Software is often maligned for poor design or unhelpful interfaces, but this may all be about to change, if a design philosophy from software firm Infor delivers.
At its Inforum event in New Orleans this week, the company laid out how it is creating "next generation user experiences", through interactions "that customers will love."
Infor is on a mission to improve the look and feel of enterprise software, with its new Infor Xi platform, announced at Inforum, offering an updated responsive and "mobile-first design" supported by machine learning and big data analytics.
A lot of this is down to the company’s in-house creative agency, Hook & Loop. Formed in 2012 and based out of Infor’s New York headquarters, Hook & Loop provides a way for the company to offer attractive design for its customers.
Growing from an initial staff of 12, a team of over 100 now works at creating next-generation user experiences, headed up by former Google storyteller Marc Scibelli and enjoying a healthy $11m budget in 2014, showing the support it gets from Infor’s executives.
During Infor Xi’s unveiling, Scibelli described how the new product was designed to make using software "meaningful" (as in it has personal significance) and "pleasurable" (it provides a memorable experience worth sharing) – as well as being convenient, usable, reliable and functional.
To emphasise its dedication to making software more enjoyable, Infor is also pioneering a project called "Clear Work", which aims to take common business processes and make them clearer – in theory simplifying many everyday work tasks.
Redesigning software is therefore a key way to allow customers a clearer focus, with functions such as supply chain management and HR management two examples of systems benefitting from more intuitive design.
And this extends to mobile platforms too, Scibelli emphasised, showing that the "mobile first" design standpoint is undoubtedly how the market will progress. Infor was able to demonstrate a range of responsive solutions across mobile platforms and device-specific apps, most notably through its SoHo Glide design, which allows simplified and personalised interfaces for users to effectively interact with an app.
Infor’s move towards such design, coupled with the work of Hook & Loop, marks the first parts of progress towards making an "instinctual" natural user interface. The apps of today are becoming more advanced and interactive as companies like Infor continue to push the boundaries of design and usability, marking a crucial advancement in our experiences with mobile technology.
