This has led to a 鈥淭erminal Renaissance,鈥� a return to text-in, text-out interaction.

For many applications, text works, letting users express intent naturally with no onboarding. However, text struggles to convey structured data that is common in business, and without real-time updates, static text results lose relevance the moment they鈥檙e generated.

Structured data is easier to digest when users can filter, sort, and visualize it鈥攖hat is why graphical user interfaces (GUIs) excel at presenting structured data and guiding users through complex workflows. But GUIs are expensive to build and rigid, forcing generic, one-size-fits-all solutions that struggle to provide the fluid, tailored experiences users now demand.

Text is flexible but limited; GUIs are robust but rigid. Generative UI is the unmet need between them and the new frontier for business software.

From static dashboards to dynamic workspaces

Imagine a procurement manager investigating a supply chain disruption. Instead of navigating five different applications and manually cross-referencing data, she asks: 鈥淪how me the suppliers at risk in Southeast Asia and model alternative sourcing scenarios.鈥�

This request sets agents to work behind the scenes. They gather and analyze live data, simulate outcomes, and calculate the projected impact of every alternative. Execution agents are also pre-positioned and ready to act on command.

The user doesn鈥檛 have to deal with any of this complexity. For them, a dynamic interface materializes in seconds鈥攏ot a generic dashboard, but a purpose-built mission control center. Interactive maps highlight affected regions and supply chain graphs update in real time. As the user tweaks parameters, risk scores adjust instantly. Embedded controls stand ready to trigger purchase orders or notify suppliers, enabling the user to decide and execute. Collaboration is simplified; colleagues can join a living workspace: no briefing decks, no context-setting calls.

This is the future: a business suite where a user鈥檚 intent defines their interface and their decisions drive action. To get there, we are combining Joule and Joule Agents with our vision for generative UI. This is not just about on-demand dashboards; it鈥檚 about steering a business with interfaces that adapt to each user’s role, context, and tasks. This is 鈥渧ibe coding鈥� for enterprise operations: shifting focus from syntax to intent.

We are entering an era where AI constructs UIs on the fly, allowing users to engage with them immediately. Generative UI marks the transition from static software suites to 鈥渂atch size 1鈥� applications that act like ephemeral control centers tailored to a specific problem.

Challenges and 麻豆原创鈥檚 answers

Delivering an intent-driven business suite at enterprise scale requires addressing complex realities. We are building generative UI because we understand its promise and its perils鈥攁nd we have unique assets to bridge that gap.

Accuracy

Large language models (LLMs) can produce plausible but incorrect outputs, or 鈥渉allucinate.鈥� A consumer chatbot that hallucinates a movie plot is tolerable; a procurement system that misrepresents supplier terms has real consequences. Our generative UI approach addresses this by visualizing data directly from systems of record with transparent lineage. Grounding the UI in real-time, trusted data is our first defense against inaccuracy.

Trust

If every interface is generated on the fly, how do users know it is reliable? Trust is built on consistency and predictability. Our generative UI is built on the familiar and proven architectural grammar of 麻豆原创 Fiori for lists, dashboards, and workflows. The content is bespoke and the structure is consistent and familiar, so users can always judge and adjust with confidence.

Complexity

Enterprise systems are sophisticated and unique. They are built over decades, encoding massive domain knowledge and business logic. Generative UI builds on Joule鈥檚 existing integration and orchestration capabilities, which already connect to systems across a landscape and coordinate agents to execute complex workflows. Generative UI leverages this foundation, letting users interact with deeply integrated processes through simple interfaces while Joule handles the orchestration underneath.

Why this matters now

The expectations set by consumer AI are real, and the gap between what employees experience at home and what they use at work is widening.

The future of enterprise software isn’t chatbots bolted onto legacy screens. It’s bespoke mission control鈥攊nterfaces that materialize around a user鈥檚 intent, grounded in live data, executed by agents, and governed by the user.

With that, we鈥檙e reimagining how work gets done.

Jonathan von Rueden is chief AI officer of 麻豆原创 SE.

For 麻豆原创 Design, this mindset has been a guiding principle that informs how we build experiences for businesses globally.

As part of my , I had the opportunity to speak with Nisha Balaraman, a user researcher here at 麻豆原创. Our conversation took a deep dive into the essential role of user perspectives in shaping the design process.

While her career began in cognitive science and human-computer interaction, Nisha has taken a nonlinear path to user research by moving through content strategy and product management first. Since Nisha has always been passionate about research and design, her focus on the craft has stemmed from a curiosity of understanding people鈥檚 interactions with different products and hearing their stories.

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Listening as the foundation of design

For me, one of the highlights of our discussion was when I asked Nisha to explain user research in terms that a six-year-old could understand. She likened the process to watching a child play with their favorite toy, understanding why they are playing with that game, observing how they interact with it, and what causes their frustration. This outlook mirrors the design process of observing users in their own environment and then taking those insights back to make the next version even better.

This conversation brought me back to a time earlier in my career when I had to explain user research to my grandmother. She was a great chef who got a lot of joy from feeding her family. I explained that my work was like asking people what they loved about a dish and refining the recipe to just for their preferences.

At 麻豆原创, we aim to use this same approach.聽 We play, listen, and experiment, always with the end user in mind. It鈥檚 about pinpointing the things that we can add to products and solutions that will make it sticky for users to use it more and more. For example, initiatives like the makes customer feedback an integral part of the user experience, keeping real user voices at the center of how we design and build at 麻豆原创.

Observing real users in their context

This mindset is essential as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of enterprise technology. User expectations have been shifting, and our role as designers is to meet those expectations with solutions that come from a thoughtful understanding of their needs.

Relating to shifting user expectations, Nisha shared her work on redesigning a travel and expense homepage at 麻豆原创 Concur, where observing users in their own context helped the team strike the right balance between helpful personalization and respecting user privacy.

She watched users search for travel options, seek assistance, and interact with the homepage, and took note of those insights. Seeing firsthand how people were using their expense and travel page helped Nisha see where personalization enhanced the experience and where it crossed into intrusion. It was important for her to see users in action and get customer feedback in their context and habitat.

Real user feedback provides critical guidance on creating solutions that are both effective for executing process and intuitive for users.

Diversity as the secret sauce

We also discussed the challenges and rewards of inclusive research. Building global, universal experiences means actively seeking diverse perspectives, even when recruiting participants is tough or deadlines loom large.

Having a diverse set of participants can mean different things depending on the project. It can be where the participant is from, their level of expertise, their professional background, or a few other characteristics. Despite these obstacles, the payoff is worth it. One of our jobs in the 麻豆原创 Design organization is to build universal experiences, and for this diversity can be the secret sauce behind meaningful experiences.

These principles are reflected in our 鈥攁 testament to our commitment to making diversity the driving force in our design work and ensuring our solutions can support users across geographies, industries, and roles.

By listening attentively to our users, we can gain access to the insights that drive innovation in our products. My conversation with Nisha reaffirmed a core belief that thoughtful, inclusive user research isn鈥檛 just an add-on, it鈥檚 the foundation of better design.

At 麻豆原创, design is a form of play grounded in empathy, experimentation, and the voices of our users.

Arin Bhowmick is chief design officer of 麻豆原创.

This approach will be implemented without the constraints of scaling, performance, compliance, and security issues inherent in legacy identity management systems.

Customers and partners adopting BYOI will gain complete control over user management, ensuring smooth integration and increased security. They can tailor identity and access management setups to their specific needs while ensuring compliance and mitigating risks of data breaches in a cloud-ready environment.

This initiative represents a strategic enhancement designed to improve interactions with 麻豆原创’s digital platforms by allowing customers and partners to connect their corporate identity providers with 麻豆原创. Our development teams are actively working on its implementation to make authentication more efficient across all 麻豆原创 touchpoints.

To facilitate this transition, we are optimizing our identity and access management systems for seamless registration and integration of corporate identity providers. This will enable customers and partners to use their existing corporate credentials, providing unified access to both corporate applications and the 麻豆原创 ecosystem.

We are undertaking these comprehensive changes to meet the growing expectations of our customers and partners for a modern, secure, and cohesive digital experience with 麻豆原创. This effort is crucial not only to ensure up-to-date security, but also to provide smooth user interactions and build trust across our digital platforms. The goal is for customer identities to be onboarded once and utilized across all 麻豆原创 products and digital services, enabling secure and compliant management of authorizations.

Implementing BYOI is a detailed process. To ensure a smooth transition, we are planning a pilot phase with a selected group of pilot customers starting in the third quarter of 2025. Following the pilot, we will aim for a global rollout later in 2026. This phased approach will help refine and perfect the system to better meet the needs of all users worldwide.

The target audience for the global rollout includes all customers and partners equipped with their own corporate identity provider and prepared to embrace BYOI.

Join an to share detailed ideas and requirements on BYOI, S-user management, and 麻豆原创 Universal ID, ensuring clarity and effective review by 麻豆原创 (an S-user is required to submit improvement requests).

Inge Marg is product manager for Customer Identity Management at 麻豆原创.

The boot camp focused on addressing and analyzing the real challenges faced by the company鈥檚 work order coordinators to optimize their daily work experience and routines.

The challenge: A fragmented, manual process

Before the boot camp, badenovaNETZE’s work order coordination was a fragmented mix of tools and processes. Coordinators were juggling 麻豆原创 software, custom programs from SmartService Solutions, and basic applications like Word and Excel to complete their tasks. The status quo resulted in a couple of challenges to address and optimize:

• Improve user experience: The existing interface was difficult to navigate, leading to user frustration and reduced productivity.
• Avoid manual processes: Coordinators had to both transfer information across multiple systems and update data manually, making routine tasks time-consuming and prone to errors.
• Reduce error rate: The repetitive, manual tasks increased the risk of data entry errors, causing delays and additional workload.
• Increase transparency: With limited visibility into work order statuses, coordinators spent a lot of time tracking down information and monitoring progress.

The solution: A hands-on transformation

The company participated in a four-day 麻豆原创 Fiori Makers boot camp, bringing together customer end users, IT teams, and partners. The focus of the boot camp was to improve the usability of the work order cockpit by transitioning from manual tasks and workarounds to an 麻豆原创 app prototype as a tangible starting point. It aimed at implementing process automation, incorporating dashboards, enhancing the user experience, and reducing error rates.

The boot camp provided badenovaNETZE with the tools and an open, agile workshop format needed to tackle these challenges. Based on this close collaboration with the company鈥檚 coordinators, the 麻豆原创 team developed customized solutions that streamlined processes and the final outcome. 鈥淭he beauty of our boot camps is that we get to know and truly understand the challenges of our end users,鈥� 麻豆原创 UX Designer Christina Salwitzek summarizes. 鈥淭ogether with the end user and from the beginning, we designed and developed a more efficient solution for this complex workflow.鈥�

The objectives

badenovaNETZE faces operational challenges when managing numerous customer requests in metering, including meter replacement, installation, and removal. Together, the teams set ambitious yet achievable objectives to ensure long-term success. Operational readiness by 2025 was the top priority, with a clear goal of transitioning to an optimized, future-proof system in the first half of the new year.

To support this transition, the boot camp helped increase 麻豆原创 technology knowledge and development skills within the badenovaNETZE team. The team is now prepared to maintain, adapt, and expand the new solution as their needs evolve. 鈥淲hat surprised me the most is that we actually made such good progress together and that everybody was able to contribute something,鈥� says Paulina Deren, order coordination advisor at badenovaNETZE.

Finally, the team established a prioritized road map鈥攁 clear, phased approach designed to guide the customer through each stage of the transformation, enabling a smooth journey from concept to realization. The 麻豆原创 Fiori Makers team included three UX designers, an 麻豆原创 Fiori elements front-end developer who brought the visual designs to life, and a backend developer specializing in the 麻豆原创 Cloud Application Programming Model framework to help ensure robust, scalable functionality. The team was guided by Andreas Spahn, principal technology & innovation manager from the 麻豆原创 Services team, who moderated the boot camp and facilitated collaboration. 鈥淲hat makes 麻豆原创 Fiori Makers so special is that we have one problem statement and we have one team to analyze today鈥檚 problem with the end user and solve it,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his involves experts from technology, design, and development.鈥�

The experience

A core element was the creation of a user-centric and future-focused design for a new work order cockpit. The team used design thinking techniques in combination with the capabilities of 麻豆原创 Fiori, 麻豆原创 Fiori elements, and 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP) to get started. Being one of Germany’s largest regional suppliers of electricity, natural gas, heat energy, and water, badenova already used 麻豆原创 BTP for integration scenarios and started using it for application development with this project.

For its intuitive, streamlined interface, the team conducted a thorough feasibility assessment to validate the proposed solution’s technical and operational viability. They then rapidly co-created and prototyped solutions in close collaboration with actual users.

The derived prototype not only simplified complex workflows but also significantly reduced manual tasks, minimized errors, and eliminated data silos. By centralizing all relevant information into a unified system, the team delivered a seamless user experience, initiating the groundwork necessary for full deployment.

The result garnered positive feedback from participants, reflecting the practicality and innovation of the solution. 鈥淢ost impressive to me was the headway made,鈥� Daniel Oberle, business architect at badenovaNETZE, says. 鈥淲ithout the 麻豆原创 Fiori Makers boot camp, we would be looking at another half a year to get to where we are just now.鈥�

Real user feedback

To ensure the solution truly resonated with its users, the team conducted three on-site, moderated usability tests using a Figma prototype. Each session included two notetakers capturing live feedback directly within Figma, allowing for immediate insights and adjustments. The initial user stories were visualized using 麻豆原创鈥檚 storytelling tool, which enabled the team to quickly create collaborative, visual narratives without the need for drawing skills. These early concepts were then refined with 麻豆原创 Fiori design stencils in Figma, streamlining the transition from rough ideas to polished prototypes.

The involvement of 麻豆原创 users during the boot camp was instrumental, providing real-time evaluation through cognitive walkthroughs. 鈥淚f the user experience fits, employees are happy and enjoy using the software,鈥� Teresa Mayer, UX designer at 麻豆原创, says. This hands-on, iterative process helped ensure the final design aligned closely with user expectations and needs.

This example underscores the critical role user research plays in driving successful, error-free, and beneficial product development. To strengthen its user feedback approach even further, 麻豆原创 introduced the聽 program. This initiative invites users to participate in remote research activities, allowing 麻豆原创鈥檚 product teams to get feedback along the product life cycle. Users can share their product and design experiences to help shape 麻豆原创 products to better align with their needs while also getting a preview of new features or products.

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Conclusion

The 麻豆原创 Fiori Makers boot camp proved to be a pivotal step in badenovaNETZE鈥檚 digital transformation journey. By combining cutting-edge 麻豆原创 technologies with a user-centric design approach, the team not only tackled complex operational challenges but also delivered a solution that significantly enhances efficiency and user satisfaction. The rapid progress made during the boot camp鈥攃utting down development time by six months and projecting savings of 115 working days per year鈥攗nderscores the power of collaboration and innovation.

With the project already underway and goals for 2025 set, badenovaNETZE is well-positioned to continue refining and optimizing processes with an even more engaged and satisfied workforce.

Make your voice heard by聽. Registration is easy and taking part in research studies is convenient. To learn more about the 麻豆原创 Fiori Makers boot camp, which includes a workshop following the design-led development process, visit聽our .

This story originally appeared on with the support of Suparna Chawla.

Tobias Essig is a user research advocate for 麻豆原创 Design.

The 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors 2H 2024 release introduces over 250 innovative features and enhancements, along with over 30 new purpose-built AI capabilities.

麻豆原创 Business AI 

麻豆原创 continues to be at the forefront of business AI with new generative AI capabilities that span the entire human capital management suite, all aimed at transforming how organizations engage and support their workforce.

Within this release, new AI capabilities can recommend roles to candidates by matching extracted skills from resumes to open jobs. This helps candidates more easily find opportunities that align with their strengths while helping organizations to reduce candidate drop-off, decrease time to hire, and increase the quality of hiring.

