User Experience A guide to competitive strategy in the Experience Economy

Abstract: User Experience is a concept that recently has gained a lot of
interest in the high-tech consumer products industry. While
technology development has converged and is starting to become a
commodity and, as markets mature and loyal customers become
more important, User Experience has emerged as a way to gain a
competitive advantage.
By studying literature, cases and articles, as well as interviewing
key internal stakeholders, our ambition is to answer the following
questions:
• What is User Experience? What defines it and which factors
should be considered in the high-tech consumer products
industry?
• Why is it important to embrace User Experience and use it as a
differentiator?
• How can a company implement a strategy and optimize work
to deliver a quality User Experience?
The study focuses on User Experience as a business strategy and
the general organizational framework to support it. The study
further emphasizes that User Experience consists of elements
concerning availability, desirability, functionality and usability and
is best depicted as a life cycle, described by the different activities
performed by the user.
The thesis shows that User Experience is a key driver to enable
growth through differentiation and gaining new customers, as well
as retaining loyal customers. The study also points out that to
make necessary changes, it is important to communicate the vision,
in order to gain commitment and finally gear action in order to
achieve a great User Experience.
The general conclusion is that the competencies of technology,
design and business must cooperate and be well managed to support
the consumer life cycle and deliver optimal User Experience in
every step. It is also important to make the necessary trade-offs by
focusing on experience instead of technology and on quality and
scope instead of time-to-market.
The study finally argues that a paradigm shift is needed and the
realization of this means completely new ways of doing business.