Reflections - Cognizant

■ Modern technologies, such as Adobe Mosaic, Java FX and Microsoft Silverlight. Thesetechnologies already support these new paradigms, combining frameworks, developer tools andrun-time environments to make designing, developing and deploying rich and easy.■ Business-IT SDLC (software development lifecycle). With the technological advancesmentioned in the previous bullets, it is now possible for business users to design and develop theirown applications. The business person chooses from a series of widgets and assembles theapplications he needs for the situation at hand. (“Situational” or “mashup” applications are anothername for this.) The software development lifecycle is shifting to allow business users to take thedriver’s seat. In this new paradigm, business process analysis is tightly integrated with UI design.UIDLC will enable a process-centricapproach to defining user requirements andintegrate user experience considerationsthroughout the development lifecycle.The Road to User EmpowermentGiven the decades-old legacy environments that need to be dealt with, transforming the UI is not going to beeasy for many institutions. Some short-term wins may be gained by deploying portal technologies that canprovide easier access to the legacy applications. However, to truly transform the user experience, financialinstitutions need to follow a top-down user experience transformation approach (see Figure 5).The key points in this approach are:1. Clearly defined user experience metrics across branding, usability, content and functionality.2. Incorporation of next-generation (fourth or fifth) elements in the UI design, especially aroundinformation architecture and content.3. Selection of a technology stack that meets enterprise architecture guidelines. The prototypeshould be used to benchmark target state metrics.User Experience Transformation MethodologyBuildEnvisionDesignPrototypePlanDeployEnvisionDesignPrototypeTransformMonitor■ Imagine newinteraction platform■ Define targetuser experiencemetrics■ Fourth or 5thgeneration userinterface■ Process-centric androle-based■ Select technologystack■ Benchmark prototype■ Transform by businessprocess clusterFigure 5http://cognizant.com REFLECTIONS 22