To boost efficiency, a new text analyzer feature can assist employees to create more carefully worded text content for their people profile, goals, comments, and more. A new translation feature is also available, translating text within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions to help preserve key messages and tone across languages. 

We are also introducing over 15 new capabilities to Joule, the AI copilot from 麻豆原创, designed to bring a more conversational approach to getting work done. For example, new hires, hiring managers, and HR colleagues can now navigate onboarding tasks in a more engaging way, streamlining the onboarding process and boosting productivity.

Talent Intelligence Hub 

With the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors 2H 2024 release, we’re enhancing our AI-driven skills foundation, guiding organizations toward a skills-focused approach. The new AI-assisted skills architecture creation feature can enable organizations to enrich their job profiles and build a skills library by extracting relevant skills from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting. Additionally, the growth portfolio inbound API can facilitate the seamless integration of external skills data, helping to ensure that employees鈥� growth portfolios are closely aligned with their roles. The first partners to integrate with the talent intelligence hub will include Beamery, Degreed, IMOCHA INC, Korn Ferry, Lightcast, Phenom, TalenTeam, and TechWolf, with more in the coming months.

We鈥檙e also introducing the AI-assisted skills identification feature, which helps learning administrators maintain skills-based attributes by extracting skills from course descriptions and automatically linking them to the corresponding learning items.

麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Career and Talent Development

We are excited to announce 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Career and Talent Development, our fully integrated solution aimed at empowering individual career advancement while driving greater organizational agility. Here, we bring together the robust capabilities of 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Succession & Development and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace into one solution to help intuitively guide career and development experiences and talent planning. Fueled by the single skills foundation of the talent intelligence hub, employees and managers can shape careers, set career goals, and receive personalized recommendations. These recommendations include skills, jobs, learning courses, mentors, and more 鈥� with clear suggestions for areas to improve. The recommendations are based on an individual鈥檚 aspirations and skills, along with career paths set by the organization.

User Experience 

Employee experience continues to be a priority for HR leaders. We have continuously improved how employees interact with our technology by reimagining our user interface, embedding 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions into work tech applications like Microsoft Teams, and improving the mobile experience.

With this release, employees can now:

• Submit and approve time-off requests, view upcoming absences, and sync holidays to their calendar in Microsoft Teams.
• Delegate performance appraisals to colleagues to help manage responsibilities on each other’s behalf.
• Use an improved natural language search to simplify finding tasks and information with just a few spoken commands.
• Enjoy new features on our mobile app, including in people profiles and time tracking.

Core HR and Payroll

麻豆原创 provides industry-leading core solutions spanning core HR, payroll, and time that are globally scalable with sophisticated country-specific support and compliance. In this release, we have several new innovations and enhancements. Within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central, the people profile has a new modern design across both desktop and mobile. It features an intuitive card-style layout for quick and easy access to information as well as comprehensive summaries of key sections, such as compensation. A new position budgeting control workbench is also available for public service organizations, offering a streamlined view of employee financing activities. This user-friendly tool helps simplify error handling and can ensure efficient and accurate execution of financial commitments. Additionally, the refreshed benefits overview page gives employees a single place to view their benefits details and take necessary action, such as reporting a life event, managing family members, or enrolling in benefits.

Within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, we now provide country-level support for Croatia, bringing the total number of natively supported locales to 52.

For more information, read the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors 2H 2024 release or watch the .

Bianka Woelke is group vice president and head of Application Product Management at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

A confusing benefits enrollment experience is a significant source of frustration for many employees and can leave them feeling uncertain about their benefits elections. The majority of employees struggle to understand their benefits options and navigate through the enrollment process.

As a result, many employees choose to simply roll over their previous year鈥檚 elections rather than review and update their choices to ensure they are getting the most out of their benefits. This often leads to missed opportunities to take advantage of lower-cost options or benefits that are a better fit for them and their family and can even lead to increased attrition of top talent.

With the first half 2024 release, updates to the solution can enable you to empower your employees to take control of their benefits with an intuitive guided enrollment experience.

Making Benefits Enrollment More Seamless, Simple, and Intuitive

The new benefits enrollment experience in聽 introduces a process-driven approach to benefits enrollment that helps simplify and streamline the activity. Available for insurance, savings plans, and pension benefit types, this new enrollment experience can enable employees to make better, more informed benefits choices without the unnecessary hurdles.

Here are some key highlights:

Guided Enrollment

A step-by-step progression flow guides employees through the process, working to simplify navigation and helping them complete benefits enrollment. Real-time benefits eligibility updates help employees continually understand the choices and options available by presenting them with all the benefits for which they are eligible to enroll.

Personalized User Experience

Customizable text and instructions enable a tailored enrollment experience aligned with organizational policies.

Flexible Framework

Benefits admins can now have more flexibility in designing the enrollment experience to meet their organization鈥檚 needs with a new framework that helps support the capture of life insurance guaranteed issue amounts, customizable terms and conditions, and enhanced localization capabilities.

Anytime, Anywhere Access

Available on both desktop and the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Mobile app, employees can complete benefits enrollment from any location using a mobile-friendly platform that helps ensure a seamless experience across devices.

Employee Educational Resources

Simplified on-screen access to additional resources and information helps employees better understand their benefits and can promote more informed decision-making throughout the enrollment process.

Side-by-side benefit plan comparisons of costs and plan details help employees assess their plan options and select the best-fit plan. Localizable instructional text on each page helps ensure that the benefits and enrollment processes are well understood. Additionally, flexible options for defining contribution amounts within the IRS limits can make it easier for employees to make decisions regarding savings plans and pension elections.

Consolidated Benefits Enrollment Process

Employees can complete all benefits-related tasks including reviewing and updating dependents, completing health declarations, enrolling in benefits, managing beneficiaries, and more through a single consolidated process, helping to improve employee engagement and satisfaction.

to learn more about the new enrollment experience in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central Global Benefits.

To learn about all the other innovations in the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors first half 2024 release, read the and watch the .

Nicole Ramirez is senior director of Product Marketing at 麻豆原创.

Over the last year, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm and captured our collective imagination 鈥� and it has been a clear focus for us. We see a lot of potential in how AI can improve user and organizational productivity: doing things faster, making better decisions, and automating business processes. We have been embedding intelligent capabilities in our product regularly and will continue to invest in AI to help organizations be successful. 

Simply Ask Joule

Available through the , Joule, our AI-powered copilot, can redefine user interaction, streamline business processes, and enhance productivity. It can offer quick, contextual access to content and applications; users can simply ask Joule for guidance and get pointed in the right direction.

Catch a glimpse into the future of AI in ERP and find more information about the development of AI and Joule in 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition .

Improve Productivity with Embedded AI

The 2402 update also enhances productivity across various business processes through embedded AI capabilities. Examples include:

• helps accelerate sales order creation and processing by providing smart input field recommendations.

• helps streamline material inspection for customer returns, enhancing logistical efficiency and flexibility.

Adopt a Modern and Collaborative User Experience

The launch of spaces and pages in the 麻豆原创 Fiori design system can offer a more intuitive user experience, enabling better task organization and quicker resource access. Highlights include:

• The helps enhance personalization for end users, including personalization export/import and improved language support for System News. Watch a to learn more.
• facilitates information sharing in Microsoft Teams, helping to enhance collaborative efforts across platforms. Watch a to see it action.

• Contact card collaboration is now possible by initiating chats, calls, or video meetings directly from the . Watch a to see how.

Transforming to Intelligent and Sustainable Finance

One important aspect is treasury and risk management, . Our latest finance enhancements are specifically designed to help elevate businesses into sustainable, intelligent enterprises:

• can increase transparency and process health, helping to ensure a more robust compliance structure in your financial operations.

• in 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud allows planning alongside economic sustainability goals. This can provide a dual perspective on financial metrics and environmental impact, aiding in the development of eco-responsible strategies and identification of related financial risks.

• The focuses on seamless data management for enhanced efficiency in real estate and contract management processes.

Powering Service-Centric Companies

We have seen a spike in service-centric companies using 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition and were named a leader in this area by . Based on feedback from our customers and partners, we are continuously improving the product experience. Examples include:

• The can offer a detailed project overview, enabling managers to monitor project health and address issues like missing time entries, pending invoices, or unassigned roles. This can allow for more proactive and efficient project management.

• The improved billing solution helps prevent revenue losses and streamline billing processes for increased flexibility and accuracy. Enhancements include , , and , all within the Manage Project Billing app.
• The 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP)-based module of 麻豆原创 Subscription Billing is tightly and seamlessly integrated. It can support customers鈥� transitions to subscription-based commercial models. Effective and detailed profitability analysis becomes instrumental to maximize revenue with tailored subscription-pricing models with the . Take a look at our brand-new .
• Advanced solution order management can elevate your sales strategies. By , we provide the tools to help enhance your solution selling approach, working to ensure that every sales opportunity is maximized for optimal results, enhancing the process from ordering to billing and accounting.

Boosting Manufacturing and Product-Centric Companies

The enhancements for product-centric companies help elevate operational efficiency, streamline processes, and unlock new revenue opportunities. . Highlights of the 2402 update include:

• For manufacturing sectors operating under the produce and sell standard products model, we now offer . This synergy allows you to leverage comprehensive data insights for precise production planning, helping to ensure that your manufacturing processes align seamlessly with market demand.
• is tailored for businesses in a two-tier ERP setting and can simplify direct shipments from suppliers to customers with enhanced order fulfillment, greater sourcing flexibility, and reduced logistical expenses.

• The helps improve the combined sales of a physical good and a service and enables you to increase revenue by selling combinations of physical products, one-time services, and recurring services. This also helps to avoid errors and reduce manual effort.

Enhancing Global Reach

We further invested in localization, so our software complies with local regulations and cultural norms:

• With the 2402 update we are to meet specific regional requirements.
• We , responding to customer needs and enhancing local compatibility.
• We enhanced scope in our Customer Local Version countries (formerly CLT) to include baseline, finance, and now product-centric capabilities, catering to a wider range of customer needs.

And So Much More鈥�

Throughout this year, we will deliver many more innovations that help bring value to your business. For more details around what is being delivered for the 2402 update, see the . For more information on 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition:

• Watch product videos on our聽
• Explore the early release webinar series 
• See what鈥檚 new 
• Visit on the 麻豆原创 Help Portal site
• Explore extensibility options by leveraging sample scenarios from 麻豆原创 in the tool
• Learn more about

Arpan Shah is SVP of Public Cloud ERP Product Management at 麻豆原创.

Our team of conducts ongoing research on the evolving landscape of work, workplaces, and technology. This research, along with customer feedback and our commitment to accessibility for all users, helps us design solutions that can meet your employees鈥� needs and enhance your organization鈥檚 DEI&B efforts.

Let’s explore five key ways in which 麻豆原创’s focus on UX helps organizations advance their DEI&B strategies by offering employees an interface that can address their needs in the flow of work.

1. Experiences Designed for Employee Preferences

A core principle of UX is designing with a user-centered approach. 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions allow personalization for users with different backgrounds, abilities, and preferences, helping to ensure everyone can benefit. For example, offers individualized, AI-generated learning recommendations that can prioritize courses based on individual goals, skills, and organizational objectives and categorize them into “need,” “want,” and “must” sections. The solution can enable individuals to identify skill gaps against target roles within their career path and take ownership of their career development planning.

2. Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness

We recognize that many organizations operate on a global scale, with diverse cultural norms and practices. Our solutions can accommodate diverse cultural contexts, helping to promote inclusivity and reduce the risk of exclusion and discrimination in a global context. With localization options, users can have experiences tailored to their needs. For example, can enable your employees to record their name pronunciation and post it to their profile for others to access. This helps ensure colleagues can address them accurately and confidently in meetings. includes cultural competency as a performance parameter, promoting awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences in interactions and work.

3. Systemic Bias Mitigation

麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions help combat biases in hiring, promotions, and decision-making. Our UX focus helps promote inclusivity by using non-discriminatory language and content, aligning with organizational efforts to help eliminate bias. Our technology can support your organization in creating job postings equitably with gender bias detection and providing AI-generated, recommended interview questions based on details from the job description to help ensure the interview process is more objective and focused on assessing candidates’ skills and qualifications only. Employees can also add their preferred pronouns to their profile for respectful and identity-aligned addressing by colleagues.

4. Designing for Accessibility

We prioritize to help ensure inclusivity for all users. Our products are designed to accommodate your employees鈥� diverse needs, with features such as screen readers, keyboard support, text resize to 200%, and text spacing with no loss of meaningful information. These inclusive experiences can empower every user to navigate the application without compromising the integrity of content, functionality, or efficiency.

5. Data Collection and Privacy

Ensuring absolute transparency and unwavering privacy is essential when it comes to data collection and protection. Our commitment to these principles includes incorporating AI explainability into our policies, which means that your employees not only have control over their data but also can understand how our AI systems make decisions, helping to prevent unintentional discrimination. Our help ensure data privacy by anonymizing and aggregating information in compliance with regulations. This includes masking individual data, combining it with other information, and incorporating features like consent management, data access controls, and data retention policies. Furthermore, with , you can analyze diversity and inclusion patterns and trends without compromising individual privacy, fostering a climate of trust and data integrity.

麻豆原创 is committed to UX and DEI&B alignment to create inclusive workplaces. With ongoing research, adaptability, and cutting-edge design, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions can empower organizations to drive DEI&B success and foster a culture of belonging. Explore and take a step toward building a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

Mayara Tabone is a solution marketing specialist at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

麻豆原创 was recognized based on its ability to execute and completeness of vision in the report. According to the report, “The market for cloud HCM suites is responding to HR leaders鈥� need to focus on delivering business outcomes while keeping a close watch on innovation catalysts such as generative AI. This research helps HR technology leaders in enterprises with more than 1,000 employees identify suitable vendors.”

provides the most comprehensive set of cloud-based solutions, connecting core HR and payroll, talent management, sales performance management, people analytics, and workforce planning to help drive organizations — and their people — forward. 

Our latest product release continues to deliver on our vision for HXM to put people at the center of every organization. We believe that future-ready organizations need to provide opportunities for people to develop and grow in line with their personal passions and the changing needs of the organization. To make this a reality, we have been steadily investing in and transforming the user experience and architecture across our solutions to be employee-centric, to provide better integrations with partners and the broader 麻豆原创 portfolio, and to be infused with AI capabilities.

At , we announced the latest AI capabilities that stretch across the suite, building on the company’s Business AI strategy to build systems of intelligence and deliver AI in a way that is relevant, reliable, and responsible. For example, Joule is our natural-language generative AI copilot, which will make it easier and faster for employees to find information, get answers to questions, and complete HR-related tasks such as approving or rejecting time-off requests. 

The talent intelligence hub acts as an AI-powered engine for an organization鈥檚 entire learning and talent strategy by creating a skills portfolio for each employee that can infer skills and attributes based on data from performance feedback and dynamic teams. This provides a single skills model to drive everything from recruiting and onboarding to learning and development to performance and succession. 

Delta Air Lines is building a dynamic skills-based experience for continuous learning with the talent intelligence hub to help employees grow from an hourly customer-facing role to the salaried corporate position of their dreams.

鈥淒elivering an elevated employee experience is important to us,鈥� said Tim Gregory, managing director of HR Innovation and Workforce Technology at Delta. 鈥淥ur people work hard to develop and hone their skills. It鈥檚 personal, and when Delta is able to go beyond the traditional lens of job hierarchies and org charts, we create the elevated experience that attracts and retains the best talent.鈥� 

The 2H 2023 release also includes a new user experience for customers using , a new recruiter user experience, improvements to the cross-system workflow, and enhanced integrations with Microsoft Teams to put HR in the flow of work. 

We plan to accelerate advancements around our user experience and deliver new AI capabilities with every release, helping people and culture leaders embrace the latest technology to drive change within their workforce and helping organizations prepare for what鈥檚 next. 

