User Experience (UX), the term that defines any interaction users have with a product, is now one of the most important elements of today’s software development industry. Experts predict that around 50% of today’s applications will be re-written in the next five years because of past UX oversights. If this comes to pass, there needs to be an abundant pool of UX experts from which to draw from.
This rapid ascension of UX importance is having ripple effects in the nearshore software market, particularly in terms of insufficient talent. While fairly prominent in Silicon Valley, the market for digital design, user experience engineers and user interface talent is still lacking in Latin America.
Nearshore UX Talent Shortage
New Roles Emerging from UX
Enterprise UX
Justifying a UX Strategy
Capital One is a good example of how UX prioritization can alter an entire industry. The company acquired world-renowned UX agency Adaptive Path to work exclusively on their apps. Since then, UX in the finance industry has exploded as institutions moved toward a more consumer-friendly approach. All it took was one big player to do it in the right way.
“In order to have a sustainable UX strategy, the one thing companies need to pay attention to is relevancy,” said Horcada. “Your strategy, your business, and your consumers are always going to change, and you should adapt to it to stay relevant. You should be in the business of understanding your user, your consumer, and your rivals.” Quantitative models to achieve this include analytics, surveys and data that shows were problematic areas are in software. These can be followed up by user interviews to determine why these problems exist for them. There are also tools such as Inspectlet, which allow you to watch recordings of how users interact with the site or app.
How much importance does your company place on UX? Is the nearshore region focusing on UX as much as it should be? Let us know in the comments below.
I can tell you that the UX field of practice is growing fast in the region. Is just a matter of how companies struggle less and less to understand the importance of UX best practices, and incorporate it across all teams inside a company one step at a time.