UX Design: a leadership lever for CIOs

The IT Department must feel responsible for ensuring that users adopt the applications it implements. This end-to-end approach, right up to the adoption stage, enables us to better support the Business Units. The IT department can't hide behind its little finger and say that it's the responsibility of the business units who commissioned the project.

Today, it' s imperative for IT Departments to devote part of their budget to designing a user experience (UX) that encourages adoption. All too often, IT departments limit themselves to creating a user interface (UI), without taking the whole user experience into account.

As a CIO, integrating user experience (UX) into your projects is key to increasing your impact and leadership within the company. 

"Design is creativity combined with strategy", Rob Curedale - Product designer & writer.

"Understanding precedes action", Richard Saul Wurman - designer & creator of TED Talks.

For example, many companies are choosing Alan mutuals purely for their intuitive UX, much to the dismay of historic mutuals who are actually losing market share by failing to produce UX that matches the required intuitiveness.

Creating high-performance UX is both a state of mind and a profession. That's why some people believe that 10% of an IT project's budget should be spent on UX, and therefore on application adoption.

At 70% adoption a digital project is a failure, often due to poor UX.

How can UX Design transform your IT department and your business?

Understanding the impact of UX on CIO leadership

If you had to present a new IT services portal at a Codir meeting, how would you go about it? 

A large proportion of CIOs tend to respond by focusing solely on the technical aspects of the solution (perhaps also because the request was formulated that way?).

Wouldn't UX design be the solution? 

Wouldn't the catchphrase, the thing that interests and will enable the Business Units and the Executive Board to buy into the technical solutions, be proof by example?
Wouldn't the project be more meaningful if you presented a feature designed to meet the user's needs?
For example, by showing how this portal's intuitive interface reduces response time to user requests by 30%, we'd be much more relevant because we'd have demonstrated a deep understanding of business needs.
UX design forces IT and Business Departments to take a step back from the service actually provided to the user. This way of thinking is equally effective on internal and external projects.

Here are a few examples of situations where UX Design is very useful:

The integration of user experience is very useful in many cases.

• IT service portals: thanks to UX design, IT service portals, once complex and not very user-friendly, become simpler and more intuitive, making them easier to use on a daily basis.
• Resource reservation systems: UX design plays a key role in simplifying and streamlining resource reservation systems, making these processes more accessible and less time-consuming for users.
• Management dashboards, often overloaded and poorly adapted to managers' real needs, are transformed by UX design to become more relevant, organized and focused on users' specific needs.
• Mobile applications for employees: they can be more engaging for internal communication, by being more attractive, functional and adapted to their needs.
• Feedback systems: UX design facilitates the collection of feedback by transforming feedback systems. What was once a daunting task becomes easier thanks to user-friendly interfaces, encouraging better communication and richer feedback.

What is the UX design method? How do we put it into practice?

UX design helps the IT Department to position itself as a business partner for the Business Units. It encourages them to understand the challenges and constraints of projects, and to offer value propositions.

The value proposition is based on : 

• Studying the context
• An identified target
• A clear explanation of the problem and needs.

The product/service promise must be clear.

To do this, you need to empathize with the user. 

You can organize brainstorming sessions with end-users. For example, for new project management software, talk to project managers to understand their day-to-day challenges.

Offer prototypes, mock-ups and interactive demonstrations.
Before developing a new portal, create an interactive mock-up and organize a test session with real users. Gather their feedback so you can make adjustments before final development.
In addition to PowerPoints, when you present a new system, instead of using slides, propose an interactive demo that gives the Codir a concrete understanding of the user experience.

Sylvie Philippon, interim CIO, explains: 

"During a project presentation to the CEO, a team had planned an explanation of the functionality of a security application. Two "little kids" had prepared a simple application which they had the CEO try out, proving to him that there were flaws in the security systems that could be easily detected. The project was immediately adopted!

UX design helps the IT Department to position itself as a business partner for the Business Units. It encourages them to understand the challenges and constraints of projects, and to offer value propositions.

Integrating UX into your day-to-day work as a CIO doesn't just mean improving the aesthetics of systems, but above all optimizing their functionality, efficiency and adoption. By taking concrete steps to understand and improve the user experience, you reinforce your role as an innovative leader and respond more effectively to your company's needs.

UX Design is one of the many CIO skills we can help you develop on our CIO Executive course, launched in partnership with CentraleSupélec Exed.

"The UX design module enabled me to improve my relationship with the sales and marketing departments on ecommerce site issues", Didier Douchet, CIO at Monnaie de Paris, after taking the course(read his full testimonial here).