Aaron Green is chief marketing and solutions officer, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud HCM Suites for 1,000+ Employee Enterprises, Ranadip Chandra, Sam Grinter, 18 October 2023

The report was titled as Magic Quadrant for Cloud HCM Suites for Midmarket and Large Enterprises from 2016-2018.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner鈥檚 research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

With 麻豆原创 Business AI, 麻豆原创 is laser-focused on how we deliver AI that is relevant, reliable, and responsible. In other words, AI that enables organizations to get all the amazing benefits of the technology while 麻豆原创 helps solves for the complexities. In this release, AI-driven capabilities will be generally available across 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite to help elevate the human experience with innovations like the talent intelligence hub, 麻豆原创鈥檚 AI copilot Joule, and generative AI use cases.

• The talent intelligence hub 鈥� a foundation for AI-powered talent development and acquisition 鈥� helps organizations align employees to the needs of their business, helps employees find opportunities that align to their aspirations, and helps improve their future workforce planning. This groundbreaking, foundational tech creates a skills portfolio for each employee in the workforce and feeds that data across 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite to help surface more relevant experiences everywhere from recruiting and onboarding to learning and development to performance and succession.
• With Joule, employees can experience a game-changing, conversational AI that draws from a wealth of business data across your organization. Imagine your most knowledgeable colleague, available anytime.
• Finally, generative AI in this release is focused on helping recruiters create job descriptions 鈥� an example of a discrete task that can eat away at productivity when performed manually at scale 鈥� as well as be prompted with AI-generated interview questions based on job descriptions in Microsoft Teams. You can expect more of these kinds of use cases to support secondary tasks in every release.

AI is just one area we鈥檙e innovating in. Across our product vision areas, we鈥檙e delivering faster than ever on helping organizations build future-ready workforces, create elevated experiences for their employees, and maintain and enhance an agile and compliant HR. From the Horizon visual theme to a new integrated learning experience to integrations in Microsoft Teams that meet people in the flow of work to harmonization with the cross-system workflow, this release is packed with new and exciting capabilities.

Read on 鈥� then check out our preview release 鈥� and learn how our latest release can help ignite the potential in your workforce today.

麻豆原创 Business AI in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Solutions

At 麻豆原创, we understand that AI has the power to transform experiences for employees, managers, recruiters, and HR professionals. Available in November, this release will include a set of AI-fueled innovations.

Talent Intelligence Hub

The talent intelligence hub is generally available with this release, providing customers with the foundation for AI-powered talent development and acquisition. Talent intelligence is and will be a critical component of 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions moving forward, with use cases for skills information being added across the entire portfolio.

When organizations understand the skills they have today and the skills they need for the future, they can develop organization-wide talent development strategies. At the same time, talent intelligence enables highly individualized, employee-led talent development that gives employees highly meaningful and rewarding careers, but also drives organizations to where they need to go.

AI will drive the creation of skills information, as each employee will see skills inferences in their growth portfolios that suggest the skills they may already have using data from 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Performance & Goals. This can simplify the process for employees and helps ensure higher quality skills data across the organization.

With this release, the talent intelligence hub can drive individualized recommendations for employees both in the new integrated learning experience as well as in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace. But this is just the beginning, and you will see many more use cases for the talent intelligence hub across the entire suite in 2024.

Generative AI Use Cases for Hiring

Recruiters and hiring managers can benefit from the use of generative AI to create tailored job descriptions based on data from within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions as well as external sources. Additionally, interviewers can generate interview questions based on the candidate profile as well as the job description to help ensure they are contextually relevant. Interviewers are proactively notified within Microsoft Teams to generate interview questions, creating a more efficient and streamlined interview experience.

Generative AI Copilot Joule

Joule is 麻豆原创鈥檚 AI-powered copilot that uses natural language processing to understand employee requests, helping them to quickly find information and complete tasks, such as updating their name or location and giving or requesting feedback. Joule will be able to guide through more complex journeys in the near future. Joule will initially be available in English for U.S. and European data centers and will be rolled out in other regions in 2024 and beyond.

Future-Ready Workforce

Integrated Learning Experience

Within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Learning, we are unveiling a new, integrated learning experience that is now generally available. It features a redesigned, re-architected home page that can surface recommendations unique to each employee. This individualized experience helps drive a culture of learning by tapping into each person鈥檚 aspirations, motivations, skills, and preferences while staying aligned with organizational goals and priorities.

Driven by the talent intelligence hub, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Learning uses each learner鈥檚 learning history and skills within the growth portfolio. And with enhanced search and filtering capabilities, such as type-ahead suggestions and key results that populate as the learner is typing, it can be easy to quickly locate the most relevant content.

Elevated Experiences

Horizon Visual Theme

With this release, we have completed the rollout of the Horizon visual theme to all employee-facing pages. This modern, elegant user interface brings consistency across the entire 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite and will be available for every 麻豆原创 cloud application by the end of 2024.

HR in the Flow of Work: Microsoft Teams App

With the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors app for Microsoft Teams, now available on the Microsoft Teams app store, we are bringing high-value, actionable HR processes directly into the flow of work. In this release, common self-service tasks, such as clocking in and out, updating location, or viewing a pay statement, can be completed directly from Microsoft Teams, helping to reduce the need to switch between multiple applications.

Enhancements to 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central

We are excited to introduce 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central quick actions, which can streamline manager and employee self-service. From the home page, employees can quickly complete common HR tasks, such as updating their chosen name and personal pronouns, while managers can initiate a transfer, promotion, location change, and more. These quick actions are also available in Microsoft Teams, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Work Zone, and Joule, so users can complete critical HR tasks directly within the applications they are already using.

Agile & Compliant HR

Cross-System Workflow

The cross-system workflow capability is now generally available, which is designed to harmonize data and processes across platforms in a hybrid landscape, enabling increased productivity and reduced cost. This can empower customers using 麻豆原创 ERP Human Capital Management on premise to more rapidly unlock the value of HXM with 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Employee Central while maintaining on-premise applications like time, payroll, and benefits 鈥� as needed 鈥� so they can progressively make their move to the cloud.

Time Management

We are introducing the ability for administrators to leverage employee time data to generate leave-related forms and documents, which can be e-mailed or downloaded in multiple formats. We have also enhanced the absence-counting rules framework to allow absences to be deducted based on different day types and conditions, helping to support unique legal and local regulations.

We are also introducing new capabilities for auto-submission and mass approval of time sheets, helping ensure time information is available and processed in advance of a payroll run. To further enhance the time sheet experience, customers can now leverage a new business rule to display specific time types to relevant employees based on defined conditions. In addition, role-based time sheet alerts can now notify only the most relevant stakeholders. For example, late arrival or excessive overtime alerts can be sent to only the manager so they can address the situation separately with the employee. Administrators now have more flexibility to valuate time over longer periods, such as by quarter or year.

Each of these innovations reinforces how we are continuing to deliver on our human experience management vision 鈥� putting people at the center of every organization. These innovations will be available in production during the weekend of November 17. Select capabilities will be in preview today.

Watch the and read the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors for more detailed information.

Amy Wilson is SVP of Product and Design at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions help people be as productive as possible at work and can maximize the potential of any workforce. At the heart of our UX innovation strategy is a . We have an in-house team of behavioral scientists who work in partnership with our product research team, design experts, and our customers. Together, they bring a unique 鈥� and proprietary 鈥� perspective to designing solutions based on how people behave and what they need to be productive at work.

That research has driven our recent major investments in UX. The past few years, the focus of our innovation has been to pair modern design elements with intelligent technologies, so people can quickly complete everyday tasks and feel more accomplished, supported, and engaged. This has created a new and wholly improved suite experience for our customers 鈥� and the work is only just beginning. The journey we鈥檙e on to deliver a people-centric user experience for our customers is realized through three key objectives: simplifying HR tasks, driving employee adoption and engagement, and delivering connected service experiences to meet the needs of today鈥檚 diverse and dispersed workforce.

Simplifying Everyday Tasks

One overarching mission of ours is to simplify everyday HR tasks and increase productivity with high-impact, intuitive functionality. Continuous modernization with refreshed colors and information hierarchy creates a seamless, delightful user interface and enhanced accessibility that your workforce can confidently and efficiently navigate and interact with.

And simplification extends even beyond our own solutions 鈥� a modern approach means we鈥檙e continuously embedding high-value, critical HR processes directly into partner applications that employees use frequently. We integrate 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions with other workplace technology solutions to help keep users productive, what we call meeting people in the flow of work. For example, integrations allow people to perform HR tasks within Microsoft Teams, including asking for and receiving feedback from their managers.

All of which leads to the greatest evolution in UX we can expect in the coming years: . 麻豆原创 has the broadest suite of business applications on the planet, positioning us to be able to deliver the first true system of intelligence and fundamentally change the way in which companies operate. At 麻豆原创, we are embedding multiple types of AI 鈥� predictive, generative, and conversational, which are each uniquely targeted to improving experiences across the entire 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite, including talent acquisition, talent management, and core HR.

We鈥檙e already delivering on this vision with new innovations, such as using generative AI to help build compelling job descriptions and predictive AI to help employees find personalized learning opportunities.

Driving User Adoption and Engagement

We strive to create delightful and intuitive experiences that leave people with a sense of accomplishment and support. That means enabling inclusive experiences that empower all employees to operate in an application with meaningful content, functionality, and efficiency. This guides our design decisions and how we deliver innovative ways that address the unique requirements of each and every individual. Personalization is a must with today鈥檚 digital expectations, which is why we use data and insights to help anticipate and act on employee needs and expectations by empowering them with meaningful and individualized experiences. 

To that end, our modern Horizon visual theme for 麻豆原创 Fiori helps provide a consistent UX. With intuitive experiences across the entire 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite, this helps to accelerate adoption of our software and accelerate learning curves. We delivered the Horizon visual theme to customers with our 1H 2023 release, and with the 2H 2023 release the vast majority of experiences in our products will be standardized in the Horizon visual theme.

Another example of how we are improving engagement is with dynamic engagement cards in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Work Zone, delivered earlier this year. These cards can deliver personalized, relevant, and timely news, announcements, and learning opportunities directly to employees鈥� 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Work Zone dashboards.

Of course, UX extends past the look and feel of our products and into overarching career experiences as well. The whole-self model, which takes into account each individual鈥檚 unique collection of interests, motivations, and preferences, forms the foundation for some of our most exciting capabilities and products, like dynamic teams, 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Opportunity Marketplace, and the talent intelligence hub. These can enable organizations to become skills-based and future-ready enterprises. For example, our new learning home page can surface learning recommendations to employees based on their interests, passions, and skills 鈥� so they can create a career and development path based on what鈥檚 best for them.

Delivering Connected HR Service Experiences

The third pillar driving our UX strategy is all about efficiency and improving service delivery for HR and beyond. Instead of forcing employees to guess where to find things with endless clicks and links or awaiting responses from a support specialist, employees can expect an experience that is intuitive, responsive, and connected across different services.

With guided experiences within 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Work Zone, for example, HR leaders can create workflow-based, personalized journeys for employees that take them through a multi-step process possibly spanning multiple systems. This can make the onboarding journey, for example, frictionless and delightful for new workers 鈥� a critical time to make a good first impression. We are especially focused on the experience of deskless workers in 2024. Furthermore, our integrated knowledge base helps reduce HR tickets and can provide employees with quick answers, promoting the shared knowledge and fostering a more informed team.

Looking Ahead

With each release, we are continuously evolving 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite and redefining what鈥檚 possible for HR solutions. Our vision is to continuously create a seamless, intelligent, and integrated user experience that reflects modern employee preferences and workplace realities. As we look ahead, we will continue to invest and improve on our UX with new and emerging tech, like AI, to deliver the experiences workers need 鈥� and deserve.

about how 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions and human experience management can power your people-centered UX transformation. Existing customers can learn more about ensuring they鈥檝e implemented our most up-to-date UX innovations.

To learn more about the second half 2023 release, visit the .

Siva Sundaresan is SVP of Applications Engineering at 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors.

A prime example of this modern digital shift in UX is embedding high-value, critical HR tasks directly into the applications employees use daily. By integrating  with other workplace technology solutions, 麻豆原创 enables people to perform HR tasks without interrupting their daily work.

All of us have seen how artificial intelligence (AI) can increase process efficiency and productivity, reduce human errors, and elevate user standards. But UX will change the most as the potential for new AI capabilities and models is expanded to address pressing business needs and employee expectations.

Shaping the User Experience with a Purpose

Whether predictive, conversational, or generative, advancements in business AI are expected to bring the most significant shift in how people use technology at work.

By investing in AI to strengthen 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite, 麻豆原创 supports how people naturally interact, get work done, and leverage technology in the workplace. And best of all, we are doing it ethically by following our guiding principles to be:

• Relevant: Helping users get greater insights and perform tasks more efficiently with AI designed with business context in mind to enhance the flow of work
• Reliable: Using AI that is trained on the customer鈥檚 industry and company data and accessible in the solutions used each day
• Responsible: Running responsible AI built on leading ethics and data privacy standards while maintaining full governance and lifecycle management across an entire organization

By only employing AI technology that meets our stringent standards, we help our customers ensure the delivery of a meaningful and engaging UX for their entire workforce. Doing so allows employees to not only reach their full potential but also feel accomplished, supported, and engaged.

For instance, HR professionals and their stakeholders are unlocking higher engagement and productivity for their employees, organizations, and businesses through their recruitment and talent development processes. One of the ways this is being accomplished is by unifying 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions with leading business productivity applications such as Microsoft Teams and further enhancing that integration with AI embedded in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions to generate suggestions and recommendations using natural language. 

This business-oriented AI innovation represents some of the fundamental changes 麻豆原创 is creating to transform how people will experience work in the years to come.

Future-Ready HR for a Future-Ready Workforce

Our AI-enabled use cases for 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors HXM Suite are exceptional evidence of how HR tasks — from talent acquisition and talent management to core HR processes — can become a natural extension of people鈥檚 everyday work experience.

Consider the value of these scenarios heavily used in the recruiting process:

Creating Job Descriptions

Hiring managers and recruiters can fine-tune job descriptions with generative AI within the 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting solution. This allows them to incorporate supplementary content, identify biased language, and help ensure alignment with business requirements. Once the final version is approved by the appropriate hiring manager and assigned recruiter, the job description can be published in 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions.

Instead of starting from scratch every time a new position is created or requirements are updated, recruiters and hiring managers can draft job descriptions faster and stay in their normal flow of work. And more importantly, the final content is more meaningful, inclusive, and competitive — attracting a larger pool of qualified and interested candidates.

Interviewing Candidates

Hiring managers can construct unbiased and more effective interview questions by using AI-generated prompts, creating an exceptional impression on the candidate and leading to the right decision for both parties.

Recruiters and hiring managers can also provide their assessment of candidates throughout the process through Microsoft Teams, which is then captured by 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors Recruiting for further evaluation.

The Right Time to Ignite HR鈥檚 Full Potential

To learn more about how adding HR processes into the flow of work with business AI can redefine the user experience for your employees, register for  to access a variety of breakout sessions, demos, Q&A sessions and more on this topic, all available on-demand, including:

Take this opportunity to explore new opportunities to redefine your HR experience — setting the foundation for igniting the potential of your workforce and meeting the demands of a changing world.

AJ Whalen is a senior director of Solution Marketing at 麻豆原创.

Companies across industries are颅 increasingly turning to design to improve efficiency, customer satisfaction, and usability of their products and services. But what is driving this shift toward design-led innovation? And what do we really mean when we say 鈥渄esign鈥�?

Design is an expression of intent to solve a problem and generate a positive outcome. It is part of the DNA of the systems, processes, and products that drive innovation and experiences. It鈥檚 not just about what happens on screens, or just how something looks or functions, but rather the forces, framework, disciplines, and execution that drive experience excellence at each touch point of the customer and user journey.

