Innovative UX Design: Putting Users Front and Center to Create One Experience

Everyday, thousands of people apply SAP software in their routine business activities. Whether they use our solutions to plan financials, coordinate logistics, deal with human resources, or manage other business operations, these individuals are who we design our software for. We refer to them as users. What this generic term does not directly recognize is that every user is a human being who interacts with our software and who is driven by individual abilities, assumptions, and objectives. We strive to put those human beings at the center of everything we do and design technology that enables them to get their job done easily while having a delightful experience.

Balancing needs and creating one experience

So, what makes a good user experience (UX) design? Finding the right balance between different goals is key. These include feasibility, viability, and desirability: We need to consider what is technically feasible while balancing out business requirements and user needs. Legal aspects such as privacy and accessibility laws bring another set of demands into play.

Beyond these principles, we want to create one experience across lines of business, tasks, and devices. That is why SAP Fiori 3 focuses on delivering an integrated, consistent, and intelligent UX across the entire SAP product portfolio. This does not mean, however, that users must conform to one uniform way of working. On the contrary, flexibility is vital to make technology work for users in different situations, contexts of use, and on different devices. One size does not fit all when it comes to UX design. For this reason, we equally embrace data-heavy desktop designs and lightweight mobile designs.

Mobile-first but not mobile-only: Complex tasks require content-rich designs

Mobile-first is a widespread assumption in UX design. While minimalistic mobile-focused designs are a great fit for certain use cases, they certainly do not always meet the user needs. What matters is that the select environment fits the context of use, and we support desktop focused designs when needed. Among other topics, we are currently working on desktop-focused, content-rich designs for experts in particularly specialized fields, such as Supply Flow Analysts, who need a large amount of information available to do their job efficiently. Highly configurable applications support them with visual data representations. All information and data points required for fulfilling their tasks are available right at their fingertips without the need to navigate to other apps.

The power of mobile: Persona-driven mobile app development

At the same time, we are aware of the power of mobile. According to Gartner, by 2022, 70 percent of software interactions in enterprises will occur on mobile devices. We will focus our efforts to provide a proper persona-driven mobile app development that will balance our existing and future app portfolio. A modern mobile user experience similar to the consumer experience is expected from all our customers. Based on their role, users will access a tailored native or web-responsive business applications portfolio, data, and information right from the palm of their hand. In critical business situations, we will enable them to react instantly, based on real-time insights, and from anywhere, allowing for increased work flexibility.

SAP Future Office: User experience beyond the screen

To bring user experience to the next level, the SAP Future Office is exploring how users can interact with our software beyond the screen. By integrating augmented reality (AR) into SAP Ariba and SAP Concur, they are creating an immersive experience with SAP’s intelligent spend systems. Eye-tracking gestures and voice commands allow consumers to view a 3D real-size simulation of products in their own work environment before making an order. 3D simulations can provide logistics managers with a detailed preview of their planned packing process, helping them in the overall transportation management. When planning travel, business travelers can interact with virtual hotel maps that include essential booking data, like location, availability, and pricing. Virtual room tours help them to select the accommodation that best suits their needs.

AR is also a powerful tool to bring together individuals who collaborate remotely. The SAP Future Office is currently exploring how to enhance virtual meetings by integrating holographic representations of participants – a technology that has never been more relevant than in times of social distancing. 

SAP hires new Chief Design Officer

To further accelerate innovations in the area of design, SAP has reintroduced the role of the Chief Design Officer: Benedikt Lehnert has just joined SAP in January. In his previous role as Director of Product Design for Microsoft’s Fluent, Office, Fluid and M365 Experiences, Benedikt was crucial in leading the evolution of Microsoft’s design language and system. He brings the experience and skills needed to intensify SAP’s focus on consumer needs in the design of our software applications across all our products.

Altogether, the current developments in user experience at SAP share one common vision: a consistent user experience across the solution portfolio for the Intelligent Enterprise putting the user front and center. I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come!