The customer really is king. As a user, the customer isn’t content with their needs simply met. They want their needs to be understood as well as met. It’s not about simple customer satisfaction anymore. Tech companies have been all about user experience for years. A great example of user experience would be the iPhone. This device is built to understand the user instead of the user trying to understand the device. More often than not, the purchaser, customer, and user are the same person in the consumer world. Yet, when it comes to business to business or B2B, it’s not always that simple. In this case, companies only have contact with the final users and only when it comes to a few products.
Making an effective link between user-driven and technical innovations is a particular challenge to technology-oriented companies. When users were asked about their experiences with technology, they speak more about current technologies instead of speaking about the future of technology and what can be expected. In practice, observation of users gives companies a better understanding of the context in which consumers are using the products. It also brings a better understanding of who the users are and what their targets and tasks are. It also answers the question about which environment certain products are used to greatest capacity. The usual course of action is to take a conceptual prototype and allow the users to evaluate.
When the designers and companies finally reach out and become more involved with the user and what it is the user is after, you will see a marked increase in the consumer happiness. The days of simply creating content or technology and tossing it into the wind to hit or miss have come to a close. The concept of the user being king is a major sticking point for most developers these days. Whether you’re a growing company or an established, and highly known company, the message is the same. You, as a professional company, know that in many cases, you need to look at the user as not just a king but an emperor. Human need takes precedence over the whim of random productivity.