Design maturity is exemplified by an organization鈥檚 willingness to adopt design and user outcomes as a mindset. At 麻豆原创, we are evolving to ensure design influences how we operate, build, and go to market. As we scale our ambitious transformation journey, design gives us a way to reframe and rethink the problems we face amid significant global socioeconomic and environmental paradigm shifts, and to shape 麻豆原创鈥檚 path forward.

I am excited to share the journey we鈥檙e on to make design an integral part of 麻豆原创鈥檚 transformation, contributing to the success of businesses around the world.

Creating Meaningful Experiences for Users

Our goal is to build inclusive products that people love and enjoy using across multiple channels, web and mobile, so that they can get their job done and achieve their business outcomes wherever and whenever. And given that 麻豆原创 customers generate , we have a responsibility to create the most meaningful, efficient, accessible, and inclusive experiences within those products as possible. Our imperative to create better work experiences for all users is underlined by our desire to remain a human-centered company, which is why we are heavily relying on so that we understand who we are designing for — now and in the future.

We are strengthening and scaling our design and user research practices to include continuous, pragmatic, and strategic research to inform each phase of our product development and delivery. Our aim is to define and influence product strategies that are based on market and competitive insights, user needs, industry and tech trends, market segments, and intensive collaboration with customers and partners.

As our design practices continue to evolve, we will continuously uplift the end-to-end product experiences, injecting moments of delight and micro-interactions, as well as data and interactions and visualizations driven by artificial intelligence (AI) that elevate user engagement and satisfaction. Our evolving design system and language will bring together our product portfolio, our customer ecosystems, and our brand expression across digital, web, and physical touch points, so that we can create meaningful experiences that fuel the future of work.

Maturing the Design Strategy for Better Business Outcomes

Over the past year we have聽begun to reflect the needs of our users today and in the future. As our design system continues to evolve and mature, we are simultaneously undergoing a cultural and intellectual shift in terms of how we build our products. To drive better business outcomes for our customers, we are doubling down on data-driven decision-making, gathering real-time user feedback to strengthen our human-centered and design-led development process. At the same time, we are making design into a true 麻豆原创-wide team sport, extending our partnerships across all lines of business to make sure that design has an equal seat at the table for every strategic and product-based decision.

We are working to scale the impact of design, expanding the reach, type, and coverage of design-led innovations, and the maturity of our design practices across our global design community through an ambitious transformation of our strategic design acceleration services. We are building and extending our design practice to ensure we are looking ahead toward the next 50 years of work. Looking ahead, we are building and extending our design practice to include innovation and exploration of emerging technologies rooted in human behavior. Finally, we will strive for deeper user engagement and adoption along with easier and faster system deployments for all our customers in order to put a great user experience at the fingertips of every user.

Customer Co-Innovation with an Engaged Design Community

They say an organization is as good as its people, and we are ramping up our focus and collaboration practices to support being able to leverage the full power of our incredible and talented design community in unprecedented ways by investing in the success of our workforce. But design is not just for designers. To succeed, it requires collaboration with multiple partners and stakeholders across teams and lines of business. This is why we are bringing cross competency teams — design, engineering, product management, sales, marketing, support, etc. — closer together than ever before so that we are prepared to deliver the best products and experiences to our customers and end users.

This cultural shift in how we leverage our talented design community will allow us to co-innovate with our customers and partners in more impactful ways in order to support further business transformation and breakthroughs together.

To learn more about design at 麻豆原创, .

Arin Bhowmick is chief design officer at 麻豆原创.

From supporting more than 11,000 websites with 麻豆原创 Universal ID to enhancing user experience (UX) on a range of topics, a number of recent updates have impacted our customers and partners.

Now Available for All Users: 麻豆原创 Universal ID

In late 2019, 麻豆原创 Universal ID, our solution to the 麻豆原创.com complex login system, went live. The approach of a centralized account allows users to log on once, by linking all existing 麻豆原创 accounts (S/P-users).

In 2021, we focused on introducing the new login approach at reasonably paced user-driven migration and platform adoption. Beginning in 2021, we supported 140 light integration sites; now, we are supporting more than 11,000 sites. 麻豆原创 Universal ID support is also automatically included in all newly onboarded platforms.

In 2021, more than 220,000 users — a 200% increase — created an 麻豆原创 Universal ID. We are now focusing on user adoption and creating the best possible user experience by requiring all existing users to migrate to their 麻豆原创 Universal ID this year.

As of the second quarter of 2022, 麻豆原创 Universal ID will be the default authentication to 麻豆原创.com and we will continue to support the 11,000 platforms with 麻豆原创 Universal ID.

If you don鈥檛 already have an 麻豆原创 Universal ID, you can — just three steps in two minutes and you’re done.

Additional Updates: Enhancing User Experience

The user experience with our tools is important to the Identity and User Management team and we have worked on a few key elements to aid users with ease of use, increased security, and enhanced usability. Here are some of our usability achievements:

• S-user Creation and Replication Improvements: In the past, when an admin created an S-user and/or updated existing user authorizations, it took three to four hours, which was an unacceptably long wait time. By optimizing our backend system, we have cut down this time to less than 10 minutes and we will continue to work to increase the speed.
• User Policy Documentation & Whitepaper: The offers a transparent outline of the defined standards and guidelines for 麻豆原创 and our users and customers when creating both 麻豆原创 Universal IDs and company associations through S-user IDs. Additionally, our white paper, , provides a general understanding of why it is important to build and transform user management while breaking down our 鈥淥ne User鈥� approach.
• Email Domain Governance: To enhance customer/partner security, we are now highlighting users that no longer match company email domains. Additionally, in the first half of this year, we will no longer allow email address changes to a non-governed domain [super/cloud admins can override this]. This continuous effort will help reduce company risk while allowing more governance over non admin users. .
• User Management Tool Compliance Checks: To enhance user compliance, we are continuously implementing additional checks in the user management tool to help manage users, protect data, and support compliance with data protection regulations. We are now checking and highlighting wrong email address formats, as well as if an email address or DL email address is shared or if it is not uniquely used on the same customer number (Duplicate Check). In addition, with the newly introduced Email Domain Check, we provide the next level of data protection and management for administrators and end users. .
• Multi-Factor Authentication Enablement: To continue our enhanced security efforts, we now have implemented a more secure password sign-in method on some 麻豆原创 platforms/sites, requiring a time-based one-time password multi-factor authentication. This method, which is available to all 麻豆原创 users, reduces the chances that a malicious actor can take control of an account and is easy to For more support on activation, .

Looking Forward: 2022 Road Map

Much of the work done in 2021 was the foundation for us to build upon for 2022. Here鈥檚 a look at what we have been working on so far, along with what is to come this year, from the Identity and User Management Team:

• Tying new S-users to 麻豆原创 Universal ID is now live for users with an existing 麻豆原创 Universal ID. Activation and linking is now a one-step process that can be done via the activation email or directly in the 麻豆原创 Universal ID Account Manager.
• Migrating the 麻豆原创 ONE Support Launchpad profile to the 麻豆原创 Universal ID Account Manager.
• Implementing a new user-centric approach and process to create administrators for new customers or new cloud deals, giving them the autonomy to select the right person to fill this role.
• Implementing new multi-factor authentication methods for more choices and different levels of control for end users, allowing those to be set within the user鈥檚 麻豆原创 Universal ID level.

We look forward to bringing you many more exciting innovations throughout 2022!

Kevin DeVilbiss is head of Identity and User Management at 麻豆原创.

Recognized for design, innovation, and user experience, Bluestonex began using the application development and integration capabilities of in 2018, then known as 麻豆原创 Cloud Platform, because of its speed and agility.

鈥淏eing an innovation partner, we wanted to be able to move and deliver quickly for our customers,鈥� explains Dan Barton, COO and co-founder. 鈥溌槎乖� BTP allows us to do that. Plus, the low-cost, high-impact nature of the platform is always going to be an attractive proposition to customers. So, it was a clear route for us as a business and for our customers.鈥�

Bluestonex sees itself as a true integration of a client鈥檚 team, holding their hands as they shift to 麻豆原创 BTP. They work with customers of all shapes and sizes and from cross-industry sectors, everything from food and drinks to aerospace. However, Barton is clear that 麻豆原创 BTP breaks down any misconceptions that 麻豆原创 is purely for larger-sized businesses.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very well-suited to micro-businesses. It鈥檚 agile, it鈥檚 low-cost from an entry point of view, and it has a huge number of capabilities that can grow over time. 麻豆原创 BTP has opened up new opportunities for us within the micro-business market because, typically, there isn鈥檛 another product out there to match it.鈥�

Barton says customers can often become 鈥渙ver-awed鈥� when faced with all the different tech products available to run and manage businesses. He and the team use 麻豆原创 BTP to 鈥渢ransform that user experience.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really easy entry point: instead of people having to use multiple clicks and screen jumps, 麻豆原创 BTP gets rid of that. It streamlines and strips away complexity to give a consistent user experience,鈥� Barton explains. 鈥淎nd that transformation is key. When they realize what a nice platform it is, it opens the door to other experiences, such as chatbots and automation. It鈥檚 all there and plugs in really nicely. Lots of customers love the fact that they can start small and grow with the platform.鈥�

It also helps Bluestonex to grow as a business, driving its specialism in innovation and, in turn, encouraging customers to think in new ways. 鈥淭his is a massive shift, not only are they going from running different processes into one, smooth, easy-to-use platform, we鈥檙e seeing a big cultural shift in the way our customers think,鈥� he adds.

Being part of 麻豆原创 AppHaus Network means Bluestonex can access the latest, state-of-the-art design thinking methodologies, helping to move customers to new digital experiences.

From its converted chapel office space, Bluestonex regularly invites customers in to co-innovate.

鈥淲e invite our customers here and bring them out of their comfort zone,鈥� says Barton. 鈥淎nd we have a usability lab where we get customer input on an idea as early in the development process as possible, so that key stakeholders know what they鈥檙e going to get and can be part of the iteration process. This helps to set expectations and build a better business case.鈥�

To sum up 麻豆原创 BTP in three words? 鈥淪trategic, innovative, and responsive,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 opened a different angle for us. We would always go and speak to our existing 麻豆原创 customers, but this is different. Now we go to a competitor鈥檚 customer, we go to micro-businesses, because it鈥檚 flexible and cost effective. 麻豆原创 BTP is a very strategic platform: there鈥檚 a sense that whatever a business does in the future, that platform is going to be there and continue to add value. It鈥檚 future-proof and I鈥檓 a massive advocate for it.鈥�

And today, as we鈥檙e amid global socioeconomic and environmental paradigm shifts, our mission to help every company become a best-run business and improve people鈥檚 lives is more relevant than ever before.

In this spirit of designing聽in the open, iterating faster, and delivering simpler and better experiences,聽I鈥檓 excited to share the next steps in the evolution of 麻豆原创鈥檚 user experience (UX) with you.

Where We Stand, and Where We Go From Here

In the vastness of our offerings lies our strength, but also our complexity. We鈥檝e heard and understand the challenges that users often face onboarding into and managing their work with a variety of product experiences given the immensity of 麻豆原创鈥檚 product portfolio. Over the past decade, 麻豆原创 Fiori — our design language for all 麻豆原创 products — has taken monumental steps to solve this problem by bringing consistency, intelligence, and integration to dozens of technologies and hundreds of thousands of screens.

We鈥檝e come a long way, and yet our work is still cut out for us. To ensure we deliver competitive experiences for all generations of people now and in the years ahead, we need to reinvent how we build products.

Adopting an Experience Mindset to Solve the Problems that Matter

As we look toward the future direction of the 麻豆原创 experience, we know one thing is clear: our job is to help every person to make business decisions faster, more intuitively, and with better outcomes than ever before. Rethinking, listening to, learning from, and working collaboratively with our end users, customers, and partners is the only way forward.

Just like designing our products, we need to look at our design system as a human-centered design challenge. As a first step on our new journey, we immersed ourselves deeply in our global user research. After all, how can you design a solution if you do not understand the problem? User research is the basis of our experience mindset, and it has allowed us to create an initial framework of four pillars to help our design and development community prioritize and execute with high velocity as we鈥檙e improving all vectors of the 麻豆原创 experience:

• Aesthetics: Making each product more approachable, modern, and delightful, ensuring all our products feel as if they come from one family
• Usability: Making our applications feel more effortless and intuitive, so people get their work done faster, more easily, and with better outcomes
• Performance: Optimizing perceived performance, starting with our most-used interactions, flows, and applications
• Accessibility: Accessibility and inclusive design as a core pillar of our design approach, ensuring that all people can do their best work using 麻豆原创 services

Introducing Horizon

We are starting with the first pillar, aesthetics. Why? Because first impressions matter. Our users and customers tell us that they want our experiences to look, feel, and sound approachable, friendly, easy to use, and modern. Horizon represents a significant step in the evolution of our aesthetic and the 麻豆原创 Fiori design system.

Horizon exemplifies a new set of design principles that are based on our research on how people want to work in the Intelligent Enterprise. We like to think of it as:

• Intentional and exceptional, meeting users’ intentions with relentless attention to detail, resulting in exceptional product experiences.
• Effortless and intuitive, making work feel like second nature while eliminating friction and surprises.
• Seamless and cohesive, delivering a cohesive, cross-platform experience throughout the 麻豆原创 solution family and all touchpoints for our users.
• Bold yet friendly, making users feel relaxed and inspired by using bolder colors and typography, with a friendly, approachable, and contemporary look and feel.
• Inclusive and ethical, opening up enterprise software for everyone with a deep commitment to accessibility and strong ethical framework that will flex with the times. Designing with people instead of only for people.

To execute on these principles, we are also evolving our design system to be simpler and more modular with a strong, 鈥渄istinctly 麻豆原创鈥� core, adapting to all types of use cases, applications, and technologies. More than just a theme, Horizon represents a new way of building products at 麻豆原创.

Putting End Users in the Center, Starting Today

With Horizon, end users will gain an unprecedented role in the way we develop our software going forward. 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Cloud 2111 customers can register via to let their users try it out and provide feedback, directly in the system through a build-in survey based on Qualtrics software or by participating in a desirability study. The preview will also be available to developers on 麻豆原创 Business Technology Platform (麻豆原创 BTP), as an experimental theme, not yet for productive use.

As we release this preview, we鈥檒l continue to iterate on it in cooperation with our users and prove that we are standing by our mission 鈥� to test and learn in an effort to continuously improve the design. Every user can share with us what works, what doesn鈥檛, and how we can make things better for them.

The introduction of the Horizon theme at 麻豆原创 TechEd is just the beginning. The next evolution of the 麻豆原创 design system has a large scope and will be delivered in steps across all 麻豆原创 cloud products over the next months and quarters. Going into 2022, we are already lining up more products to carry the new design language; for example, as a future update for , along with many more products to come.

And as we update our product experiences, we intend to move through our work transparently and systematically, looking to learn from user input, live user insights, and telemetry every step of the way.

Transforming Our Design and Development Culture

At 麻豆原创, we are lucky to work with a vast network of talented designers and developers from all across the globe. Because products are a reflection of the people who made them and how they鈥檙e made, we have also redesigned the way we design at 麻豆原创 over the past six months.

In May this year, we鈥檝e introduced our employees at 麻豆原创 to a new way of working, building on our global design community across all business units and embracing open source methodology with one shared tool set to allow everyone to contribute so that all can benefit from the best ideas. Our federated model of working will take a centralized, tested design language and spread it over any of our 麻豆原创 products. The different units will be able to adopt, customize, and share components, maximize telemetry, and truly move forward together as a networked organism. It is time to redesign how we design and build products 鈥� together.

What you see in Horizon today and what we will release over the coming quarters is the result of the incredible ongoing collaboration of designers, researchers, and UX engineers from more than 11 product areas all coming together to define, design, and implement 麻豆原创鈥檚 new design language based on the needs of our users as well as our engineering teams.

Moving Forward, Openly and Together

The most common statement uttered in our virtual halls is 鈥渢he devil is in the details,鈥� and our success is reliant on our attention to those details. These details are not found solely in the aesthetics, but in the overall quality of the user experience shaped by usability, accessibility, and performance orchestrated in harmony.

