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Digital Disconnect Between User Experience And Business Results: Report

This article is more than 8 years old.

Web and mobile professionals know the value of prompt performance metrics, but over three quarters of them report that their business and performance data is too siloed to provide them with the necessary visibility, according to a survey report released this week by Dimensional Research.

The report, sponsored by application intelligence vendor AppDynamics, surveyed over 400 people involved in web and mobile development for their organizations. Among this group, 88% of the users surveyed want to integrate business and performance data, while 77% say business and performance data are siloed and they don’t have the right tools.

Furthermore, 61% of executives say it is very important to get real-time view of business and performance metrics, yet only one in three track business and performance in real-time.

Given the strategic importance of digital transformation initiatives across midsize and large enterprises today, these results show a surprising lack of visibility into the real-time view of the business so critical for successful digital efforts. “Bridging the gap between application performance, user experience and business metrics is a must have for companies aspiring to win the competition for providing exceptional customer experience,” according to Mike Anand, Director of Product Marketing for AppDynamics Application Analytics.

For many web and mobile professionals, the challenge arises when they try to extend the user experience at the user interface to the end-to-end customer experience – which extends well past the interface on the web page or mobile app, often all the way to underlying systems of record.

As a result, providing a ‘single pane of glass’ to provide digital professionals with this end-to-end business view is the holy grail of today’s performance management marketplace. AppDynamics is but one player in this crowded market, competing against vendors like Dynatrace, New Relic, Rocana, and many others.

Business Impact of Performance Issues Largely a Mystery

Even a few minutes of downtime for a customer-facing mobile app or web site can result in millions of dollars of lost revenue. Slowdowns, bugs, and other issues can cost millions more. And yet, many organizations don’t have a grasp on the business impact of such problems.

According to the Dimensional Research study, 88% of respondents agree that it would be valuable to know the dollar cost of a poor user experience, and yet only 38% actually place a monetary value on such issues.

This disconnect between what respondents believe is important and what they actually measure extends to performance as well. A full 96% say it’s important to get business impact and performance metrics quickly – but only 1 in 3 track business and performance metrics in real-time.

The customer, of course, ends up with the short end of the stick. We as consumers can all attest to the fact that big companies are still struggling to get the customer experience right – and it’s never been easier for today’s customer to switch to a competitor.

End-to-end management of the digital customer experience, therefore, ties directly to business outcomes. “Tying user experience and business metrics through single-pane-of-glass helps executives make smart decisions to influence business outcomes,” Anand says. “It also enables CIOs get in the driver seat to drive digital transformation.”

While digital leaders still struggle to put the pieces together, at least there’s a broad understanding of the need for real-time, end-to-end visibility into the customer experience. Furthermore, there is no shortage of performance management tools on the market. Given the extraordinarily competitive nature of the digital landscape today, it’s only a matter of time until enterprises finally get their digital acts together.

Intellyx advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, AppDynamics, Dynatrace, and Rocana are Intellyx customers. None of the other organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: Highways England.

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