INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cloud
Application delivery linked to
user experience in Africa
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Ian Jansen van Rensburg, Lead
Technologist at VMware Sub-
Saharan Africa, looks at how
an app not only has to be easy
to use, but how it also needs to
be fit for purpose. Applications
need to promote collaboration
and efficiency, he says.
Even though user experience (UX)
is hardly a new concept, attention
has recently shifted to delivering
solutions more closely aligned to customer
expectations than ever. This has resulted
in an environment where UX becomes
fundamental to successful application
delivery. But today, this means more
than just having a mechanism in place to
deliver application functionality quickly
and efficiently to users. In the digital world,
application delivery can refer to a pool of
services that combine to provide application
functionality from the data centres or cloud
environments to end-users via the Internet.
Experiential applications
And this is where UX comes into the
equation. Not limited to only the usability
of an app, it refers to aspects such as
whether the software is useful, credible,
accessible and valuable. Given the wealth
of competitive offerings available in the
market, an application with a low UX ranking
will easily be replaced with something more
fit for purpose.
Adding impetus to embracing a UX-friendly
environment is the migration towards
more integrated applications that promote
collaboration and efficiency. These are
essential to better help an organisation
deliver on its strategic mandate.
Ian Jansen van Rensburg, Lead Technologist
at VMware Sub-Saharan Africa
With more organisations considering a
hybrid cloud model, UX is becoming central
to cultivating an interoperable environment
where applications can ‘talk’ to different
cloud providers and deliver a seamless
experience to the end-user. After all, unlike
the bits and bytes approach of the past,
most decision-makers do not care how
technology works. As long as things get done
and provide value to the organisation then
that is considered good enough.
Customisation prevails
Part of this can be attributed to how users
expect their service providers to offer
them customised solutions based on the
information they have on them. The theory
is that people are willing to sacrifice a degree
of privacy to get rewarded with more pricesensitive
and tailored offerings meeting
their requirements. To do this, requires the
application delivery stack to correlate data
and convert that into actionable insights.
This empowers decision-makers to more
quickly guide business strategy to reflect
current market demands. Inhibiting this is a
lack of UX resources at companies. Whether
that is a dedicated (and skilled) professional
or developers with a background in UX,
companies must examine how they approach
the entire application delivery process.
External assistance
Of course, there is an alternative available to
them. This sees them partnering with trusted
service providers who understand their
business. In turn, these experts can provide
the applications and tools required to deliver
the most value and best UX catering for
both internal and external needs. Given how
companies are under pressure to continually
embrace innovative technology, a UX-led
approach to application delivery can help
in assessing whether new solutions are
relevant, usable and desirable.
Sometimes an external partner can provide
the level of oversight needed to accurately
measure the interoperability of applications
especially when migrating to a cloud
environment. These partners do not typically
have the same preconceptions that internal
users have around what applications should
be capable of doing. By receiving a more
candid audit, an organisation can start
taking the steps necessary for a more UXfriendly
environment. And judging by how
integrated technology will become into all
aspects of the business environment in the
future, this becomes a vital differentiator. •
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