We know what we have to do, and we are ready to deliver the product experience our users and customers deserve. We are excited to share our first step in this journey and explore together with you 鈥� openly and earnestly. And we cannot wait to hear your feedback.

To learn more about our new strategy, tune into the 麻豆原创 TechEd session today, and join the rest of the for more UX content.

You can find additional details in:

To follow along on the evolution of 麻豆原创 Fiori, make sure to also visit the .

Benedikt Lehnert is chief design officer at 麻豆原创.
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How much time do you spend on mobile devices? I bet it鈥檚 quite a lot. The power of mobile is not only omnipresent in our personal lives, but also the way people conduct their work — even more so during this time of working at home.

At 麻豆原创, we estimate that up to 70% of enterprise interactions this year to-date have occurred on mobile devices. According to the , the annual increase in data traffic through 2026 will be at 25%. As a result, mobile technologies are constantly creating new opportunities for your business to become more innovative and productive. At the same time, organizations need a people-centric user experience across devices to meet their users鈥� rising expectations.

Today鈥檚 workforce is highly mobile already, spanning across industries and generations. Professionals use mobile devices to stay up to date, on top of business activities, and ahead of the competition by being able to take actions immediately — anywhere and anytime. All business content needs to be easily accessible and intuitively positioned. Just as with the apps you use daily to communicate and connect, the user experience for business applications needs to be as smooth, personal, and relevant.

Over the next few years, the sophistication and complexity of end-to-end processes will grow significantly. In this respect, 麻豆原创 solution integration is an important enabler to create business value. Just as important, it is crucial that people stay at the heart of our business.

With our new mobile experience announced at earlier this year, we aim to place the intelligent enterprise at the fingertips of every customer. With the launch of the 麻豆原创 Mobile Start app, we are taking a major step toward fulfilling that objective.

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What Is 麻豆原创 Mobile Start?

麻豆原创 Mobile Start is a native app that serves as the mobile entry point to 麻豆原创鈥檚 business applications and content, providing users with a consumer-grade experience. Thoughtfully predefined content for typical persona and industry roles allows users to execute mobile-enabled business processes.

Most interactions with your mobile devices are short moments and glances that deliver information. In mere seconds, you can respond to updates and, if needed, take action immediately. We call these situations 鈥渕icro-experiences.鈥� Over the course of the day, people interact with multiple business processes and access data and applications from various systems.

Take the example of a project manager. People in this role require a great understanding of the many different dependencies needed to successfully deliver on the project goals for their customers. To fulfill this responsibility, they always need access to relevant data — to successfully coordinate a project, update daily reports, or simply validate time sheets. 麻豆原创 Mobile Start helps them meet these business needs right from their smart devices.

In addition, you can tailor experiences to each role鈥檚 habits and tasks using the mobile app. You can adjust it for individual roles and work styles, so that users can optimize their daily tasks. To define the right content for all main mobile personas, we are working closely with customers and partners to identify business needs and priorities.

FRoSTA AG鈥檚 digital transformation officer, Lucas Dreger, and innovation manager Fabian von Thun are customers closely involved in providing feedback on the app. They recently shared this: 鈥溌槎乖� Mobile Start will support us in our mission to become a digital champion by offering our employees the best possible user experience. It will help us access applications like 麻豆原创 S/4HANA and 麻豆原创 SuccessFactors solutions using a smartphone from anywhere in the world. Our managers can react quickly to approval workflows through push notifications and act on them with the least-possible number of clicks.鈥�

Increase Agility, Boost Productivity, Optimize Workflows

Let鈥檚 delve deeper into some of the business benefits 麻豆原创 Mobile Start can provide:

• Staying ahead of business-critical situations: 麻豆原创 Mobile Start keeps you up to date with the latest information from your business systems through notifications and widgets. Tapping on either, you can respond to action items immediately and more easily, no matter where you are or what time of the day it is. It is up to you how many and what types of widgets you want to display.
• Enjoying immediate access to your apps: You don鈥檛 have to waste another minute looking for the right app. In the application screen of 麻豆原创 Mobile Start, relevant native apps as well as Web-optimized apps, news feeds, and links are instantly available.
• Exploring relevant information at a glance: With 麻豆原创 Mobile Start, you can quickly access the business information and apps that are most applicable to you, based on your usage patterns. The app is integrated with your mobile device鈥檚 search function, helping you more quickly find the content you are looking for.

Continued Close Collaboration with Customers

鈥淚n a world where mobile app proliferation consumes our always-connected lives, 麻豆原创 Mobile Start provides you with an intuitive, personalized platform from which you can launch your business-relevant experiences,鈥� Vincent Kruse, 麻豆原创 Innovation Lead at Deloitte, said about our new app.

Successful products can be built only with the support and feedback of the people who use them. Thus our customers and partners were an integral part of the design and development process for 麻豆原创 Mobile Start, participating in numerous design thinking meetings, user research studies, workshops, and testing sessions to get our user experience right. Their feedback guided us in the prioritization of functions such as single sign-on and notifications, as well as initiated new developments such as an Android version of 麻豆原创 Mobile Start.

Now that the first version of the app is available, we plan to continue and even extend the close collaboration to make sure our road map and mobile product developments meet our customers鈥� needs.

It is great to see our customers鈥� and partners鈥� passion for the app, and we certainly cannot wait to support them on their continued journey with 麻豆原创 solutions.

Explore 麻豆原创 Mobile Start Today

The first version of 麻豆原创 Mobile Start is now available for iOS for iPhone and iPad. An Android version is planned to be available in the coming months. You can download the app from the and start exploring the functions and features with the built-in demo mode.

For more information about the 麻豆原创 Mobile Start app, visit the .

Philipp Herzig is senior vice president and head of Intelligent Enterprise and Cross Architecture for 麻豆原创 Product Engineering.

Many companies have always been investing heavily in how their workforce can work best, whether they are developers, sales and services employees, or in administration. Each has individual needs, but what they all have in common is that they need access to a computer in order to fulfill their tasks. They use a keyboard, a mouse, and touch as the de-facto, standard interaction with the machine. This technology hasn鈥檛 evolved much over recent years.

At offices, we are used to working according to ergonomic standards whereas in our home offices we may not have these standards available.

Next Generation of User Experience 鈥� From 鈥楾ouch Less鈥� to 鈥楾ouchless鈥�

Did you know that, on average, 25% of a work day is spent using a mouse, accounting for thousands of clicks and scrolls? We switch between the keyboard and mouse up to 2,000 times per day. In an internal pilot at 麻豆原创 with 35 users from different departments, almost 500 kilometers of mouse-movement distance was measured within six weeks.

This not only costs a lot of time but also causes stress-related diseases, such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI), also known as 鈥榤ouse arm.鈥�

With the eye-tracking solution NUIA from 麻豆原创 partner 4tiitoo GmbH Munich, it is possible to provide an innovative tool to employees, working to address their ergonomic situation, reduce mouse movements and mouse-keyboard swaps, and improve efficiency and appearance during customer calls.

All 麻豆原创 colleagues can order this solution to use in the office and even their home offices.

Following its pledge to flex, 麻豆原创’s future of work plans include monitors equipped with eye-trackers by default and the ability to download necessary software just by scanning a QR code.

Eye-Tracking Supports Accessibility

麻豆原创 supports individual accessibility needs above the standard functionalities with this interaction opportunity, which perfectly matches for an inclusive workplace.

鈥淧eople are the most important resource we have in technology,鈥� says Sabine Bendiek, chief people and operating officer and member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE. 鈥淭herefore, people have to be put at the center. It should always be about doing the right thing for people, empowering them to thrive.鈥�

The User Experience EMEA Services Team has the eye-tracking expertise and works together with 4tiitoo. The team covers even more advanced use cases, such as completely touchless, gaze-controlled scenarios, and is ready to provide 麻豆原创 customers with tailored services around this innovation topic. One of those is now live within 麻豆原创 Labs Munich at Munich Urban Colab, working with the Technical University of Munich.

This story also appeared on the German 麻豆原创 News Center.

In other words, great AI must be paired with a great user experience. So how do non-technical factors, such as design and acceptance, impact the efficacy of AI? How does the increasing use of cloud solutions change how AI is deployed? To understand the role of AI and machine learning today, it鈥檚 important to understand the context in which it is being employed 鈥� and the importance of context itself.

We sat down with Jens Trotzky, head of Artificial Intelligence Technology for Customer Solution Support and Innovation at 麻豆原创, to discuss the acceptance and application scenarios of AI-driven support. How can AI and machine learning-based features, solutions, and processes change the game and why is an AI mindset key for developing new solutions?

Q: Do you find that consumers are more attracted to AI than they were in previous years?

A: I would say there is strong interest and an uptick in customers approaching us to ask about our automation, AI, and machine learning capabilities. But I also think it’s a bit of a split topic when it comes to getting the actual end users to adopt the services that AI and machine learning provide. We still have to bridge the gap between the high-level executive view 鈥� which says 鈥淲e want AI鈥� 鈥� and the more day-to-day operations view, which asks how to make it actually work. There is a lot of education needed from our side for our customers, partners, and other stakeholders.

Additionally, I also see the expectation from customers that AI is somehow everywhere. Smart recommendations and smart helpers are expected. However, it can be a challenge to implement these functions so that they also achieve the targets we want. Of course, we want AI to add to a positive user experience, but we also want to improve processes for our users 鈥� to enhance them and speed them up. The challenge then becomes how to best integrate AI features in a way that both creates an attractive user experience and achieves these hard goals or KPIs.

Could you give an example of that?

Let’s take the support assistant. Support assistant is a guided workflow, in which a user creates a support request and is guided through the whole process. The user receives AI-based suggestions on the site and goes through an interactive dialogue. That sounds good and customers like it, but we also need to look at the numbers. What does this do to the number of tickets being created? We need to see the outcome of that process 鈥� it looks good on paper, but does it translate into tangible business results? For us, it turned out that a lot more process and AI optimization was needed. It can sound very nice to have AI in your processes, and customers want that, but at the end of the day it must also translate into tangible process optimizations for the customer.

What differs in how your team thinks about AI today?

鈥淐ontext鈥� is the key word, which increasingly moves us toward a world where every individual user can receive personalized support. For example, now we can determine what product the user is using. With the breakthrough of , we can capture the application context that caused the user problems and take that information into account. AI and machine learning allow us to tap into this vast knowledge of support history that we have about the customer. It helps us to connect the dots, like having some super support engineer on the 麻豆原创 side that can magically sift through billions of pages of support documents that are out there and then pick up on the right cues at the right time to bring everything together. And with the help of the contextual window of Built-In Support, we can make all these connections in real time. And I mean literally real time. AI is a game changer for support because it allows us to know our customers, provide real-time insight, and help to mitigate a customer challenge before it becomes one.

Are you seeing a different type of user interacting with your AI these days?

Yes, for our on-premise software solutions the audience tends to be more technical 鈥� more subject matter experts themselves. With our software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings in the cloud, we deal more with business users, rather than a technical person. We are, accordingly, trying to serve the right audience the right content.

This is exactly what we have in mind when we talk about Built-In Support because we realize that we are increasingly dealing with business users. The question is, what can we offer to business users? This is where integration comes in 鈥� realizing when and why a user is running into a problem and what happens next. Will they create a ticket? Do they want immediate support? Maybe it’s a simple how-to question. Then we need to offer whatever is appropriate: perhaps an answer using an AI-enhanced search algorithm, but maybe also offer a community solution. If, instead, we have a key user in front of that application, then we should offer the option of using things that might require key user credentials, such as a real-time chat session with an expert or the ability to create a ticket. This all happens because of context and personalization. In the end, we need to focus on the user out there and ask ourselves, what is their role? What is the task? What is the goal? I think the exciting part of support is shaping the interface between the user and the context.

There鈥檚 also the aspect of getting a unified user experience. In the end, the customer expectation is to have a single user experience anywhere in the 麻豆原创 product portfolio. Here, Built-In Support can play a major role because by having the context, including history, the user experience can be truly unified. As a user, whenever I open Built-In Support, I can have the same experience, which can be customized or optimized for a specific product. The effort required to interact with support can be reduced and access to information can be faster than ever. I think that’s what most customers want: to help themselves.

What has been one of your biggest lessons from the last year?

I would highlight the role of integration. We have started to focus a lot more on the integration of AI and machine learning. We’ve learned the hard way how important it is to get the integration right. Often, it’s the integration that ultimately drives adoption.

Ultimately, the success of artificial intelligence is summed up in the equation user adoption multiplied by AI model accuracy equals realized business value. If you don’t have user adoption, then the value is limited. And often the biggest lever we have to drive user adoption is tightly tied to our ability to blend AI seamlessly into the user experience.

Sophia Stolze is part of Integrated Communications within Customer Solution Support and Innovation at 麻豆原创.

It brought together field service technicians, business leadership, and IT experts to create a new mobile app that improved customer satisfaction, gave employees time back every day, and will continue to save Patterson over US$1.3 million annually. With just a few user experience (UX) champions, a diverse group of stakeholders was created to focus on empathy, find the real problem, and deliver an innovative solution.

Modern Field Service Processes Require Access from Anywhere

The technical service team at Patterson spends much of its time at customer sites. Field technicians provide dentists and veterinary offices with the expertise, products, and services they need to keep their practices running smoothly and efficiently. Patterson’s customer experience sets it apart from other distributors. Not only does it sell and install products, but it provides services to make sure dentists’ equipment runs smoothly.

Prior to working with Mindset to develop a mobile solution, the technicians needed to be back at the office or their home each night to load the information from their service appointments into the 麻豆原创 system that ran the business.

Walking in the Customer鈥檚 Shoes and Riding in Their Trucks

Patterson鈥檚 director of Technical Field Service and vice president of IT reached out to design thinking expert and UX champion, Mindset. To gain a complete understanding of the problem and underlying business processes, Mindset decided to team up with several field service reps for a series of 鈥渞ide-alongs.鈥� By riding in service tech vans, going on real service calls, and getting to know and interact with the service techs, Mindset project managers got a unique perspective on the pain technicians go through to deliver great service every day. This would prove very helpful when facilitating the design thinking sessions with a broader team.

With Design Thinking, People Focus on What Matters Most

After capturing the preliminary information from traveling to multiple sites in the field, Mindset set up a design thinking workshop at , a space created specifically to cater to such workshops.

The workshop included the technicians from the field research, business sponsors, IT experts, and Mindset facilitators. Jonathan Bragg of Mindset served as Patterson’s principal UX architect. Getting everyone together made a big difference in building empathy for everyone鈥檚 needs. The ability to ask 鈥渨hy鈥� across roles led to a deeper understanding of the current situation and problems along the entire process flow.

The design thinking workshop followed the typical steps for problem finding, problem solving, and iteration.

• Empathize:鈥� By bringing various stakeholders together, everyone was able to understand how their part of the process affected the entire company. In many cases, it was the first time the field service reps had a chance to speak with IT directly.
• Define: Once everyone understood the overall situation with the current field service software, which was based on 麻豆原创 Customer Relationship Management (麻豆原创 CRM), they were able to work as a team to narrow the scope and create a clear problem statement. Since the field service technicians spend most of their time at customer sites, one of the key requirements was that the solution needed to have a mobile-optimized design.
• Ideate: With a clear problem definition, the cross-functional team suggested many ideas for improvement that spanned the entire business process. Not only did this make it easier to enter data during service calls, it also improved how Patterson used the information downstream to improve customer service and reduce company costs.
• Prototype: During the workshop, the Mindset experts were able to create prototypes, gather feedback, and make improvements in an iterative and agile manner. With the insight from the design thinking session, they were able to develop an app that could be tested in the field.
• Test: The initial pilot version went to a group of 17 technicians in 17 locations. This allowed for further refinement of the app, using agile methodology to put new functionality into people鈥檚 hands quickly to see what worked and what needed further refinement.

