
đź‘‹ Oi, mga repapips, Brian Dys here! I love music, photography, and creative stuff like UX design and art. This is a place where I collect my thoughts and works. Apart all these, I’m Jaycelle’s better half and Bryce’s dad. 🥰
Recently, we had an event in Avaloq called Open Mic Session. It was a small event for Avaloq Manila (Philippines) and Pune (India), along with the executive board. It had two topic categories which was voted for by employees. The first category was official company business and the second one were topics submitted by anyone who wished to share anything — a hobby, an advocacy, project accomplishments, or anything under the sun, really.
One of the three employee topics that was voted in was mine. It was all about my learnings and realizations in the ten months that I’ve been with Avaloq. It was timely to sit down and introspect how I’ve been in these past months — from being torn about transitioning into a different organization during the pandemic to being fulfilled that I’ve struck while the iron is hot. It was equally timely to share it with my colleagues, as well.
Here’s a transcript of my presentation:
Hello to my colleagues in Manila, Philippines (esp. to the UX design team), Pune, India, and Zurich Switzerland. And of course, to others who are in different locations. Thank you to all those who voted for my topic.
My name is Dys. I’m with Johann in the design team. I do UX design for web and mobile banking, as well as managing the design team here in Manila.
I joined Avaloq in May last year. So, I’m fairly new. In the 10 months that I’ve been here, there are many things that help me adapt in this new environment. Let me have the honor of sharing with you 10 things that I’ve learned & continuously realizing while working in Avaloq.
Around March last year, I made a leap of faith when I accepted Avaloq’s offer. It was at the start of lockdowns and the pandemic, after all. Apart from being scared, I was excited because every aspect was a step up from my previous career. Fast forward to now, the level up experience is true — there are many new things that I face and these challenges keep me learning & growing.
Avaloq’s response to the pandemic gives me confidence that despite being in this challenging times, we are in a stable and growing organization.
With a level of autonomy, we take ownership of our work. We are empowered to contribute and influence the direction of projects.
We have tools and processes in place that create a safe environment for us to listen and to be heard. We have an engaging feedback platform and my managers are open to listening and coaching.
When I joined Avaloq, the team were there to help me onboard quickly. Until now, whenever I would need help from them, they are engaged and supportive.
Meetings, virtual or otherwise, are our opportunities to contribute to plans and our voices to be heard. And also bilas (or bilaterals) — it really helps in alignments and being on the same page with people.
Rarely that we, alone, got it all figured out. That’s why when we work together, we gain different perspectives of the same thing. And that makes solving problems faster.
Whatever happens, it’s our perspective that we have control of. As long as we learn from experiences, it’s all good.
A little help from my teammate, my manager who’s coaching me. Acknowledgement of these things helps me pay it forward to others as well.
And for the most important thing…
That’s what my manager actually said during my 1st week at Avaloq.
Especially during these challenging times, looking at the brighter side of things surely helps.
Thank you everyone! Stay safe and healthy.
The presentation was only 5 minutes long and I had fun sharing it from this side of the world. If any, it was a message of inspiration to make good sense of different situations that we maybe in.
In 2 months, I’ll be celebrating my first year with Avaloq and it’s a new chapter for me. I’ll find out what’s next!
This year is brighter at Avaloq as we’re growing within UX design team and others as well.
See if there is a good fit?
On September 8, we at Voyager hosted the general assembly of First Pacific Chief Information Officers Council and simultaneously held a digital transformation learning sessions with them.
I had the opportunity to share with the council about Organic Growth Through Best-in-class UX.
It was the same idea that I shared with IdeaSpace Startups last July 26.
Soon I’ll be sharing the UX improvement ideas here in my blog.
I had the privilege of sharing about Organic Growth and UX with the IdeaSpace 2017 startups. This was a meetup event by Voyager DX (digital transformation).
First of all, congratulations to all of you, IdeaSpace startups in being part of this very helpful and enabling organization.
I am also thankful to be part of IdeaSpace 2016 as the designer for Aboo (an audiobook platform).
Let me introduce myself.
Let me share with you some insights on how you could leverage on UX improvements to foster organic growth within your startups.
I would be mentioning the words “users”, “audience”, and “customers” quite often. Please note that I might use them interchangeably while simply pertaining to the group of people that you serve or wish to serve.
What is organic growth?
What is organic growth?
Now that we’ve defined UX and Organic Growth, the question is:
Could you drive organic growth thru UX improvements?
Yes, of course.
Let me share with you these 4 simple practices of UX improvements.
Question: who among you have Facebook pages or communities for your startups?
How about Twitter?
Instagram?
How about websites?
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It is common for businesses to be where most of the people are.
You are present in those different channels and platforms.
It is important to have a cohesive, unified look & feel in all of those channels and platforms.
1. Cohesive look & feel
The look & feel is the aspect of your brand that appeals to the senses.
It includes but not limited to your
Things that your brand exudes and your audience perceive is the look & feel.
How do you look or appear in their perception?
How do you make them feel?
Be cohesive.
It will strengthen your sense of identity with your audience.
It’s a given. We are present and active in multiple channels and platforms.
We constantly exert effort in maintaining a role in our customers’ lives – some, more active than others.
The messages that we send out to our audience could be more effective if there’s a clear call-to-action.
This is true especially for messages with marketing intent.
2. Clear Call-to-Action
2. Clear Call-to-Action
Let’s take a look at an example of what a clear call-to-action looks like.
This is WeAreVamos.com.
Vamos is a local boutique brand that started 4 years ago with a 4-model line-up of socks and now has a wider product range and is retailing in 100 shops in 4 countries.
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There are only two things to do in this website.
The call-to-action hits the nail on the head by being both
Because of the clear CTA, the customers could immediately begin accomplishing what they intend to do
2. Clear Call-to-Action
Having a clear CTA is just the start.
It’s important to note that what lies beyond the CTA must be what your customers expect to see.
In this case, the e-commerce shop.
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A big part of Vamos’ success lies in leveraging Tackthis as its e-commerce platform.
Tackthis streamlines the operational processes so that the business owners of Vamos could focus more on product development.
3. Consistent Branding
Where should you be consistent?
If you’re present in different channels like websites and search engine assets:
In social media:
And in general:
A consistently active and responsive brand exudes trustworthiness.
Your customers know they can count on you.
Cohesive look & feel, clear call-to-action, consistent branding…
These could all make your users happy but
Remember to also build an audience on your own turf.
4. Own Audience
4. Owned Audience
Being in your own platform is just the start.
Reaching and keeping your intended audience comes next.
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This is Philippine Airline’s own platform – a mobile app.
The time came when they needed to grow their mobile app users.
So they partnered with us thru our customer engagement platform, Freenet.
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Freenet enables your websites and apps to become more accessible to your intended audience thru its Sponsored Data technology.
Partnering with Freenet has helped PAL increase their mobile app visits from 660,000 to almost 2 million in just 6 months – a 190% growth. This translates to a 140% increase in their mobile app usage.
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Let’s have a recap.
Having these 4 simple practices of UX improvements (a.k.a. making customers happy) are sure-fire ways to foster organic growth in your company – especially if you’re a rising star in the startup industry.
Thank you for your time.
More power to your startups.
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