Interview with Greg Jones and Amy Hillman – User Experience Architects at Fiserv
I’ve always believed that you can learn a lot from the quotes that are chosen by organization leaders, to reflect their market beliefs. David Breuer, senior vice president and chief information officer of Credit Union ONE, did just that.
He referred to the open architecture and robust functionality of Fiserv’s DNA as, “one that will enable Credit Union ONE to fulfill their member value proposition by providing highly customized products and services through the real-time channels they demand — anytime, anywhere.”
We seem to live in a time where customers require new and exciting solutions, yet lack the patience or attention span to learn how to use them. That thought lead me to Greg Jones and Amy Hillman, two stand-out User Experience experts at Fiserv. They shed some light on the topic, and on the role of UX in today’s enterprise world.
Greg and Amy were both kind enough to take some time out for a brief interview; and here it is:
Q. Do you at Fiserv see that trend, and how do you enable your customers to provide User Experiences that meet that ADHD customer?
Our UX team does see this trend but thinks about it a bit differently than the financial services industry as a whole. When the industry references “new and exciting solutions” they tend to mean shiny new technologies and the addition of more features. But we know from our research that people are actually looking for a finite set of features that are presented in a clean, simple, and usable way.
Product feature wars do not result in meaningful solutions. We need to understand and maintain the core features in an experience that is elegant and based on a deep understanding of user goals. While it’s true that many people have short attention spans they don’t want to “learn” new things, they just want to “do” certain things. Our job is to first understand what those tasks and goals are, and then to deliver an experience that gets everything else out of their way.
Q. What are your top 2 recommendations for making the first visit to an online service a success?The best way to ensure the success of a product or service is to invest in understanding who will be using it, why they will be using it, and what they want to accomplish. It is critical to do good research that establishes a deep understanding of your users and provides a compelling reason to engage the service.
Q. Which business sectors do you think face the most difficulties in their user experience and why do you think that is the case?
Healthcare and financial services face significant challenges when it comes to delivering great user experiences. Both are heavily regulated and have dense, arcane infrastructures that can be a real impediment to the integration of new technologies. Both industries are also deeply rooted in conservative processes and approaches given that they deal with the complex and very personal issues of money and health.
Q. What practices do you engage in, so that you are on top of your game in your field?
The most important thing we can do is to get outside the corporate bubble, so we try to leave the office and experience real-life beyond the conference room walls as much as possible. We also learn by attending conferences, reading, conducting contextual research, and staying steeped in the digital– both in our industry and outside of it. Collaboration is another fundamental of our continued growth. We are continuously learning from those around us, whether they are stakeholders, partners, research subjects, or each other.
Q. Finally – Who is one of your role models that got you into the field of UX?A. Alan Cooper is one of the most influential leaders in user experience, particularly for his “Goal-Directed Process” approach to interaction design. We base much of our own methodology used today on these same principles.
Greg and Amy’s mention of Alan Cooper reminded me of Cooper’s book ” The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity,” the perfect note to end this interview. If you have thoughts or questions for Greg, Amy or for me, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comment section below.