The San Diego Software Industry Council presents:
Beyond Usability
User Experience / Interface Design
March 5, 2008
Register at http://www.sdsic.org/eventregistration.php
Hosted by
Intuit
Do your customers have a good experience with your solution?
Are you leveraging “the experience advantage” for customer satisfaction and increased revenue?
Focusing on how “usable” products are has been a recent trend in software development but being usable is just not good enough.
Come hear how leading companies are going beyond usability and creating engaging user experiences, for . . .
• Competitive advantage
• Sustainable growth
• Increased profit margins and revenue
Our panel of experts share their case studies, experience and examples and discuss how some of these best practices can be easily adopted at your company.
Moderator:
Sean Van Tyne, User Experience Architect, Van Tyne Consulting, www.vantyneconsulting.com
Panelists:
- Maria Melendrez, Usability Strategist, SAIC, www.saic.com
- Beau Sullivan, Director of User Experience, Mitchell International, www.mitchell.com
- Erikheath Thomas, Senior UI Designer, Intuit, www.intuit.com
- Jeofrey Bean, Principal, Del Mar Research, www.delmarresearch.com
Date: March 5, 2008
Time: 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm – Registration and Networking
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Program
Fee: Pre registration Only – SDSIC Members $35.00
Pre registration Only – Non Members $45.00
Location: Intuit – New Campus
7545 Torrey Santa Fe Road
San Diego, CA 92129
Register at http://www.sdsic.org/eventregistration.php
The San Diego Software Industry Council SDSIC.ORG
February 20th, 2008
Between a slowing economy, increased competition and advancing profit margin compression, several companies, who rely on technology to market, sell and deliver products and services (technical or not) are looking for ways of competitive and economic advantage more than ever. Look to your people and processes for an uncommon advantage: The one of giving a great experience to prospects and customers as they contact your people and user your technology to find out about your company and make purchases.
The user experience includes all the touch-points and exposure people have to your company. I will focus on the users of your technology, whether it is your web site, software, kiosk, a mobile device such as an iPhone, cell phone or PDA. These devices have software on them and it needs to be more than usable, they need to offer an excellent user experience. That is, an experience that is engaging, useful and one that will cause them to want to return, buy and be an advocate for your company.
Companies that come to mind who have made the leap from usability to being destination points for great (and profitable) user experiences include UPS, Apple Computer, Lexus, NetFlix, Amazon..com and USAA Insurance. They understand how to bridge the distance between usable products, services and technologies and offering a positive and engaging user experience overall.
Why do companies make the investment in user experience?
Companies make the investment because of the hallmarks of firms that have developed a user experience strategy and executed well:
- Accelerated customer acquisition, engagement and retention, and the higher willingness to pay by the customers.
- Sustainable growth with slower profit margin erosion.
- Competitive advantage through positive “market aligned” differentiation.
- Return on investment is vastly improved over the solution life cycle. This translates well into increased company equity, regardless of maturity stage.
Where is your company along the usability-to-user experience continuum?
If you are just at the beginning, then learn more about the default user experiences people are having with your company now. Are the experiences prospects and customers having (yes, pre and post sales) turning into positive value for your company? Are they converting visitors to customers? Are the experiences turning customers into advocates for real competitive advantage, long term growth and return on investment? Find out about what the best in class user experiences can do for your company in answering these same questions to obtain the user experience advantage.
February 15th, 2008