The Business Value of UX

Brought to you by the UX Center of

Excellence - a group of user experience
professionals dedicated to creating
great experiences for GE customers
and employees.

What is UX?

Working collaboratively and iteratively,

informed by user needs.

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User Experience, or UX for short, is the term used to describe

an innovation process that uses a deep understanding of user
needs to help create GE products and services that provide
meaningful experiences to our customers. UX uses a set of
design methods to unlock actionable insights that help to
define products. It takes these insights to design and develop
the behavior of the products we create, organize the workflow
for interacting with them, and to connect them with our brand.

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The UX Process

An innovation process that makes

great products.

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User experiences are created in stages over the course of a

products development. UX teams engage end-users to discover
insights; they design and prototype concepts and work them into
detailed solutions; they implement the final product and evaluate
how customer and users respond release after release. Every
product requires its own approach based on local constraints,
but these stages represent a healthy UX process that can bring
exceptional user experiences to life.

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The UX process is fundamentally iterative. Research is

gathered and synthesized into insights; insights seed concepts
that are cyclically transformed into full-fledged products. At
each step, the teams output is validated with users and other
stakeholders, and their feedback is incorporated into the next
iteration of work. This iterative process helps teams continually
improve the quality of what they make and helps them to catch
problems more quickly.

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Market Undercurrents

User Experience Design is a necessary competency

to navigate todays competitive landscape.

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More and more companies, particularly those that

provide significant value through software, differentiate
through and are known by the qualitative details of the
experiences they provide. The push for UX excellence
largely began in the consumer space, and now the
expectations set by electronic devices and mobile apps
are bleeding into industrial and enterprise contexts.
Many exciting developments in IT area
appearing in the hands of consumers first and
only then making their way into other arenas.
Mark Andreesen 1
1 The Economist, The Consumer-industrial Complex
2 Intel, Consumerization: What is in Store for IT? July 2010
3 The Economist, The Power of Many

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At least in the consumer space, UX-focused

companies create exceptional value for
shareholders.
The TeehanLax UX Fund is an investment
portfolio with equal shares in 10 UXfocused companies. It was created with the
belief that companies that deliver great user
experiences will see it reflected in their
stock price.
4 TeehanLax, UX Fund as of 10/24/2011, http://www.teehanlax.com/uxfund/

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Not only have competitors developed

UX competencies visible to the public,
they have decided to monetize them by
providing external consulting services.
Additionally, many are positioning
themselves as thought leaders by using
their brands and resources to push UX
thinking forward.

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Over the last six years, user experiencerelated jobs have increased by as much as
450% in the U.S. as shown by the growth of
job postings mentioning User Experience
on Indeed.com 5

5 Indeed.com, http://www.indeed.com/jobanalytics/jobtrends?q=%22User+Experience%22&l=

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Direct Business Benefits

User Experience activities and investments

result in immediate tangible business benefits.

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In today's consumerized B2B world, superior user

experiences can positively influence business
results in myriad ways. A strong UX practice yields
more desirable, performative and cost-effective
products.

If GE's combined Energy and Technology

Infrastructure revenue in 2010 is $75.4B7,
committing to UX could hypothetically unlock a
$10.8B opportunity, based on a 14.4% increase in
sales.

6 Forrester, Best Practices in User Experience Design (UX)

7 GE, Form 10-K 2010

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A superior user experience can redefine a

product category and change the way users
approach a task. Such experiences, delivered
through attractive, well-engineered products
can become must-haves for an industry.

8 IPC Case Study, frog, Inc.

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Users of well-designed products and services

make purchases more frequently, develop
brand loyalty and help secure steadier
revenue streams.

9 IfrogIndex ROI of Design Presentation, frog, Inc.

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Products that connect with customers on an

emotional level can command a premium in
the marketplace.

9 frogIndex ROI of Design Presentation, frog, Inc.

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The better aligned a product is with user

needs, the better it will accomplish the task
he or she is trying to perform. If wellenough aligned, switching to a competing
experience can be seen as losing
functionality.

6 Forrester, Best Practices in User Experience Design (UX)

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Reductions in task completion times can

add up to massive productivity savings for a
business. In a commerce context, customers
who move easily for information to pointof-purchase will complete sales more often

10 SAP Case Study, frog, Inc.

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Due to tight collaboration between design

and development teams, along with
improved focus on key features,
opportunities for experience optimization
are more readily identified. This can
dramatically enhance task completion times
and customer efficiency.

10 SAP Case Study, frog, Inc.

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UX can reduce avoidable rework of

produced by mitigating some of the most
common factors for why software projects
fail and get requirements right when the
cost of changes is lowest.
UX activities can be thought of as wellness
activities for product development. UX
activities up-front can avoid a lot of costly
surgery on products down the road.

11 IEEE, Why Software Fails

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Even a small reduction in cost could mean big

savings. If R&D Spend in 2012 is 5B2, even a
10% reduction in avoidable rework in this
amount would mean a savings of 250M.
Lets say there are 150 NPI in 2012 12 and you
spend 200K per NPI on UX Activities.
GE is still saving $470M overall.
11 IEEE, Why Software Fails
12 Estimations based on GE Annual Outlook 2010

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On average, 5% of product features are used

95% of the time. UX can prioritize feature
sets to aid in faster time to market and meet
customer expectations.13

13 Strategic Data Systems, UX Business Impacts and ROI

14 GE Money Case Study, frog, Inc.

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Broad GE Benefits

The User Experience Center of Excellence coordinates

the individual UX efforts of product teams to generate
value across businesses.

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Product teams get support and recognition

when they work with the UX Center of
Excellence to contribute to the broader UX
effort at GE.
Drive adoption of repeatable UX
practices within GE through projects.
Increase productivity of UX investments
via knowledge sharing within and across
GE businesses.
Decrease cost per project by leveraging
UX expertise, tools and assets across GE.

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1 The Economist, The Consumer-industrial Complex

2 Intel, Consumerization: What is in Store for IT? July 2010
3 The Economist, The Power of Many
4 TeehanLax, UX Fund as of 10/24/2011, http://www.teehanlax.com/uxfund/
5 Indeed.com, http://www.indeed.com/jobanalytics/jobtrends?q=%22User+Experience%22&l=
6 Forrester, Best Practices in User Experience Design (UX)
7 GE, Form 10-K 2010
8 IPC Case Study, frog, Inc.
9 frogIndex ROI of Design Presentation, frog, Inc.
10 SAP Case Study, frog, Inc.
11 Robert Charette, IEEE, Why Software Fails
12 Estimations based on GE Annual Outlook 2010
13 Strategic Data Systems, UX Business Impacts and ROI
14 GE Money Case Study, frog, Inc.

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