商用品牌同样要讲究用户体验

    消费品牌和B2B品牌之间的界限分明的壁垒正在迅速消失，给公司如何计划、研发、设计和营销其产品和服务带来了深远的影响。

    从许多方面来讲，这种演变都无可避免。在我们这个时代，智能手机、平板电脑和各种应用发挥着重要作用，也推高了客户的期望值。无论在家里、在娱乐还是在工作，我们都希望能够使用高速网络，浏览各种信息，拥有直观和易于操控的数码工具。无论是对预定机票的顾客、购买鞋子的顾客，还是对采购喷气发动机和金融服务软件的企业，标准都是一致的：用户体验至高无上。消费者用户和商业用户的概念已经不再有差别，每个人都始终在扮演顾客的角色。这就是为什么如今许多公司都高度重视用户体验，即用户对某品牌产品和服务的全部感受。过去，通常是致力于在短期销售周期内吸引客户的消费品牌才会注重用户体验，如今，用户体验在更广泛的领域获得了重视，以便吸引理性商业客户。

    人们对用户体验设计的期望值已大大提升，无论是在微观层面，还是宏观层面都能看到这一点。我最近有次在登机时，瞥了一眼驾驶舱，发现驾驶员和副驾驶员正在把气象图和其他关键数据下载到平板电脑上。这些数据易于理解和阅读，还可以即时更新。而就在几年前，他们可能还窝在厚厚的手册和文件夹后，膝盖上放着需要时常翻阅的地图。如今之所以出现这么大的变化，原因在于，这些驾驶员已经习惯使用智能手机完成其他各项任务。不论在家观看网飞（Netflix）的视频，还是在飞机上驾驶，他们都想使用同样的程序和同样易于上手的技术。在家时用户体验很好，而在工作时体验很差，这种情况已经不可接受。我们可以把它称作经济中的“消费化”趋势：无论身在哪里，人还是同一个人。因此，一旦涉及到数码体验，大家的期望值是不变的。

    用户体验对新一代的知识型劳动者甚至更重要。他们身处的时代拥有自动更新的智能手机和平板电脑，还有如Zappos和网飞等新型软件，因此他们对过时的界面毫无耐心。这种情况可能会给金融服务公司带来麻烦，比如，他们仍然使用标准、却常常显得笨重的审计软件。这些公司正面临着招募、留住刚毕业的年轻专家的挑战。这些年轻人习惯了先进的界面，相较之下，旧的行业标准则显得有些过时。年轻的注册会计师希望在大学中使用的优秀美观的软件和应用在工作中能同样使用，也希望能够获得类似的体验。

    The clear separation between consumer brands and business-to-business brands is fast disappearing, with profound implications for how companies plan, develop, design, and market their products and services.

    In many ways, this evolution was inevitable. Our smartphone, tablet, and app-enabled age raised customer expectations. Whatever we do at home, at play, or at work, we expect fast connectivity, sparkling content, and intuitive and easy-to-navigate digital tools. The standard is the same for a consumer booking a flight or shopping for shoes, as well as a business buying jet engines or financial services software: The user experience is paramount. The concept of the consumer user as distinct from the business user is gone; everyone is the consumer all the time, which is why diverse companies today place a high value on User Experience (UX), the sum of all interactions with a brand's products and services. Traditionally the domain of consumer brands wooing shoppers on short sales cycles, UX is gaining influence in a wide range of sectors courting rationally minded business buyers.

    The heightened expectations for UX design can be seen in both subtle and striking ways. Recently while boarding a flight I peeked into the cockpit and noticed the pilot and copilot both downloading weather charts and other critical data to their tablets, which are easy to understand and read and can be instantly updated. Just a few years ago they might have been hunched over thick manuals and binders and well-thumbed maps balanced on their laps. It all changed largely because these pilots are accustomed to using their smartphones for a wide variety of other tasks. They demand the same applications and consumer-friendly technologies whether they're watching Netflix (NFLX) at home or flying a jet. It is no longer acceptable to have a good user experience at home and a poor one at work. Call it the "consumerization" of our economy: You are the same person wherever you are, and you have the same expectations when it comes to digital experiences.

    UX is even more important for the emerging generation of young people who are now finding jobs as knowledge workers. They have little patience for outmoded interfaces, as they came of age with self-updating smartphones and tablets, along with paradigm-shifting software like Zappos (AMZN) and Netflix. This can be problematic for financial services companies, for example, that still use the standard and often cumbersome auditing software. These companies face the challenge of recruiting and keeping young professionals right out of school who are used to current interfaces that make older industry standards seem antiquated. Young CPAs expect that the elegant software applications they used in college will be at their work desks too, and that the experience will be similar.