Throughout the process, a dedicated product owner from Patterson helped the Mindset team prioritize development and ensure the features they developed addressed the user stories that were documented during the workshop.

鈥淎 design thinking workshop is somewhat of a magical event for our customers. You get people from all walks of life into a room together for three to four days and out comes an amazing, thoughtful proposed solution that can be estimated, built, tested, live, and championed. It鈥檚 these workshops that form lasting bonds between business end users and IT, showcasing how everyone is one the same team and everyone wants to make a difference鈥�

— Jonathan Bragg,
Director of Software Products,
Mindset

Agile Development Process Added Validation Steps for Clean Data

The discussions in the workshop revealed that without a dedicated mobile app, field reps needed to return to the office or their home to enter details from their site visits. Besides being inconvenient, the complexity of a desktop screen sometimes led to data inconsistencies. During the prototyping phase, it became clear that adding validations into each step of a linear process would be successful in ensuring that only clean data can go into the system. Once they focused on this pain point, they were able to make small modifications to the app that accommodated the checks and balances they wanted to build into the new service process that weren鈥檛 available in the original system.

The initial plan was to create a native iOS application. During the field observations, the team learned that not all the technicians had iPhones. Since 麻豆原创 Fiori was already used in other areas at Patterson, the developers decided to create an 麻豆原创 Fiori app that runs in a browser so it could be used on any device.

Intuitive Screens Lead to High Adoption and Measurable Business Benefits

• The new app was so compelling to use, that over a four-month period, 85% of the field reps chose the new app over the old process. The number of clicks and associated time to complete various processes dropped by over 50%.
• Better visibility into order status allowed the company to focus its resources and reduce the number of orders open longer than 60 days from 13,000 to 4,000. This translated into $1.3 million in annual savings for Patterson.
• On the human side, technicians were able to complete the administrative part of their jobs more quickly, so they were happier. And, they were able to check on tasks from anywhere, so they could be more responsive to their customers鈥� needs, adding to their job satisfaction. With the ability to complete work remotely, people could bypass a trip to the office for 鈥減aperwork鈥� and switch to relaxation mode when they got home, rather than staring at their computer to document tasks they had completed hours earlier.

Digitalization Will Drive Further Business Improvements

The design thinking approach is more than just bringing a bunch of people into a conference room, either physically or virtually, and expecting magic to happen. If you have the right facilitators, who can ask the right questions, and the right development team, who can build apps quickly and make updates based on user feedback, along with the key business stakeholders, you greatly increase the chances of success. If you lack the skills in your organization, then bringing in an outside expert is a great way to gain the results you want while learning the process.

To learn more about the 麻豆原创 Fiori user experience, please visit the . Bookmark the or follow the to catch all the stories in the series.

Peter Spielvogel is senior director of Product Marketing for 麻豆原创 UX Engineering.

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At each phase of a surgical operation, the OP 4.1 dashboard displays data pulled from various sources according to need, providing surgical teams with vital information in a way that makes it easy for them to consume it. The data they need for an operation appears on a 47-inch touchscreen monitor placed between three and five meters from the operating table, where anesthetists, surgeons, and other medical and nursing staff can see it clearly.

The monitor鈥檚 main function is to display all the information about a patient and the operation he or she is undergoing at the precise stage in the process when the medical team needs it 鈥� before, during, and after surgery.

End-User Focus a Principle of UX Design

User experience (UX) design provides the foundation. UX designers start with the software user鈥檚 story and work backwards to create a design that will deliver maximum benefit. Thus the design and development process for the OP 4.1 dashboard began with a detailed assessment of how modern surgical teams work today.

When a patient has surgery, the information the medical staff need about that patient comes from different sources and in different formats/ Medical records are usually paper-based; patients often supply visual material, such as CT and x-ray images and the like, on a USB flash drive or similar; lab results are displayed on a PC, like in Cerner i.s.h. med from 麻豆原创; and patient consent forms are submitted on paper.

As a result, the medical staff have to draw together the information they need from multiple sources themselves. They can then plan the operation. Once at the operating table, the surgical team has to cognitively link existing patient data with the information that is generated during the operation as they work. This is where the OP 4.1 dashboard comes in 鈥� its aim being to bundle information and display it precisely as and when the operating team needs it. For that to happen, it is vital that the dashboard鈥檚 design is as user-centric as possible.

How the Dashboard Was Developed

The first task for the dashboard鈥檚 designers was to identify all the different sources of information and to find out 鈥� by holding user research sessions 鈥� what data was required at which point during surgery. Thanks to these sessions, the designers not only learned a lot of detail about surgical processes, they also discovered a great deal about the needs and wishes of the operating teams. On top of that, Heidelberg University Clinic arranged for the UX designers to sit in on operations and observe surgeons as they worked.

Equipped with the input they had gathered, the designers were able to build a basic grid layout, which then passed through several iterations before achieving its current look. Using this design approach means that end users are involved in development processes and can provide validation along the way.

OP 4.1 Dashboard Close Up

1. On the left-hand side of the dashboard is an accordion drop-down menu listing the various phases of surgery.
2. The shell bar at the very top of the screen shows the operating room logged on as a user. Here, the operating surgeon can also make the appropriate settings for the operation. The shell bar also contains the voice interaction icon.
3. Directly below the shell bar is the header. This permanently displays key basic information 鈥� such as the total duration of the operation and a stopwatch 鈥� that is relevant for all the defined user personas.
4. On the far right of the screen is the app drawer, a slide-out side panel displaying third-party apps that medical staff have defined in advance as relevant for the operation.
5. The content area in the center of the screen contains various tiles that change dynamically at each stage of the operation. They summarize all the relevant information and make it visible at a glance. Some of the tiles can also be opened to display more detailed information. The content area is also scrollable so that content can be accessed quickly if the operating surgeon has activated more tiles in the settings than can be displayed simultaneously on the screen.

Further user research sessions were held to validate this layout with the medical teams. In this way, the dashboard was optimized in several iterations to meet the needs of the two main personas: anesthetists and surgeons.

Once this process was complete, the design was discussed with the 麻豆原创 UX team to help ensure that it aligned as closely as possible with 麻豆原创鈥檚 current design language and guidelines, in this case, the聽 Quartz dark theme.

App Guidelines for Third-Party Providers

In addition, special design specifications were developed for applications from third-party providers. These were implemented in the first apps built for the dashboard by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and mbits imaging GmbH and validated with end users.

The third-party apps deviate from the 麻豆原创 Fiori 3 Quartz dark theme guidelines used in the dashboard because, unlike the dashboard, they require certification as medical products. Nevertheless, the app designs are closely aligned to the look and feel of the dashboard that end users do not perceive any difference.

Focus on the Patient

The aim in designing this clearly structured dashboard was to make it as easy as possible for users to work with, and to put patients front and center. The dashboard helps surgical teams focus their skills and energy on their core tasks and, as such, supports gentle, successful, and efficient surgery. And by leveraging digital technology and connectivity in the operating room in this way, it provides a compelling insight into future possibilities that could benefit everyone.

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This story originally appeared on the 麻豆原创 Germany News Center.
Top image via video screenshot.

To find out what user research really means for the IT business and how it can be beneficial for your work, I spoke to Uwe Betzin, a user experience (UX) design expert at 麻豆原创.

From Development to UX Design

Betzin is someone you would describe as a change maker. When he first joined 麻豆原创 in 2003, he began his career as a developer. For the next 12 years, he worked in development and was always looking for guidelines or best practices on how to get things done because he felt like he lacked the same 鈥渢hat鈥檚 the way to do it!鈥� spirit his colleagues seemed to have.

When asked to create a user interface (UI), Betzin came across a UX basics training. With it, he was not only introduced to user experience but as a result decided to become a UX advocate, dedicating half of his working time to that role. As a UX advocate for his development team, he brought together team, domain, and UX knowledge.

Betzin soon realized his true passion wasn鈥檛 development but UX design, which is why he decided to do a six-month fellowship in the 麻豆原创 Business Suite UX team. Eventually, this led him to change his user research career path. Ever since, his vision has been to get customers excited about using application software because it gets their job done easily.

User Research with the Help of a Customer Council

To create software that meets customer requirements, it is key to consider what end users really need. And what better way is there than to interact with them directly?

One way to do so would be to establish a customer council led by an area product owner. A customer council allows an area product owner, product owner, developers, UX designers, etc. to be in constant contact with selected customers and to test a product while instantly receiving feedback from them.

Betzin is part of such a customer council, comprised of 80 members from 40 different customers — most of them primary end users.

There are regular Microsoft Teams calls, yearly workshops, and the typical usability tests. More importantly, there is on-site user research as well as one week of customer testing for each release. So far, this format has paid off for both parties, with customer feedback like 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see our feedback implemented鈥� and 鈥淭his software feels like it鈥檚 tailored to my needs.鈥�

Being part of a customer council is a great opportunity to see how customers work. 鈥淚t requires minimal planning to do a customer visit and there are no formalities involved,鈥� Betzin explained. According to him, this is the way to go for creating good software. Not only does it save costs, but it is also easier than developing software, delivering it to customers, and then dealing with customer incidents because something does not perform well. 鈥淲ho鈥檚 going to change all the code afterwards?鈥� he asked rhetorically.

To avoid such a scenario, Betzin suggests product owners get user research done and include it in their road map. This is a key step that allows them to properly organize it, evaluate the results, work on designs, and finally validate the results, before delivering the product to the customer.

Product owners being the interface between the development team and the customer will not only help ensure that the software turns out great, they will also benefit from it because they will need less capacity for development and more likely have less issues and customer incidents.

Importance of User Research

Many people are not aware of what a user researcher or a visual/interaction designer can do for them and how they can benefit from conducting user research. According to Betzin, user research is important for anyone involved in software development — from product management to support. They all should have at least basic knowledge about what user research is, what it encompasses, and what kind of benefits it has.

There seems to be a common misconception that software just needs to work. But when does it really work? 鈥淎 developer takes care of how something should work, whereas a designer takes care of how a person works with it,鈥� Betzin shared.

To sum up, it is not enough to develop software or features just for the sake of somehow making it work. It鈥檚 important to improve people鈥檚 lives, and for that you need to listen to end users. To understand your users鈥� expectations, working processes, and routines, selecting the right research method is key. Learn more about user research, including the 14 most used user research methods at 麻豆原创, and .

When Christian Cramer, chief operating officer (COO) for 麻豆原创 HANA Database & Analytics, and his team started building the concept, they had one objective: to help stakeholders taking fact-based and reliable business decisions in a dynamic environment, based on one single source of truth offering a 360-degree view of the business and the entire product life cycle 鈥� from development to sales and product performance, customer insights, and engagement, along with operational and organizational data.

The team鈥檚 ambition has succeeded. Thanks to the collaboration with the 麻豆原创 Intelligent Data & Analytics team and as internal usage statistics show, 麻豆原创 employees have widely adopted the solution. Take a peek behind the scenes to understand how it works, what lies behind its success, and what is yet to come.

Three Keys to a Successful Business Dashboard

Building a successful business dashboard requires three crucial ingredients, according to Cramer: a great product, meaningful data, and easy usability.

1. 鈥淥nly with a great product, will you be able to build a great dashboard鈥�

Making use of their own 麻豆原创 Analytics Cloud product, the team started building an interactive dashboard using 麻豆原创 Digital Boardroom. With only basic technical background, but thanks to the products鈥� ease of use, all relevant data was swiftly connected, and more and more content views that were regularly needed by management were added.

As the content grew, more users were introduced to the team鈥檚 dashboard. Word spread fast and teams reached out to have their own content added as well.

Daniel Pavlovic is part of the operations team and the man behind the 麻豆原创 Digital Boardroom built for the 麻豆原创 HANA Database & Analytics team. According to him, 鈥淭his active pull is what you hope for any new tool you implement.鈥�

2. 鈥淵ou need meaningful data that everyone can rely on.鈥�

鈥淚 have seen many dashboards created with the right intent, but in the end the implementation was not successful because it was largely focused on the tool only,” Cramer shares. 鈥淎 great product alone will not make a great dashboard 鈥� meaningful and reliable data is imperative.鈥�

To facilitate a reliable automated business steering, significant work was put into set-up and clean-up of proper and meaningful master data structures in the background. It is precisely the reliability of data and the combination of the various data sources that creates actionable insights — and thus the added value of the team鈥檚 solution.

3. 鈥淟ast and most important, it needs to be intuitive and fun to use 鈥� usability drives adoption鈥�

From the beginning, the navigation experience was top of mind with a consistent approach in all designs and layouts.

On the landing page, users get a structured overview of all content available and can rely on easy orientation with a navigation bar at the top of each view. Any insight can be found within three clicks, so the user can always recognize a three-layer layout: management summary, enriched view, and full detail view with dynamic filtering function to slice and dice information. A consistent way of illustrating information makes for a great user experience.

To ensure the dashboard serves up what is truly needed, Cramer鈥檚 team regularly conducts feedback rounds and usability tests with randomly selected end users and design teams. New views are validated with colleagues creating these reports manually, while first-time users鈥� clicking behavior provides valuable optimization insights.

Successful Dashboard Creates Adoption

鈥淗aving good adoption, you can still add and improve content,鈥� Cramer says. 鈥淏ut if you don鈥檛 have adoption, you miss the main criteria of a dashboard: creating business value.鈥�

Measured in the number of unique users, the team鈥檚 dashboard has already exceeded initial adoption expectations. Unique usage across all areas of the company is consistently increasing, making it one of 麻豆原创鈥檚 internally used end-to-end line-of-business steering dashboard with the highest user numbers.

鈥淲e have a constantly growing internal user base; colleagues in Development, Customer Success, HR, and Finance are looking for great insights,鈥澛� Cramer says. 鈥淎nd with every addition of content, the number of potential users increases. Most recently, a new time recording compliance view added all our unit鈥檚 managers to our user base 鈥� that鈥檚 around 300 new users!鈥�

To both preview and manage expectations around new content and enhancements, all users regularly receive email updates on what has been added. The dashboard鈥檚 usage data clearly shows this proactive method drives adoption.

鈥淲e have overwhelmingly positive feedback from all users that the tool is great, the scope of data is second to none and it鈥檚 easy to use,鈥� Cramer adds.

Juergen Mueller, chief technology officer and member of the Executive Board of 麻豆原创 SE,聽 also harnesses the dashboard built by the 麻豆原创 HANA Database & Analytics organization, led by Irfan Khan. 鈥淭he 麻豆原创 Digital Boardroom built by the 麻豆原创 HANA Database & Analytics team provides me with all relevant information to steer the organization holistically,” he said. “It is easy to use and offers tremendous depth.鈥�

What鈥檚 Next?

The team created a tool with a comprehensive level of relevant insights required for any line of business development organization, and the road map for content additions keeps growing. In active use across the 麻豆原创 HANA Database & Analytics organization for under a year, other 麻豆原创 internal business units could use it in the future as well.

鈥淭he views are adaptable to reflect KPIs of other lines of business with minimal effort,” Cramer explains. “We are currently piloting that with another line of business that started using the available material to adapt it to their own unit.鈥�

Centralizing identity and user management, 麻豆原创 Universal ID allows users to logon to 麻豆原创 systems using one account, linking all existing 麻豆原创 legacy accounts (S-/P-users).

To date, 麻豆原创 Universal ID supports access to more than 180 of 麻豆原创鈥檚 most popular customer and partner applications and platforms, such as . In the future, additional 麻豆原创 Universal ID features will complement most 麻豆原创 login processes.

The launch of 麻豆原创 Universal ID is 麻豆原创鈥檚 commitment to significantly simplify user login experiences and by adopting 麻豆原创 Universal ID, the user can:

• Take control: Own their personal 麻豆原创 identity
• Manage one account: In one universal account link all their existing accounts
• Use it wherever they go: No matter where they work, their ID goes with them

Additionally, 麻豆原创 Universal ID:

• Is a personal and lifelong authentication for 麻豆原创 portals now and in the future. Users enter one password and, once logged in, can choose from any of their linked accounts.
• Will allow 麻豆原创 to deliver a compliant, sophisticated, and engaging user experience, including personalized offerings and automated communications, and to advocate for users more effectively. It will also help improve security overall due to the elimination of shared user accounts.

