Financial Times Series: The Right Tools to Fast-Track Growth

Volatility and uncertainty have proven ironic constants in recent years, leaving most organizations asking again and again, “How can we prepare for anything?” Contrary to the adage, a good defense has become the best offense in business.

Now, your company needs to turn that back around to build momentum, break through, and outpace your competitors. A new series of three articles from SAP Concur, produced in partnership with the Financial Times, considers innovative trends in enterprise software and decision-making with the potential to fast-track your company toward growth.

Our first article in the series explores how technology and innovation are changing enterprise software design and the user experience. As technology increases in value and pervasiveness across all business functions and operations, user experience—how employees engage with the tools they use—also becomes increasingly important.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating opportunities to personalize how work gets done. Psychology and behavioral science are making software more intuitive. A human-centric approach is leading to better design. As SAP Concur Vice President of Product and Head of UX Jen Moyse puts it, “Great user experience helps a user get through the task easily, accurately and quickly. That's all you want from business software."

Adapting processes

The introduction and inclusion of AI in software presents the opportunity to tailor user experiences based on employee preferences, needs, and workflows. Much attention has been paid to the potential for AI to take tedious tasks off employees’ plates. However, AI also makes it possible to improve the experience of work by adapting processes with real-time data analysis, dynamic functionality adjusted to individual users, and more.

Shaping interactions

As in consumer technology, psychology and behavioral science are shaping user experience design in enterprise software as well to facilitate better interactions and decision-making. The application of behavioral science principles to business software design can help ensure that tools are intuitive to use, helping employees get up to speed and make meaningful contributions quickly. Science-backed personalization features can also help drive improved performance and user outcomes.

Fostering productivity

Prioritizing the employee in user experience design requires a more human-centric approach, relying on research and feedback to inform and guide decisions in software development. Conducting surveys and engaging in ongoing conversations with customers and their users can provide critical insights necessary to foster productivity, engagement, and solution relevance, while creating the essential touchpoints to build trust.

Read further

For more detailed perspectives from thought leaders on the convergence of innovation and user experience design, read on to learn how the right tools can help a company achieve stronger impact, improve performance, and break through to fast-track its business.