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Simplicity is a valuable commodity. People crave it in every aspect of their lives, but it’s too often an afterthought when it comes to complex technology solutions. But in the context of cybersecurity, such as identity and access management (IAM) solutions, simplicity is equally important, as friction and complexity negatively impact users’ digital experiences.when 61% of consumers agree Customers will switch to competitors with easier experiences. Prioritizing simplicity is critical for businesses to earn customer trust and loyalty over the long term.
Why Simplicity Matters
When Apple first introduced the iPhone in 2007, the iPhone didn’t have copy and paste functionality. BlackBerry provided it, but Apple decided it didn’t need it and shipped the phone anyway, selling millions of devices. This was a simple device that customers could use. Limiting functionality was not an easy decision for the team, but it showed how “simplicity” wins customers.
Simplicity is important for many reasons. When users can easily understand how a product works, it becomes more accessible, facilitates daily use, and drives overall adoption. This is especially important for technology. In technology, complex products can be difficult to understand or frustrating to use, leading to total avoidance.
When it comes to simplicity, less is often better. Instead of trying to cram as many features into your product as possible, focus on the core features your users actually need. This makes the product easier to use and maintain, and reduces the risk of vulnerabilities. Every new feature adds additional security, testing, and maintenance overhead, so it’s important to make sure it’s all impactful.
Resist the urge to add more features just because your competitors have them. When a competitor releases a new feature, it is very difficult to understand whether the new feature is widely used or whether he is responding to one customer’s request. Do not participate in this feature battle. Instead, focus on making sure your product has the features that meet the needs of your key customers. As you expand beyond your current focus customers, do so with intent. This allows us to focus on features and avoid “spray and play” feature development.
RELATED: Why Simplicity Should Be Your Strategy (And 3 Ways To Get There)
Make Simplicity a Core Value
If you decide to make simplicity a core business value, you need to encourage your entire team to focus on that approach. Here are some tips for building simplicity into your product development process.
- cross pollination — Product managers need to spend more time with each team than just engineers. They need to work with designers, user experience teams, user research teams, as well as customers and customer facing teams. Commercial product managers should plan to spend more time with these teams than engineering. Before moving on to the technical side, we need to think about business issues and experiences. User experience should be your top priority when building your product. This means thinking about how users will interact with your product and designing it in an intuitive and easy-to-use way.
- Create an initiative outline — A new initiative needs an initial outline. Once this is done, create a “back of the box” description. This is what fits on one slide of her presentation. Think of it like a board game box. It says what’s in the box, a short description of the game, and who will enjoy it. The same applies to products. This includes what problem it solves, who cares about it, its value, and whether customers will pay for it. Within the Who Cares category, drill down further into your ideal customer profile, type of user, impacted customer his journey, and more. This planning process puts the customer experience at the forefront before you start deep conversations about technology. This simplifies the process of determining what the final product will look like upon delivery. This approach ensures that the technology works for your solution. Not vice versa.
- Roadmap report — A third tip for simplicity is to report the status of your roadmap internally. Rather than simply using a feature roadmap with red or blue lights to indicate status, start with the different people affected and how the new feature will impact them and their business. increase. This helps turn the conversation from one conversation to the next. what features are built how Customers are being helped in ways that change their lives.
- regular team presentations – Encourage product teams to put simplicity first. Find a forum for product teams to embrace and demonstrate simplicity in their products and processes. By asking each product her manager to present what they are simplifying, the whole team can exchange ideas and keep simplicity at the forefront.
- Simplicity as a continuous activity – Simplicity can have a huge impact on the success of any product. By keeping things simple and focusing on user experience, organizations can improve deployments, reduce costs, and increase security. Simplicity is especially important when it comes to identity and access management solutions to improve customer engagement and reduce the risk of vulnerabilities.
But remember, simplification is not a short-term project or six-month activity. It’s a continuous way of thinking. It must be integrated into every activity an organization undertakes.
RELATED: 5 Ways to Drive Simplicity and Increase Efficiency