How to Create an 麻豆原创 Universal ID:
Three Steps. 聽Two Minutes. 聽Done.

Once the , , allows the user to view, update, and manage personal information, account security settings, including S-/ P-user associations to companies.

麻豆原创 Universal ID works on Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Edge, as well as the latest versions of iOS and Android for smartphones and tablets. It does not work on Internet Explorer.

Watch this video to find out how easy it is to get your own unique login:

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Kevin DeVilbiss is head of Identity and User Management at 麻豆原创.

Facing skepticism from public media and working within a tight timeline, the 麻豆原创 User Experience team built the app for the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), one of the German government鈥檚 central scientific institutions. The team learned to quickly juggle multiple expectations and requirements, drown out unnecessary noise, and focus on the 鈥渃ritical few鈥� in order to create something highly usable and impactful.

With six weeks from design to delivery, here are their stories.

Constructing a Plane While Flying It

When Emil Voutta, co-lead of the Corona-Warn-App design team, received an unexpected call over the weekend, he couldn鈥檛 have imagined what was in store for him and his team.

鈥淚 heard about a startup initiative taking place and there was lots of fuss in the press. But I never thought it would end up on our desk,鈥� Voutta said.

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Describing the months of intensive design and development process that followed, as well as the rollout to the entire German population, Voutta said the experience felt akin to constructing a plane while flying it. That鈥檚 because 麻豆原创 was designing a user experience on top of a brand-new API that Google and Apple were still in the process of building. Additionally, the 麻豆原创 team needed to understand new processes, including how a chain of infection works, and learn how to leverage technology in new ways, such as calibrating Bluetooth for proximity detection.

Juggling the different requirements from the Robert Koch Institute, the German Ministry of Health, Apple, Google, Deutsche Telekom, and the Fraunhofer Institute made it easy to feel overwhelmed. 鈥淵ou have to acknowledge the fact that it can just only be chaos with so many cooks in the kitchen. And then find your way in the chaos to still create something meaningful.鈥�

This meant channeling all the requirements into a design that prioritized usability above all.

From Design Idea to User Testing

The initial design idea featured a simplified user experience with a very clear information architecture. It also imagined using elegant and modern illustrations along with descriptive text to facilitate onboarding and to provide users with end-to-end guidance throughout the application.

With this solid concept in hand, the next step involved . For an app with which effectiveness depended on mass adoption and user persona consisted of nothing less than the entire range of the German population, it was critical to listen to end users very early on in the design process and work iteratively from there.

The goal was to find a design that was as usable and inclusive as possible. Susann Graeff, mobile user experience designer, was deeply involved in the user research phase, moderating usability tests and collecting feedback from a wide array of users of different ages, genders, and social backgrounds.

鈥淭he user research made us confident that our design was well liked and easy enough to understand,鈥� said Graeff. 鈥淲e were also able to uncover challenges and insecurities for the testers such as how to and how to make the app more accessible.鈥�

Michael Krenkler was responsible for the illustrations ultimately featured in the app and recalls the initial feedback on the design concept: 鈥淭he amazing part was seeing that the testers were excited by what they saw. We could see that the illustrations helped them understand the whole application better, created trust in regard to their data privacy concerns, and helped them to finish their tasks.鈥�

Constructive Approach to Design Validation

Another layer in gathering feedback was working with the . The design team actually published the in-progress design to the public in real time as a way to gather immediate feedback and guarantee widespread adoption.

Christian Scheirmann, co-lead of the Corona-Warn-App design team, recalls the experience as being quite unnerving.

鈥淚 had never been part of an experience like this,鈥� said Scheirmann. 鈥淭ypically, we only publish such results internally to the development team, not even for all of 麻豆原创, and now suddenly your work-in-progress was out and everybody got to see it and comment on it. The experience was a little bit strange in the beginning because suddenly our unfinished work was out there. On the other hand, the feedback that we got was really encouraging. It鈥檚 a truly constructive approach to validate our design.鈥�

Now that the application has been rolled out, feedback continues to pour in from all channels, and the designers are constantly gathering input from the Open Source community as they work on future iterations of the app. 鈥淚 can just say thank you to the community,鈥� Voutta said.

Teamwork Wins the Day

In the end it was the team dynamic that was unanimously credited for the success of the project. While the designers chalked it up to the close working relationship with the development team, developers in turn praised the solid design as the motivational boost that kept spirits up as the whole team worked day and night on the application.

Teamwork meant not only collaborating well together as designers and developers, but being able to quickly incorporate feedback from product owners, accessibility experts, user assistance and communication teams, and various government stakeholders, as well as Telekom, Google, and Apple, in order to bring in all the requirements and expertise into a single app.

鈥淭o be honest, it would be impossible to highlight a single aspect that I鈥檓 most proud of,鈥� said Christian Kienle, Development Architect for Mobile. 鈥淎t the end of the day, it was teamwork.鈥�

Gergana Savova, user experience designer for mobile, credits the team setup for their success: 鈥淲e鈥檝e all worked together before, and we had great trust in each other. We were able to play to鈥痚ach other’s鈥痵trengths and鈥痵tart working鈥痑t full speed鈥痜rom the get-go.鈥�

With to date, the team is proud of what they鈥檝e been able to achieve on a tight and critical timeline. And as they continue to fine-tune the app by expanding functionalities, their work is still far from over.

Help break the chain of infection. Download the Corona-Warn-App today on the or .

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One of the many things that the COVID-19 pandemic has underlined is the significance of access to information and information technology in our lives. When we were suddenly locked down 鈥� away from our extended family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and clients 鈥� it was technology that kept us connected.

Thanks to technology, we could follow up on the latest global news around COVID-19 and inform ourselves about where to get help in case of an infection and how to best protect ourselves. We could continue learning, working, and driving our projects virtually. We could stay connected to friends and colleagues via social networks and messengers. We could order goods online that we could not procure in our usual way.

Our worlds were reduced to home, laptop screens, and mobile phones. It was not perfect, but we were still connected and informed.

Yet what many of us 鈥� I am deliberately not saying most 鈥� take for granted is not granted for all.

Today, on International Day for Universal Access to Information, we globally celebrate under the motto 鈥溾�� UNESCO reminds us annually that access to information is a basic human right, albeit one whose impact is not yet felt worldwide due to political, cultural, or technical barriers.

For me, the day has become one for personal reflection. Providing access to information technology has been driving my work for eight years at 麻豆原创. My team鈥檚 responsibility is to provide the ground for our product teams to .

After all these years, I can firmly say that accessibility needs three things to thrive: inclusion, curiosity, and a process.

Inclusion

The entire IT industry carries with it a huge responsibility. With the design of our products, we inadvertently decide who is in, and who is not. How can we build on our values and help ensure that our products do not exclude users? How can we create a mindset that considers accessibility at the core of our work?

There are two things that can help us here: learning and experience. Experiences influence the way we think and act. These can be our own personal experiences, or even those of others that we witness firsthand. We simply need to be able to connect to an experience in order to understand it. But with the systematic exclusion of people with disabilities from our schools, work life, and even social life, it is inevitable that certain experiences are not part of our collective imaginary.

Personally, I never had a classmate, fellow student, or colleague with digital accessibility needs, not in school, nor during higher education, nor in my professional life before 麻豆原创. This is surprising when considering that , but not when considering that inclusion in school is still the exception in many countries, and that the than that of people with no disability of the same age.

Part of the solution is to push strong inclusion policies into the core of your organization. With 麻豆原创鈥檚 , I鈥檝e experienced the benefit of this firsthand. For me, the 麻豆原创 workforce represents a highly diverse selection of our users in a small cosmos. Having the opportunity to learn from the experiences of others 鈥� and getting to experience their pain points with them in action 鈥� has made me open my perspective, increase my awareness, and grow my mindset. For me, it has meant enhancing a technical requirement with a real person鈥檚 need. This is only possible in an inclusive culture.

We must drive inclusion across all pillars of private, educational, and professional life to be able to design a world that embraces all.

Curiosity

Curiosity is the key to creating excellent accessible solutions: curiosity about people who are different from us, curiosity about exploring, designing, and developing various channels of perception and operation that we ourselves do not necessarily need; curiosity to step into the shoes of others to share their experience and adapt that to our work; curiosity about feedback on our work and our gaps; curiosity about opinions that challenge us; and curiosity to be innovative about accessibility requirements and to go beyond what is needed.

Working on accessibility means life-long learning and having self-awareness that we will never be completely done. With new devices, operating systems, user agents, assistive technologies and innovations, accessibility requirements are a constant work-in-progress. There is no single source of truth that ensures a perfectly accessible user experience. But with curiosity, we can grow and get closer to something that makes us proud.

Process

An accessibility process is key to driving accessibility end-to-end across an organization. A good process is a kind of map that navigates product teams through all the existing accessibility laws, standards, procurement policies, and necessary deliverables and helps them to focus on their work. At 麻豆原创, we have an accessibility setup in place that provides a central accessibility policy, compliance planning and reporting, accessibility validation, accessibility compliance reports (VPAT庐), accessibility trainings, and accessibility communication.

With these, we help ensure that the accessibility support in our core products continuously improves. Our central accessibility policy is written in a way that is technology-and-device agnostic, and it covers in its current version the latest software accessibility standards. We continuously adjust our setup with the latest study results and customer feedback. Our goal is to bring accessibility into the product development cycle as early as possible and rather than as an afterthought.

For me, digital accessibility feels like a never-ending journey. Yet even this far down the road, I鈥檝e never lost my passion for this work even when I know that there is still a long way to go.

At 麻豆原创, we have all ingredients to drive accessibility: An inclusion program that enables a diverse workforce, colleagues that are curious to improve the , and an accessibility process that keeps pace with external regulations. Our goal is that in the end, it will be your choice to be in or out, and not one we have made for you by design.

Nicole Windmann is head of the 麻豆原创 Accessibility Competence Center.

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Businesses are seeing an increased share of change as the impact of the recent pandemic continues to unfold. This experience is more than just shifting how people work, learn, and interact. It鈥檚 also empowering organizations to rethink how they can pivot their processes, tools, and policies fast enough to navigate through significant risks and plan for whatever comes next.

This new reality is a consistent topic of conversation among 麻豆原创 customers that are focused on building a more resilient digital foundation. Now more than ever, they want to know if they are on the right path or if they need to adjust their business process to help ensure they stay ahead of the curve.

Setting the Foundation for Continuous Collaboration and Success

Such in-depth discussion and innovative thinking inspired 麻豆原创 to introduce 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support guides. Through an efficient and programmable approach, the framework provides prescriptive and proactive guidance as part of 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support services, covering the entire migration or implementation life cycle to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA.

Seamlessly integrated into the 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Movement program, 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support guides offer a goal-based approach to achieve a successful deployment. The framework is a natural first step after 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Adoption Starter Engagement because it is tailored to a customer鈥檚 requirements and expectations. Planned interactions with specialists and journey checks at the right project milestones are featured to help ensure that organizations minimize potential disruption and have guidance at each stage of the entire project lifecycle.

Having a customized and guided expertise along every step of an 麻豆原创 S/4HANA project can be pivotal for the success of a digital transformation. This benefit was certainly realized by the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands,

Vitens N.V. takes its responsibility in giving customers 24/7 access to high-quality drinking water at the lowest possible price, as well as delivering required services, seriously. As part of its ongoing drive to provide the highest level of service possible, Vitens decided it was time to migrate its databases and begin a phased implementation of new enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology. It knew expert assistance was neeerded to help ensure these projects ran smoothly and prevent any disruption to its customer experience.

According to Wendy Coffeng, IT project manager for the 麻豆原创 S/4HANA Program at Vitens N.V., 鈥溌槎乖� Enterprise Support remotely delivered services and programs have helped us on our journey to implement and run 麻豆原创 S/4HANA. Having the 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support Advisory team to address all support matters has been, and still is, of great value.鈥�

We are also finding that the influence of our program methodology can be felt across an entire industry. For example, needed to integrate its business operations and leverage real-time business insights across the enterprise to speed innovation and harmonize operations after a recent merger.

By using expert guidance, the automobile components manufacturer accelerated the implementation of 麻豆原创 S/4HANA with a thorough analysis of its 麻豆原创 environment and the use of best practices for custom code and data volume management. Furthermore, the company adopted a new user experience (UX) strategy by following a step-by-step approach to configure 麻豆原创 Fiori apps 鈥� setting the stage for a powerful new development in the future of mobility.

Helping Ensure the Right Direction Toward a Successful Transformation

Like Vitens N.V. and HYUNDAI TRANSYS, many 麻豆原创 customers are finding the guidance of 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support to be empowering. Every day, we see businesses worldwide use the expertise and guidance of 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support to make their transitions to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA easier and digital transformation more successful.

Available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and French, 麻豆原创 Enterprise Support guides support the entire journey to 麻豆原创 S/4HANA in ways that reduce the total cost of implementation and mitigate risk. More importantly, our customers have the valuable insights and best practices they need for a successful deployment, so they can respond to every shift in our fast-moving, ever-evolving world.

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Araceli Grau-Castilla is global vice president and head of Lifetime Customer Experience at 麻豆原创.

There are two ways to incorporate context awareness into a product: by making it fundamental to the value proposition or by using it to improve the user experience. Each approach has its benefits.

One example where context awareness is fundamental is software based on location data, such as Google Maps. Such products rely on context, including the user鈥檚 location, friends who are in the same area, and information about current conditions 鈥� like weather or traffic.

More commonly, though, context awareness is used to improve the user experience 鈥� yielding small enhancements that can generate big returns. Even a slight improvement in the user experience can compound over time in terms of user retention. Satisfied users spread the word to others, who also become users who share their experience. In this way, increasing the level of context awareness can become a powerful tool for software developers to differentiate their product.

Customers Now Expect a Great User Experience

At 麻豆原创.iO Venture Studio, 麻豆原创鈥檚 internal product incubator, we try to build software that solves a meaningful problem in a simple way. It鈥檚 important to think about who the identified problem affects and how big the market opportunity is for solving this problem.

However, to understand the customer, we spend significant time on discovery, interviews, and user research. We explore what matters to users by investigating how they use our products.

This approach helps us deliver the best possible user experience. If we skip that effort, we鈥檒l lose out to software that meets those needs. Let鈥檚 face it: Consumers and business people have a plethora of choices about which products they use. And people expect the software they use at work to be as easy to use as the digital products they use at home.

Not long ago, business software was incrementally more powerful than anything we used for personal activities. Now the applications we use in our personal lives can solve equally complex issues, and the software handles it 鈥� while also providing an intuitive interface. Think of apps that prepare your tax return by asking very simple questions, banking apps that analyze your expenses and make recommendations for optimizing your finances, or health insurance apps that help manage your well-being and handle administrative processes with medical institutions. When users spend eight hours a day on their work computer, they expect a similarly great user experience.

And there鈥檚 one more thing to consider. The wide availability of cloud solutions creates a lower barrier to entry for users who want to switch solutions. In the past, it was difficult for users to discover alternative solutions, test them, or share them with upper management.

Today鈥檚 users can go online, explore different options, and download a free trial version of many software products. They can quickly present a business case to their manager and make the switch to another product. With users in the driver鈥檚 seat, developers can鈥檛 afford to overlook any opportunity to differentiate their software from the competition.

Methods and Tools for Getting Context Right

It is important to understand that the cost of getting context wrong is very high. Think about what happens when a hotel extends an offer for a romantic weekend stay to a consumer who is recently divorced or a cable company sends a service offer to a disgruntled former customer. When software gets the context right, it鈥檚 almost unnoticeable. But when the context is wrong, it鈥檚 really jarring.

