Every enterprise has a need for a highly-functioning, speedy app that can serve certain missions. It may be quite clear how to build this type of app. But it can be less explicit how to design one. There are a lot of misconceptions and uncertainties around the UX design for enterprise applications which makes the situation more complicated. But don’t worry, there’s a light at the end of the hallway. In today’s article, we’re going to make sense of enterprise app design and explore the main parts of it you should know.
Inside of enterprise applications: a deeper level of architectural consideration
As you might already guess, enterprise apps are more complex than regular ones. They are created especially for the enterprise’s missions. They have a deeper level of architectural consideration and are built to be rapid, resistible for huge data flow, and should meet the security requirements. Moreover, you should consider that enterprise apps require a deeper audit level to track data for business analysis reports.
All these aspects are important to consider when creating a design for the enterprise applications as you should fill all of them. You need to make sure that the interface and navigation of your app make the work process quick. Moreover, it needs to be reliable and work every time. Any delays in workflow or inconveniences can mean that your app is unsuccessful and needs to be replaced. Therefore, you need to understand well organization’s structure and the end-user. This is what we’ll be talking about next.
Understanding organizational structure and end-user
The system of the organization, its culture, and employees are crucial when it comes to building your enterprise app design. So, you should take a closer look at those aspects. You should do research on the whole system and the functionality your app should have. As we mentioned before, companies usually have specialized functions, tasks, and responsibilities, which are mirrored in their work process. The enterprise applications must recreate this process. Sometimes with the increasing number of functions, the app structure can become messy and difficult to navigate through. This is the moment to consider and find a consensus with the client.
Obviously, you should follow industry best practices, but most importantly think about the end-user. When creating an enterprise application, it can be difficult to understand exactly the end-user you’re designing it for. For this reason, it’s logical to do research on the company’s employees, their typical workflow and understand how to design your app to assist in their work and not to get in the way. So, understanding your enterprise app’s end-users is as crucial as the awareness of the importance of UX for your app. This leads us to the next point.
UX for enterprise applications matters
The designer can be misguided by the concept of an app specifically made for enterprises and omit the usability as unnecessary. But that’s of course a misconception as usability matters in any case. Because when usability is left behind, the user can get lost and don’t understand how to complete even the simplest tasks. The users of this kind of apps are already preoccupied with so many things and don’t have time to make mistakes, especially when their professional life is at stake. So, you can already feel the weight of UX here.
Moreover, your UX vision here should be coherent. Meaning that it should be clear and consistent. And therefore, you need to leave all the non-essential functions behind. Everything should be in order and user-friendly. For this reason, considering that this may be an unknown ground for you, it’s better to develop a clear UX vision for your project even before starting it to not get lost and keep the usability in check.
UI features to consider
Okay, so after we explored the UX of enterprise applications, it’s time to take a look at its interface. There are plenty of things that can help you boost the overall user experience of your app and make the life of its user easier. Of course, you need to consider the professional environment of the user, and the key that lies there is efficiency. Everything should be in order and accessible. So, here is some user interface features to consider.
- Message-sharing system and notifications. Communication is essential for an efficient work process. Therefore, you need to enable an internal message-sharing system in your app. This is also crucial for employees to receive feedback for their work and understand what should be done. At the same time, notifications like Error, Information, and Success are a necessity.
- Shortcuts. These are a useful part of navigation. They help to find a certain piece of content quicker. Basically, the user can get to the information they need without any additional and irrelevant steps. This is very useful to get work done quickly.
- Action menu. This one serves as a very useful tool. It should be always accessible and easily findable. But essentially, it helps the user to find functions effortlessly and is great to have in your app.
- Data table. This feature helps to gather and sort data in a way that makes sense. As we mentioned before, data analysis is essential for an enterprise application as it helps to understand how the company is doing and assess its profit. Therefore, adding a data table sometimes is a must.
Designing enterprise applications for the end-users
To sum up, an enterprise application can be tricky if you don’t consider essential things beforehand. And these things are understanding the end-user and not neglecting UX. Because the more users are happy with your app and the higher its usability, the more productive they’ll be. Simple as that: everyone benefits.