Customer Experience, User Experience - And The Business .

Customer Experience, UserExperience - and theBusiness AnalystProfessional roles around the Business Analyst and theirrelationship to the business analystAuthors: Thomas Geis and Knut Polkehn, UXQB - International Usability and User Experience Qualification Board1. IntroductionMore and more often during design anddevelopment of interactive systems and services,the term “customer experience” is being referred to.Customer experience becomes an important qualitycharacteristic that emphasizes on the customerperceived quality. Business analysists more andmore need to collaborate with other professionalroles who specifically deal with “XYZ”-experience.Therefore, it is important to understand who theseroles are and how all roles interplay.Often, customer experience is equalized withanother term: “user experience”. User experiencein turn is defined as the experienced quality ofan interactive system from the perspective ofthose directly using the system. User experienceresults from the personal experience with asystem, e.g. “wow, that was simple”, but also fromthe experience of others communicating theirexperience “Have you tried this new travel expensesUI? Works really like the iPhone.“Communicated user experience, in turn, drives theexpectations of those users who have not yet usedthe system. This is also referred to as “anticipateduse”. If communicated experience has a negativetouch, then expectations about a system to comeare negative, e.g. “Probably I won’t be able to usethat new system either”.Expectations and experiences of users are thereforeimportant.Already in a B2C context, the equalization ofcustomer experience and user experience does notreally work. Often it is unclear, in which role a personhas made experiences with an interactive system orservice. The self-perception of a person in a specificsituation however defines their individual goalsleading to expectations on an interactive systemor service. Figure 1 illustrates roles that people aretypically in.Figure 1: Situational perspectives of people1

2. Types of experience depending on the situational perspective of a personDepending on the situation that a person “feels tobe in”, the perspective of the experience differs. Thefollowing “types” of experience can be differentiated. Human Experience:From the perspective of a “human being”,people expect that the interactive systemconsiders the capabilities and limits of humanperception and cognition (e.g. characters on thescreen are large enough, so they are readable.)Consumer Experience:From the perspective of a consumer of aninteractive system or service, one wouldexpect that the system makes sure that theenvironment is not harmed by the system(e.g. the tumble dryer has minimum energyconsumption). Customer Experience:From the perspective of a customer in terms of“the one who pays”, one expects that the cost/benefit ratio leads to an advantage in makinguse of a system or service. User Experience:From the perspective of a direct user of aninteractive system or service, one would expectthat the system or service truly makes thejob more effective and efficient, leading to apositive user experience.In a B2B context, the perspective on experiencebecomes even more complex, since in a customerorganization, various roles exist that people takeover: users of interactive systems, who e.g. produce areport with the system for others(direct user user experience), users of “business objects” (e.g. the producedreport)(indirect user professional experience); purchasers / purchase decision makers forthe interactive system itself (the reportingsystem) who decide on the interactive system tosupport business processes;(buyer buyer experience) or managers of the organization, who originallydemanded the reporting system to supportbusiness processes better(business makers business experience)2

3. Responsibilities: Who ensures experience-centred quality?The “engineering” of experience-centred qualityrequires different roles in an organization to ensuremeeting the stakeholder requirements across allstakeholders.Figure 2 illustrates the: stakeholders from the perspectiveof the business and from theperspective of working in theorganization who experience thequality of a system or service and; the professional roles (colored inblue and green) ensuring that allstakeholder requirements relating tothe experienced quality will be met.While the (process) business analystmainly works on the interface betweenthose running the business and thoseworking in the business, the (systems)business analyst mainly works onthe interface between those runningthe business and the (IT) technologysupporting the business.More and more “user experience”centred roles (colored in green in figure2) are entering organizations ensuringthat the interface between thosewho work in the business and the (ITtechnology) supporting their jobs isleading to effectiveness and efficiency inwork together with a high level of userexperience.Figure 2: Stakeholders and professional roles serving the stakeholders3

Table 1 below lists the roles and responsibilities of the roles included in figure 1.Professional roleinterfaces betweenResponsibility(Process) Business AnalystBusiness Users(Systems) Business AnalystBusiness TechnologyEnsuring that requirements of thebusiness stakeholders in relationto IT-Systems are identified andavailable to Systems EngineeringEnterprise ArchitectBusiness TechnologyEnsuring that business strategyand IT strategy are alignedProject ManagerBusiness Users TechnologyEnsuring that the release of anIT project is completed at thetarget date fulfilling the set ofrequirements for the releaseProduct ManagerBusiness Users TechnologyEnsuring that the road map for aspecific IT system is established,maintained and implementedover time to incorporaterequirements of all stakeholdersover timeProduct OwnerBusiness Users TechnologyEnsuring that for a release of an ITproject all set requirements of allstakeholders are implementedUsability / User Experience EngineerBusiness Users TechnologyEnsuring that all activitiesrequired to establish positive userexperience are applied across ITsystems and IT projectsUser Requirements EngineerUsers TechnologyEnsuring that the requirementsof the direct users of the system(user requirements) are set for theinteractive system to be designedor purchasedInformation ArchitectUsers TechnologyEnsuring that information in an ITsystem is organized for the directusers of the system, so users findinformation efficiently where theyexpect it to beInteraction DesignerUsers TechnologyEnsuring that user interactionwith the IT system trulycorresponds to the flow of eachtask supported by the systemUser Interface DesignerUsers TechnologyEnsuring that the visual design ofthe user interface is professional,consistent and pleasing byapplying state of the art userinterface guidelines for selfdescriptiveness and conformitywith user expectationsEnsuring that required businessprocesses are identified andorganized such that therequirements of those using theoutputs of the system (businessobjects) are met4

Professional roleUsability Tester(Systems) Requirements Engineerinterfaces betweenResponsibilityUsers TechnologyEnsuring that all likely flawsand obstacles in using eachIT system are identified andresolved before rollout of thesystem (quality assurance fromthe user’s perspective)Business TechnologyEnsuring that requirementsof the business stakeholdersare translated into (technical)system requirements that canbe implemented by systemsengineeringSystems ArchitectTechnologyEnsuring that the IT architectureis suitable for the IT strategySystems Engineer (Developer)TechnologyEnsuring that the technicalimplementation within eachIT project meets all (technical)system requirementsSystems TesterTechnologyEnsuring that each IT system isimplemented as specified anderrors in implementation areidentified for eliminationTable 1: Professional roles in organizations4. What top management needs to know about “customer experience”There is not a single “customer experience”. Much more customer experience isspecific to the types of stakeholders affected by an interactive system or service.It is important to understand that those working in the organization require ahigh user experience with the IT systems in the organization to get their jobsdone effectively and efficiently.Business analysts are not only the interface between the professionaldepartments and IT (“to inform the IT”). One core role of the business analyst isto ensure the processes of those working in the business are designed suitably(professional experience) as a prerequisite to high user experience with the ITsystems in the organization.5. About the IIBA & UXQB Strategic AllianceIIBA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Usability and User ExperienceQualification Board (UXQB), a consortium of international experts in usability and user experience. Through this alliance,IIBA Members will have access to UXQB content and resources related to UX customer experience.This collaboration supports the relationship and alignment between UX Customer Experience principles and modelsand business analysis practices, delivering a richer context to IIBA Members seeking to create ongoing value.5

another term: “user experience”. User experience in turn is defi ned as the experienced quality of an interactive system from the perspective of those directly using the system. User experience results from the personal experience with a system, e.g. “wow, that was simple”, but also from the experience of others communicating their