People expect companies to understand them and their circumstances. When software misses the mark, it can catalyze users to switch to another product. Here鈥檚 how my team works to prevent that. After customer discovery and user research, we begin rapid prototyping. We employ a design-led development approach that allows us to create realistic, live prototypes, even before we鈥檝e written a line of code.

We invite users to use these click-through prototypes, which look exactly like the ultimate product. As a result, we have feedback from users before development begins. We also seat front-end designers and developers together so they can work as teams. This helps ensure that nothing is lost in translation as we incorporate user feedback into design and development.

Solutions such as usertesting.com allow us to test and iterate early versions of our solutions. All of our ventures also use A/B testing to compare variables in a proposed solution. Beginning with a small group of users, we test each feature to determine how well it works and adapt our solution based on user feedback.

Developers also must work intentionally, putting themselves in users鈥� shoes. They must be aware of how users will employ the solution, where they鈥檒l use it, and which types of devices and experiences they must plan for.

One way we do this is to make sure developers have opportunities to talk with users. Our developers play a part in the support process, because that鈥檚 where software design issues arise first. Asking developers to take part in solving bugs and receiving user feedback helps them see how the product is being used.

Planning for Differentiation

To build solutions that will be valuable well into the future, we have to create products that anticipate user needs. This requires access to a wide variety of data sources and the ability to capture huge volumes of data.

Leading companies like Tesla recognize this reality. Realizing that updating hardware is difficult and costly, Tesla added more sensors and cameras into the company鈥檚 vehicles than the cars currently need. As the vehicle鈥檚 software applications mature, the hardware will be available to support new use cases.

In essence, you need to think many steps ahead about the data you might want to capture in the future. By actively planning for a world that will have exponentially larger amounts of data and architecting the system accordingly, we can make sure that solutions can scale to accommodate whatever comes next.

It鈥檚 almost never too late to build context awareness into a solution. But depending on previous decisions and technical debt, it can be much more difficult. The earlier it is in the product development cycle, the easier it is to be agile. Products that are not designed to be modular and to prioritize the capture of context and data are harder to update retroactively to include these features.

I鈥檓 excited about the possibilities for context awareness in the next generation of products. The way we engage and notify users will become more intelligent as solutions take context into account. Ultimately, products will pull users into the experience, rather than relying on users to remember to take action. Notifications and alerts will also become more intelligent, with users informed on the right device at the right time.

Later on, we may see user interfaces that fundamentally shift based on the type or context of the user. Maybe financial software will adjust the information it displays based on the proximity to month-end closing. Or imagine a travel expense application that recognizes when a user is in a taxi on a business trip. It could display only a simplified receipt capture screen instead of the more complex product home page needed to generate a full expense report.

Context awareness will continue to mature, bringing the surprise and delight that users get from their consumer experiences into the business-to-business software world. By building context awareness into these solutions, developers can not only introduce consumer-grade innovations to business software, but they can also make the work life of users easier. And that鈥檚 the best way of all for companies to differentiate their products.

About Horizons by 麻豆原创

Horizons by 麻豆原创 is a future-focused journal where forward thinkers in the global tech ecosystem share perspectives on how technologies and business trends will impact 麻豆原创 customers in the future. The 2020 issue of Horizons by 麻豆原创 focuses on Context-Aware IT, with contributors from 麻豆原创, Microsoft, Verizon, Mozilla, and more. To learn and read more, visit聽.

Read more 麻豆原创 by Horizons stories on the 麻豆原创 News Center.

Graham Ratcliffe is head of 麻豆原创.iO Venture Studio.

Years ago, when I worked as a software developer, I had the opportunity to find out. As I watched from behind a one-way mirror, a highly satisfied customer sat down at the computer and used the application I鈥檇 helped create. What I saw shocked me. Our customer was interacting with the user interface in a completely different way than I鈥檇 intended. He used only about 30 percent of the features I鈥檇 designed聽鈥斅燼nd he used those inefficiently.

Clearly, we didn鈥檛 have enough insight into the user experience to improve it. We had designed business processes and incorporated them into the software. Our customers changed their internal processes to meet our standards. Although we refined the user interface over time to become more friendly and intuitive, we never knew how users really worked within the software.

Experience management solutions offer a good starting point for collecting this information. These solutions allow developers to ask users how they feel about the software and collect sentiment data that helps vendors improve the user experience.

But we need to take this effort a step further. What if software could sense a person, understanding a user鈥檚 activity or intentions without having to ask those questions? Instead of predicting the types of questions we would like to ask the user and then expecting the user to respond to those prompts, we could just measure what the user is doing at various points during the software interaction.

That鈥檚 how user behavior mining works. Software tracks the interaction between the user and the application interface. After capturing that data, it analyzes or 鈥渕ines鈥� it to determine how each person uses the software. We can map the captured interactions to the business objects to understand how a business process is executed through the user interface.

The insight delivered by this analysis can help us predict which steps the user might take next. It also highlights any tasks that are difficult to perform and provides guidance on whether the user interface should be modified to create a better experience.

For example, imagine a user who creates 20 or 30 product orders per day. If the user repeatedly changes the year value for each order, user behavior mining would indicate this and trigger the system to predefine the year value for this user. The application could also learn that this user never uses certain fields and it could hide those fields on the user鈥檚 display to reduce the complexity.

Deeper User Knowledge

User behavior mining offers tremendous potential. Current technology allows us to understand where a user clicks, but we don鈥檛 yet know the meaning of those clicks聽鈥斅爋r the overall interaction path.

We know that the way software developers design processes and the way people use them is quite different. If we can capture the behavior and then use tools to translate that data into understanding, we could intuit what a user wants to do. We can develop software that matches user needs and automatically delivers a customized user experience聽鈥斅燼bsent any bias from the software vendor about the 鈥渞ight鈥� way to perform a task.

Innovative technology can help. For example, what if we include biometrics in user behavior mining? Whether we use a camera, motion tracking, or a sensor measuring the user鈥檚 blood pressure, the interface between human and machine could be eye-opening. Not only could we track where a user clicks within the software, but we could also correlate those clicks with user stress levels.

This insight could help us learn whether the application actually serves the process preferred by the user or if the user has just developed a work-around to use the software. Perhaps the way the user is doing the task is actually cumbersome, but the software offers no better way to do it.

That鈥檚 not something that users often tell us. Sometimes they think it鈥檚 not an issue worth raising with the vendor. Often they just make adjustments and keep using the software. If we could use tools to sense how users feel, we could identify problems and refine processes to better them.

Although user behavior mining is still in its earliest stages, our group focused on new ventures and technologies is already working with it in productive use cases.

The Spotlight by 麻豆原创 solution analyzes system usage logs in just a few minutes聽鈥斅爓ith no installation or implementation required. It then calculates the amount of effort required to perform any business processes running through an 麻豆原创 solution, identifying candidates for automation. By augmenting back-end data with data collected through user behavior mining, the solution will eventually provide insight into the user journey through the application.

Data Privacy Challenges Ahead

One important consideration in the application of user behavior mining is the issue of data privacy. Obviously, the data we collect is very personal and must be protected.

At 麻豆原创, we anonymize all user data immediately upon collection. The software clusters data into patterns that are not user-specific.

For our early use cases, this form of data anonymization works well. As the software becomes more able to personalize its approach to unique users, we may need to focus more on the nonanonymized data of individual users. It鈥檚 not clear yet how software vendors can strike a balance between personalized offerings and data privacy.

I do know one thing, however. We need to deal with the human ethics around this from the very beginning聽鈥斅爊ot after a problem arises and we are sitting in a lawyer鈥檚 office. We must understand which behaviors act in favor of humans. It鈥檚 not enough to approach this strictly from the technology perspective.

There is no one right answer when it comes to ethics. With technology, there is always a trade-off between what you give and what you get. If I use Web mapping services, for example, I gain location intelligence and targeted advertising, but I pay with data about my behavior. We all know this. As humans, we can decide whether we are ready to share data about ourselves.

Vendors also have a choice: we can hide this reality about data privacy or we can be fully transparent.

My recommendation is that we should be completely transparent about which data we collect, what we do with the data, and how we treat the data. If we are open about what we are doing, people will trust us to make good decisions on their behalf, without misusing their data or taking advantage of it. Creating an exceptional user experience is valuable, but only if users remain in control of their data.

About Horizons by 麻豆原创

Horizons by 麻豆原创 is a future-focused journal where forward thinkers in the global tech ecosystem share perspectives on how technologies and business trends will impact 麻豆原创 customers in the future. The 2020 issue of Horizons by 麻豆原创 focuses on Context-Aware IT, with contributors from 麻豆原创, Microsoft, Verizon, Mozilla, and more. To learn and read more, visit聽.

Read more 麻豆原创 by Horizons stories on the 麻豆原创 News Center.

Torsten Zube is vice president and head of 麻豆原创 Cloud Platform Business Services at 麻豆原创 SE.

Designers were among the first to understand the potential of AI to improve the experience of individual users. Design provides users with more meaningful information and options that can help them master complexity. In the past, however, intelligent designs added complexity to the user experience with features such as relevance ratings, recommendation options, confidence ratings, and incompetent chat bots. This led to user frustration and mistrust.

After all, people aren鈥檛 interested in cool technology features. They just want the best way to do their work. Users expect AI to function in an unobtrusive, reliable way. At the same time, they want to be able to understand, correct, and override intelligence if needed.

To meet these needs, designers must support a seamless collaboration between humans and machines, where both use their specific strengths to support one another 鈥� but humans retain control. We have developed a set of design principles and guidelines to establish this approach in our solutions.

New Interaction Techniques

AI provides a huge opportunity to combine traditional means of interaction, such as mouse and keyboard, with new techniques, such as gaze control and conversational interaction. Today, none of these methods are well-developed enough to replace the others, but combining them can become a game changer.

Gaze control can increase speed and productivity by offering additional information on the user鈥檚 focus. This supports easier selection and filtering, contextual information, and more detailed information. Conversational interaction allows users to express their intent in their own words and allows systems to translate these aims into an appropriate response.

All of these channels help designers widen and enrich communication between humans and machines 鈥� supporting more intuitive, immediate, and bidirectional communication.

More than ever, technology has become a social force, and design is shaping the way this force interacts with people. Enterprises communicate their values not only through marketing messages, but also through technologies used by their employees and customers.

Therefore, purpose has become a larger focus for enterprises. Questions like 鈥淲hy are we doing things?鈥� and 鈥淎re we doing the right things for the right purpose?鈥� have assumed a higher priority. Design can influence the interaction between businesses and their employees and customers. This influence goes beyond corporate identity and marketing and reflects how decisions are made and communicated.

To empower the workforce and gain employees鈥� commitment to enterprise purpose, design must create software that reflects respect and transparency. Therefore, spending time explaining actions and decisions should also be part of the user interface design.

Designing for the Everywhere Interaction

Today, the combination of smart devices and appliances covers a good part of our interaction with our technical infrastructure. Technology is embedded in our daily lives, creating the user experience of the digital world. We interact with the most complex systems through any available channel, in any possible situation. Enterprise software is following suit. Business tasks are already becoming accessible through standard interfaces embedded into other channels, such as smart speakers or car interfaces. With the user experience, we have started breaking down complex business tasks into smaller apps that can be completed on a phone.

We are reducing the information even further by identifying specific figures that users need in each context and allowing users to adjust figures to their individual needs, securely and reliably. Thus, modularization and contextualization of complex information structures in the back end is both a design and technical challenge.

While users expect simpler and more natural interaction with software, the underlying facts and processes are getting more and more complex and intertwined. This is apparent in enterprise software, where we are exploring the potential of new visualization and input methods. We are looking beyond charts into multidimensional visualizations and AI-optimized visualizations that differentiate signal from noise. Using predictive technologies and combinations of input methods, including gaze and speech, enables better accuracy and faster input than traditional means.

Finally, constructing and harvesting context information is one of the most powerful tools to simplify user interactions. Based on context, systems can detect business process exceptions and associate combinations of parameters with business impact and suitable mitigation. With a better understanding of the business context, the system can detect, confirm, and correct the machine鈥檚 interpretation and solution proposal without requiring the user to manually enter data.

Top 5 Design Principles

To address these current UX trends, I recommend that developers focus on five key design principles.

1: Understand the user and the use case
This is the most important principle. Creating a product must be focused on the people that will use the product to accomplish their task. Neither architectural nor design excellence will help save a product that misses the use case.

2: View limitations as a source of innovation
While boundary conditions are often determined, many innovations have been triggered by a creative way of addressing those boundary conditions. Things we can鈥檛 imagine today may be possible tomorrow.

3: Embrace diversity
Enterprise software is an enabler for businesses, and we can鈥檛 afford to leave anyone behind. Different people, working conditions, and cultures determine whether a solution is enabling or hampering productivity. Understand those differences and design for them by contextualizing them, creating specific variants, and offering supportive means and smart suggestions. Finally, offer the tools that allow customers to optimize standard solutions with little cost.

4: Keep the user in control
At any given point in time, users must be able to understand and control the status of the system. User control means that system decisions must be clearly communicated and can be overwritten. Empowerment requires knowledge and transparency.

5: Design stretch-fit solutions
Standard solutions that are designed for best practices and use cases can further be optimized to stretch fit individual roles and preferences by means of usage-based optimizations and through personalization and automation.

Flexibility Versus Scalability

Many things that sound exciting in consumer software are not appropriate in an enterprise setting. Business processes must be standardized, reliable, repeatable, and auditable. And even if we strive for the best user experience for the individual, companies must ensure that people do things the right way.

Training and supporting employees require stable, standardized processes and software. Required process steps, checks, and information must be entered correctly and, in most cases, can鈥檛 be left to the indeterministic decision of an electronic mind. Therefore, corporations tend to restrict flexibility and leave adjustments in the hands of certain expert users. Flexibility can only be offered within clearly defined boundaries, leaving the underlying business processes unchanged.

The highest potential for individualization is the contextualization that helps provide users with right solution options and defaults in any situation. While the process stays unchanged, the system becomes better at providing the right information at the right place, offering the right options that best fit the situation.

Today鈥檚 technology allows us to design systems that better understand users鈥� intentions and support them in the best possible way, keeping them in control. Yet flexibility must allow the system to adjust to the user鈥檚 information needs and intentions without compromising the procedural, legal, and economic goals of the enterprise.

In enterprise software, innovation in interaction patterns must be evaluated against the impact on employee productivity. Unless we identify significant improvements in effectiveness or efficiency, using established standard patterns that require minimal training and change management is preferable. In many cases, the challenge in enterprise design isn鈥檛 coming up with an innovative and appealing new design, but is optimizing and extending standard designs to meet the complex and specific requirements of certain business roles.

The art of our profession is creating a design system built on components and patterns that are simultaneously stable and reusable in various business contexts, work with long and short texts in different languages, are accessible, and can efficiently be used across different devices. This is a huge and often under- estimated investment.

We implement scalability in design into our technical frameworks. This helps us and our customers create and maintain effective, efficient solutions at the lowest possible cost of development and ownership.

Our role as designers is to make sure that our products make the best use of our design system, are constantly optimized to fit user needs, and can be implemented in a scalable technology framework. As we have seen with 麻豆原创 Fiori throughout the past seven years, this is an evolutionary process that requires continuous investment.

And design is just a part of the story. For us this means working closely with our product units, customers, and development teams to adjust our designs to best accommodate user requirements, market needs, and technical restrictions.

We don鈥檛 design for the purpose of good design. Instead, we design to create products that help our customers best support their business 鈥� making it sustainable and resilient to any turn of history.

About Horizons by 麻豆原创

Horizons by 麻豆原创 is a future-focused journal where forward thinkers in the global tech ecosystem share perspectives on how technologies and business trends will impact 麻豆原创 customers in the future. The 2020 issue of Horizons by 麻豆原创 focuses on Context-Aware IT, with contributors from 麻豆原创, Microsoft, Verizon, Mozilla, and more. To learn and read more, visit .

Read more Horizons by 麻豆原创 stories on the 麻豆原创 News Center.

Alex Lingg is head of 麻豆原创 User Experience.