UX Design: How to Use it to Pivot from Software to SaaS

The pandemic had many companies take a deep breath and evaluate where they’re going and how they’re planning to get there. In the word of technology, transforming existing software into a SaaS product was seen by many as an opportunity to pivot.  

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If you’re pivoting due to business demand, you may find that your software is already very valuable in itself even if the user experience needs updating. Good UX design is a crucial selling point in SaaS, so it can definitely give you an edge over competitors.

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Good UX designers know that UX design is about making complex things easy to use by improving how we interact with them. 

Why is UX Design important in SaaS?

• 90% of people have stopped using an application because of poor user experience caused by bad user interface.
• Companies that invest in UX design see a lower cost of customer acquisition, lower support cost, increased customer retention and increased market share, according to a study by Forrester.
• Forester Research shows that, on average, every dollar invested in user experience brings 100 dollars in return.  
• AirBnB’s Mike Gebbia credits user centered design with taking the company to its first $10 billion.
• The top companies in Customer Experience (which UX design falls under) outperformed the broader market, generating a total return that was 108 points higher than the S&P 500 Index.  
• Software developers spend 50% of their time reworking projects because of poor user experience.  

Time to Pivot for SCQuARE

SCQuARE International deliver unique training programmes and strategy workshops and have clients such as PepsiCo and General Mills. Business had been going great until the pandemic hit, and the company had to evaluate their strategy. The company’s iSCQuARE platform was seen as having huge potential in a world that was working remotely.

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The platform was not ready to pivot in its old form, it needed improvements so it could become the star product for SCQuARE.

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Once SCQuARE had recognised the business demand to pivot into SaaS, they approached Synetec for a UX design refresh. The SaaS version of iSCQuARE needed to be intuitive to use and had to have customisable features for big brands who wanted to apply their own branding to the platform. iSCQuARE needed to fill the user’s needs. If it could fill ones they didn’t know they had – that would be a value add that would give iSCQuARE a competitive edge.

The Results

"Thanks to Synetec, our application is almost unrecognisable; it’s contemporary, responsive and highly intuitive. The UX refresh helped us pivot during a difficult 2020; it has driven exceptional business growth and given us the confidence to move into new markets.” Paul Wilkinson, CEO, SCQuARE    

The iSCQuARE platform is now the star SaaS product that has enabled business growth despite the pandemic. From the end user’s experience, the functionality of the platform has improved significantly. A more reactive interface drives customer retention as it’s now easier to use and keeps end users engaged, reducing churn.

Read more about how the process of going from software to SaaS worked.

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