In the gung ho industry environment, business and companies continue to use and experiment with various marketing strategies including digital technologies and other methods to woo its customers. However, these enterprises often pay less attention on the user experience (UX) and usability, which remains key parts in business success.

Jerome Nadel, chief experience officer (CEO) and executive managing director (EMD) of Human Factors International, on his India visit had an interesting discussion with Pankaj Maru of CyberMedia News about digital UX strategy, explosion of digitization, use of technology, doing business with better UX, product usability and much more. Excerpts:

Could you please elaborate the concept of digital strategy and user experience? How important are these in making the business successful?

Let me begin with user experience, as this is a foundation for digital user experience strategy. User experience (or UX) is the overarching experience, emotional and physical, a person has as a result of their interactions with a product or service; it is the ultimate determinate of success.

A digital UX strategy is an organization's evidence-driven vision of their product or service optimized to meet their target market expectations, today and in the future.

What is the need and role of digital strategy in IT business?

Digital UX strategy is most critical in information technology, both internally within organizations and for service providers. The way we view technology solutions must embrace the importance of effective user experience and have processes to capture requirements and translate them into market accepted solutions.

In the era of digitization, one concept that you advocate is "surviving in the digital world". Could you please give a brief idea as to what this 'survival strategy' is and how you relate it with user experience?

I suggest that we are living in "exponential times". The rate of technology advance is only outpaced by the social change it brings. User behaviors and expectations continue to change at remarkable rate.

Organizations that do not acknowledge and act on this in their business models, market offerings, and general positioning will not survive; those who do will thrive.

What are the new trends in the digital strategy and user experience?

Web 2.0 means that everyone is a contributor and users are more empowered than ever before – as information seekers, consumers, and employees. Also, profiling and serving connected and relevant actions and offers brings new opportunity to enhance customer intimacy and value.

In your view, how IT and convergence can become powerful tool for businesses and help to raise ROI?

As ROI is typically measured in increased sales and market share with optimized cost, digital UX strategy establishes the framework to address both. Consumers embrace brands that deliver on value and expectation. Optimizing digital improves both sales and cost, something any C-level executive desires.

In today's competitive business, what kind of digital strategy and technologies you recommended that enterprises should have to strengthen its businesses?

 The key is to start by aligning business objectives, measuring the effectiveness of existing technologies and end-user channels and then align to build holistic systems and interfaces that better serve customers. This also inherently improves internal efficiencies as infrastructure and systems are better standardized.

What are the factors that influence digital strategy? And what are the means to overcome its effects on the business?

Successful strategies are executed. HFI's approach to digital UX strategy delivers a concrete, visual, and experiential demonstration of optimized technology solutions in context of usage scenarios for targeted market segments. This is the aspiration state that executives point to, with action plan and resource.

How much the concept of digital strategy and user experience have got acceptance in the business world? Do you think Indian enterprises and businesses, in particular IT industry, is giving important to this concept?

This is the new model for formulating and/or enhancing business strategy. To the extent that an organization has anything digital in how it serves its market, focusing on user experience and formalizing a plan to connect it to the overall business strategy is fundamental.

HFI is working with both leading Indian enterprises and those aspiring to be, as a demonstration of their view of this mandate.