Purchasing a product for yourself, is very different from when a company is making their purchase decision. When you buy a product for yourself, you are the end user, maintenance staff, and all other roles involved in the life time of the product. In a corporation, many more individuals are involved in purchasing, using, and maintaining a product throughout its lifetime. This will trickle down and impact the work of the UX professionals.
Business to Consumer
When you buy a product for yourself, you weigh in various aspects of the product. Sometimes it is easy, while other times, it is more difficult, but you are the ultimate decision maker. You are the one deciding if you want a cheaper product, have a better experience, more features, easy maintenance, etc.
Business to Business
When a corporation is making a purchase, they are also considering many things. The difference is that it is not just one person making the decision since some individuals reap the benefit while others deal with the drawback. In addition, the emotional component is removed so it doesn’t matter who is benefiting or losing as long as the overall value is maximized for the company. Because of this, companies see the user experience and ease of use as less valuable than a consumer.
Conclusion
Since companies purchasing products value the experience lower, the B2B companies will often also place less focus on UX than B2C companies. This in turn leads B2C companies to allow the UX division to have a larger influence in these organizations. So, if you work in a B2B company, you might have a harder time pushing UX than if you are in a B2C company.
© David Juhlin and www.davidjuhlin.com, 2017