Why is human experience so important to consider upfront in IT strategy and roadmap development? Why should a disconnected customer journey or an employee toggling between multiple interfaces influence the design of a long-term strategic plan?

Because businesses are made up of people, for people and business outcomes are intertwined with human outcomes. Without empathy for those who will ultimately affect or be effected by the strategy, the definition of roadmap initiatives and how they are executed, may miss critical factors for success.

At CharterX we connect the human experience with a technology strategy – using experience architecture – the intersection of human-centered thinking, business, information and technology architecture.

Experience architecture (XA) combines the empathetic and innovative qualities of human-centred thinking, with the traditionally structured disciplines of business, information and technology architecture

Taking a human-centered approach places human experience at the core of the process and employs techniques such as design thinking which emphasises empathy for the people involved to understand the real need or problem and co-create innovative solutions.

Enterprise architecture, broadly encompassing business architecture, information architecture and technology architecture. provides a structured framework for defining the digital and technology capabilities needed to enable the business vision and goals.

The intersection of these combined perspectives creates alignment between why the change is needed (customer and employee experience vision), what the business wants to achieve (strategy and goals) and how and when it will be enabled (initiatives and roadmap). All these elements must come together with meaningful consideration of the business, environmental and human context.

This is where the true value lies – the creation of an IT strategy from a perspective that is not just technically driven but enriched with a human lens.

In practical terms, we often hear from organisations where there is a disconnect between their customer facing services and their back-end business operations. They are often constrained by legacy and overly complex technology systems. This is where we apply our experience architecture framework to develop a blueprint that not only maps front-end and back-end business capabilities to create a seamless and consistent experience, but also defined the enterprise architecture required to enable it.

Depending on the specific objectives of the engagement, we can help clients delve into a more detailed understanding of the people, process, information or technology elements of key business value streams and how these interact to deliver the desired customer or employee experiences and business outcomes.

Too often we see projects that are led by functional, technical or compliance requirements, where experience was an afterthought. By starting with a strong focus on the human experience, organisations can be more confident in realising the benefits of their change agenda.

At CharterX, we place human empathy at the core of our work in business and technology advisory services.

If you would like to chart a way forward enabled by an experience-focused architecture, contact us at info@charterx.com.au