There are clear signs of recession in every industry. This includes supply chain disruptions, negative consumer views, rising interest rates, high inflation, and more. However, while several companies are cutting back on business expenses, the demand for quality services is still increasing.
In today’s digital age, several companies interact with consumers and other businesses through digital platforms. Convenience, ease of use, and a great user experience (UX) have become a necessity. This means that, despite the economic downturn, it is crucial not to ignore application modernization.
Why Businesses Ignore Application Modernization in a Downturn Economy
With clear signs of a recession on the top of business leaders’ minds, it’s no surprise that organizations are shifting their mindset from growth and investment to cost savings and status quo.
Historically, this means innovation and modernization are put on the back burner, forcing businesses to do more with less and continuing with legacy applications, despite the fact that they offer a bad customer experience and increase security risks.
Why it’s Important Not to Ignore UX Modernization
A total of 5.07 billion people around the world use the internet today – equivalent to 63.5 percent of the world’s total population. In fact, internet users grew by more than 170 million in the past several years.
This shift over the past 10 years means that every company is a digital company. The digital experiences on desktops and smartphones is more important than ever because it’s often the only way consumers will interact with a brand or product. Ease of use and convenience have become essential, and a great user experience (UX) is a must-have rather than a nice-to-have.
As economies tighten and nearly every company competes on their digital experience, thoughtful design is a critical tool for business survival. When it comes to delivering excellent customer service and preventing security risks, it is vital to invest more in UX modernization. Having a good user experience can offer a company more advantages, allowing them to stay afloat.
Regardless of the hard economic times, customers still value excellent experiences. A majority of buyers are actually willing to pay more for a great customer experience. Therefore, to survive in today’s competitive and digital age, you must invest your time and money in having a thoughtful application or software design.
How UX Modernization Can Help Your Business
Companies that focus on offering their clients a good UX design enjoy several benefits. Here are some of these benefits.
Increased Customer Retention
According to a study by the Hartman Group, companies with a strong user experience are more likely to retain customers, with a retention rate of 91% compared to just 33% for companies with a poor user experience.
Though consumers are changing their spending habits, having a great customer experience influences how they perceive value. Consumers will tend to interact more with a brand that offers them value, and they are willing to pay more for it.
Since even one bad experience is enough to drive a customer away, it is crucial for companies to maintain and improve exceptional UX.
Maximized Revenue
Consistent UX design is an efficient and smart way of ensuring your service or product remains a “must-have.” According to a DA Forrester report, companies can get a return of $100 on every $1 they invest in UI/UX modernization.
This is an ROI of 10,000%. Design-driven growth is still huge, especially when it comes to economic return.
Scalability
Cloud-based solutions can help automate and scale what a company needs to gather data and insights without relying heavily on manual work. Companies that invest more in application modernization can gather more vital data for a fraction of their time and money. From research to design and even development stages, Catalyst UX can help you with your application modernization.
Also, as more people rely on the internet, the demand for uninterrupted accessibility is also very high. Therefore, it is important to have a well-performing app or software at all times. If you leverage advanced cloud technology, upgrading your UI/UX design and fixing bugs will be seamless. This means you will be able to meet demands and also optimize costs.
Access to New Technologies
When updating a legacy application, there are a number of new technologies that can be integrated to improve its performance, functionality, and user experience. Some of these technologies include:
- Cloud computing: By migrating your legacy application to the cloud, you can take advantage of the scalability, flexibility, and cost savings offered by cloud-based infrastructure.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML): These technologies can be used to improve the functionality of your application by adding features such as natural language processing, image recognition, and predictive analytics.
- Microservices architecture: This architecture can help to break down your application into smaller, more manageable services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently.
These are just a few. Of course you can also integrate IoT ( Internet of Things) technologies, adopt DevOps practices such as continuous integration, delivery and deployment and more.
Strategic Advantage
With more companies learning about the benefits of UX design, businesses that fail to adopt application modernization into their digital presence are going to lose customers to competitors with more usable and more trustworthy applications.
In fact, a study by the Design Management Institute found that design-led companies outperformed the S&P index by 211% over a 10-year period. And, companies with top-quartile McKinsey Design Index (MDI) scores outperformed industry benchmarks by about two to one. They also increased their revenues and total returns to shareholders (TRS) substantially faster than their industry counterparts did over a five-year period. (Source: McKinsey, article “The Business Value of Design”)
The list of reasons why you need to invest in UX|UI go on. Suffice it to say if you keep your applications up to date and user friendly, your business should have what it needs to prevail.
How to Get Started
If you haven’t thought about application modernization, it is time to do so. To learn more about the legacy system, check out our guide.
You can also schedule a time with one of our experts. We offer a no-cost, 30-minute web meeting for you to see examples of legacy software we have transformed. We will also show you how to apply our approach to your own solution.