In short, as per Part 1, you
- keep admitting to every mistake you are making and do something about it, then
- continue by looking for cost-effective opportunities for improvement and pursue them and finally
- never, ever, ever forget the timeless basics.
Today, we’ll continue by describing what you do when you identify, and admit to, the second mistake we chronicled in our two part introduction to our “dead company walking” (Part 1 and Part 2) series (where we helped your potential customers identify problems that signify you are a SaaS supplier they should be walking away from).
2) A Shiny Exterior is More Important Than a Modern Engine
i ) Flip Your Focus from UX first to Solution First
Too many companies right now think the “lack of adoption” problem is a lack of usability problem because all their founders knew was SAP Ariba or monolithic Jaggaer or decade old GEP smart, which aren’t the most usable of applications for certain tasks, and definitely not usable by anyone but core buyers.
Many successful companies have been started, grown, and acquired or merged into bigger companies for the past two decades to be better, easier, and/or more affordable than SAP Ariba, Emptoris (acquired by IBM, sunset in 2017, one of the first big players), Jaggaer (which was SciQuest until the 2017 rebranding), Coupa, etc (including Procuri, acquired by Ariba; Iasta, acquired by Selectica, merged with b-Pack, rebranded Determine, acquired by Corcentric; EC Sourcing, acquired BidMode then was acquired by Simfoni, etc.). And ten times as many have started for the same reasons and no longer exist (without [nearly as] successful exits). Usability is only part of the problem.
For an application to be adopted it has to
- be easy to use to the point where it
- is easier and faster to use it than to circumvent it
(or to keep doing what the user is doing now) and, most importantly, - solve the user’s core problem.
This last reason is why a lot of fake-take, sorry, intake, solutions are going to be ultimately abandoned. Simply making it easy for a user to request something and then showing an animated graphic of the request being forwarded to Bob and then, the next day, showing an animated Bob opening the request once he’s read it DOES NOT solve a user’s problem where they need a product or service to do their job. Unless the platform allows Bob to process and fulfill that request more efficiently and effectively than the current methodology, and, most importantly, gives full visibility into what actions Bob has and is currently undertaking, along with an ETD of when the user will have the request fulfilled, the intake application is worse than not having anything at all. This is because the user still has to message or call Bob to find out what’s going on until Bob manually indicates that he has accepted the request, fulfilled the request, and when (and where) the product or service will arrive.
ii) Design Open API first with full data and process control
Everyone focuses on the UX and UI first because that’s what the users (and executives) see, believing that a great demo will get them the sale. And while, sadly, it will get them some sales from executives with no Tech IQ whatsoever, it doesn’t mean it will get them the renewal, especially after the product fails to be adopted because it doesn’t actually let the users work the way they need to work.
It’s not the UI, it’s the ability to capture the data and run the processes in an acceptable manner, and this is not possible if the UI or workflow is wrong. And you’ll never get it (completely) right the first time. But if you build a solid backend that is fully (Open) API driven for data and process control, it will be easy to programmatically alter the workflow, and modify or rebuild the UI (with external help who won’t even have to know more than the API calls) later to be more appropriate.
Too many companies sacrifice a proper software foundation in their rush to MVP and a sale, and this is what cripples them (sometimes to the point of failure). Think of building software like building a real building. If you only build the foundation for a 2 story house, you’ll never be able to build a 20 story apartment building. But if you build the foundation for a 20 story apartment building, you can build out 2 stories of units to start, sell those, and then build out the rest (when you can show off the demo units and drum up a lot of interest).
iii) Then Design a UX on top that customers use – with their help
Work with beta customers, plural, on enhancements and new modules and get their input on what their core processes are and what would make a UI more usable. While you should never design for any specific customer, you should design to meet the 80% common needs, and, where possible, include as many configuration / customization options in the product (workflow and data collection) as possible (but not the codebase, it has to be software switches, you don’t want multiple code branches in production, ever).
Your chances of success improve greatly if multiple customers will say it solves their problems and they use it daily. It’s not about them loving it, it’s about them using it. That’s the key.
iv) If extra $$$ remain, farm out the eye candy development
It doesn’t hurt to have the application look new and shiny, but that’s secondary to having it work in a modern fashion that will leave your new users with tears of joy the first time they use it (because they thought that no solution could tackle their complex procurement, sourcing, logistics, new product design, supplier management, etc. challenges). So if you have a few extra dollars, once you’ve figured everything out about usability and configurability, then you can hire a UX guru to make it sparkle. (But always remember that a solution that actually works shines on its own.)
Stay tuned for Part 3!