the objectives of those who use the application and the context of the situation. It is necessary to examine and read beyond what we just see at first because we can address the same problem and reach the goal by using different ways”.
To sum up
A quality development company works at your side and is flexible to your needs and contexts, does not leave aside the central objective and deeply analyzes your business. Besides, it is eager to know who is going to use the application, what is expected from the solution by itself and what the final user’s expectations are. Therefore, the designer is becoming a mediator between the customer’s needs and the needs of the final user.
In addition to this, the developer company examines the costs and feasibility of the project, the added value that the solution offers to your business, and is able to advise you on the best solution tailored to your business and capabilities.
In software solutions design, it is essential to investigate from the early stages of the process and go beyond the obvious. The early detection of some items until now invisible to you can make the difference between a good or bad result in development.
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