Top 9 digital experience trends for 2020 revealed

Interfaceless machines, multiexperience and facial recognition payments are among the top digital experience trends organisations should explore in 2020, according to Gartner.

Nine digital experience trends were highlighted at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo as being important for achieving better business outcomes next year, the research company said.

Speaking at the event, Gartner Research Vice President Brian Prentice said, “Willingness to engage with digital technology will become a key factor in determining any IT system’s ability to successfully deliver business outcomes.

“Digital experience is no longer limited to the domain of born-digital companies or outlier enterprises in specific industries. [Chief Information Officers] CIOs must ensure that their organisation puts as much effort into understanding how people interact with and experience digital technology as they put into tracking technology itself,” he said.

Larger and higher resolution mobile screens and rich device application programming interfaces (APIs) are allowing for device control experiences beyond what can be achieved with on-machine interfaces, Gartner said. As a result, manufacturers are moving away from on-machine controls or traditional interface models, creating interfaceless machines that can be operated via apps that run on their customers’ mobile devices.

Meanwhile, a multiexperience strategy involves creating fit-for-purpose devices and apps with various ways of interacting. These would have touchpoint-specific interaction methods, such as touch, voice or gesture, while also ensuring a consistent and unified user experience across web, mobile, wearables, conversational and immersive touchpoints, Gartner explained.

Facial recognition payment is an emerging trend in China that will disrupt the use of QR code payments and further reduce the use of bank cards and cash, Gartner said. The payment method is already operating outside China, particularly through Apple’s Face ID and Apple Pay. Gartner believes this payment method offers CIOs a “new perspective on enhancing CX [customer experience] and driving business growth”.

Other trends include agent interfaces, such as chatbots, which use artificial intelligence (AI) to predict users’ intentions based on user input and other contextual cues and assist by either easing or automating execution of users’ efforts; and inclusive design to accommodate cultural sensitivities and behavioural patterns and internal digital design.

Understanding which features or designs products or experiences need to drive usage, customer satisfaction, loyalty and return on interest through user experience research will also regain importance.

The final trends include ‘design to code’ — which allows the dynamic and ongoing creation of templates, modules and components as design patterns and re-usable code; and ‘design ops’, which helps govern the design process by standardising layouts, colour palettes, typefaces, controls, components and other elements for use across multiple business units, endpoints and other design variables.

“Compelling digital experiences are ultimately functions of digital design,” Prentice said.

“This process contextualises both existing and emerging technologies in ways that are relevant and meaningful for people. A whole new set of digital technology to support both the individual tasks of designers and the efficiency of the overall design process is emerging. This combination of process formalisation and technology will allow digital design to scale significantly.”

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