Customer-centric supply chain networks that focus on the end customer have become integral for organisations who want to create satisfactory user experiences. And one very important way of doing this is through a solid UX strategy.
Like we know by now, User Experience Design or UX design is all about how a user interacts with and experiences a digital product or service. Whereas UI or User Interface Design focuses on the look and feel of the product or the service or in other words the aesthetics of it.
For supply chain design, both UX and UI are equally important to create an intuitive and user-friendly platform that everyone involved in the supply chain ecosystem can use - from manufacturers to logistics providers to retailers.
UX and UI work hand in hand to create customer experiences that delight and satisfy your end customers.
Let’s understand in more detail the role that UX UI plays in supply chain design.
1. Seamless User Journeys
A well-designed UX UI in supply chain design can create a seamless user journey by making even complex and difficult processes easy to understand and follow. This is especially important for supply chain platforms where there are multiple stakeholders involved such as manufacturers, logistics providers, retailers and finally the end consumers. There is a need to quickly exchange and process data. A user-friendly interface and platform reduces the need for intensive training and allows users to quickly understand how the platform works.
UX UI designers will need to pay attention to the overall layout of the platform and ensure that it is visually appealing, with easy navigation. Clearly labelling can help users understand what each function does.
Constantly take user feedback to make iterations and improve your UX design.
2. Improves Efficiency
UI design plays an essential role in improving efficiency by helping users complete tasks more quickly and easily. Because supply chain platforms deal with large amounts of data, this is even more crucial.
Designers can focus on improving efficiency by designing clear and concise menus that are easy to navigate, by using icons and visuals to help users identify functions more quickly. And finally designing the platform’s UI keeping user input in mind.
Increased efficiency has several benefits such as improved decision making, reducing the possibility of errors, and faster turnaround time and improved productivity.
3. Enhancing Collaboration
UX UI in supply chain design plays a very important role in enhancing collaboration between multiple users by giving them a common platform by which they can communicate. This common platform becomes even more important because a supply chain involves many different moving parts. Therefore it is essential to keep communication at the centre of the design process.
How can UX UI designers do this?
- Design a platform that makes easy communication between users possible
- Make use of different features such as chatbots and messages that allow for real time communication
- Allow users to share files and other kinds of data easily
Collaboration has several advantages, you will see an increase in team productivity, efficient communication, increased transparency and accountability and improved decision making.
4. Build a Scalable Platform
A growing business requires a scalable supply chain platform. This is where UX UI plays a huge role by ensuring that your platform can meet the demands of a growing business by putting the correct foundational elements in place. Having a design system in place from day one can help you quickly and easily add new features and functionality as the business expands.
To achieve this, your platform will need to be designed with scalability in mind right from the start.
Some other ways by which you can do this;
- Use modular design principles to allow for easy expansion and customisation.
- Create a design system that is modular and scalable.
- Use reusable components to help you quickly create new pages and screens.
5. Does Your Platform Meet the Needs of Different Users?
A successful supply chain platform needs to be able to meet the needs of different types of users that each have their own unique requirements. UX UI design is again at the forefront here, as it can seamlessly help create an intuitive and accessible platform for all types of users.
It can achieve this by using different design patterns to meet the needs of different types of users, using clear and concise labels and instructions to help users understand how to use the platform and using different colours and icons to help users quickly identify the information they need.
Conclusion
UX UI design is going to play an increasingly important role in supply chain platform design. By making use of data and bringing creativity and data together, designers can improve decision making and optimise business processes.
The need for user-friendly interfaces has become more and more apparent. Taking the time to be familiar with data analytics tools and the major trends to stay ahead of the curve.