Video and picture credit - No Isolation

How a business strategy based on UX design research gives you a competitive advantage

For businesses to successfully innovate based on UX design research, it has to be part of their business strategy. UX design research offers novel advantages for business owners to sustain the virtue of their product or service and identify market opportunities for business growth and innovation. No Isolations telepresence robot, AV1, was a first step towards their mission statement of ending all involuntary loneliness and social isolation worldwide. UX design research was essential in developing AV1.

No Isolation is a Norwegian social entrepreneurship aiming to end all involuntary loneliness and social isolation worldwide. The company's first product was AV1, designed to fight the social isolation of children and young adults with long-term illnesses. AV1 is a telepresence robot placed at the school where the adolescent would physically be, if not housebound due to illness. The adolescent attends school and engages with peers through an app on a tablet or smartphone. The robot is designed to foster engagement and acts of care from peers aiming to reconnect, expand and maintain a thriving social circle. The design intervention starts at school, which was identified as the natural main social domain for adolescents.

AV1 and UX research

Through UX research, you can discover exactly what the intended users need. The research also identifies contextual limitations or challenges that must be handled by the business to shape optimal user experiences. Which, in turn, leads to successful business outcomes. UX research was performed with AV1 using a research through design methodology, methods, and tailored tools specifically made and selected based on No Isolation's social aim and used for qualitative data gathering and analysis.

Nine robots were spread out all over Norway as part of a case study with participants that had an ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) illness. The study intended to test the technology in real contexts, with real users and social relations to iterate, reshape and improve the design and technology to align with the social aim, and improve how the technology performed in a real-world setting.

Qualitative measures were performed with tailored tools before the technology was introduced into their lives. Then new qualitative measurements were performed after a period of use to test the results of AV1 as a design intervention in their everyday lives. Qualitative measures were also done with teachers and peers. Also, continuous reports from use were given from the robot users or their parents. We used a combined approach to improve the validity of results, consisting of qualitative methods like a focus group with medical professionals and quantitative methods like surveys. Also, our UX research involved attitudinal and behavioral approaches, implying gathering data on what intended users express about the new technology and how they behave through observing real use of AV1 in the classroom. As mentioned, the UX research was done in parallel with the technology development of AV1, providing valuable information and design opportunities that informed the making of AV1 by being fed into the design process and outcomes.

Business insights and opportunities through UX research

Today, project leaders working with digital transformations face numerous challenges to attain or keep competitive advantages and keep up with rapid, marked, and technological developments. UX research is about finding insights and opportunities to guide successful digital transformations while navigating complex domain contexts that often require a social, cultural, legal, or organizational change to have relevance and create impact.

UX design research offers novel advantages for business owners to sustain the virtue of their product or service and identify market opportunities for business growth and innovation. Therefore valuable insights from UX research can be combined with business model innovation. Specific business goals can be placed at the core of a UX research process, as illustrated by the UX research work done with AV1. Thus, ensuring the re-scoping and development of technology transformations align with the mentioned business goals. An important step to make UX design research a business strategy is selecting the proper design methodology to optimize how the project is led to facilitate progress from day one until attaining desired project outcomes. Furthermore, UX research offers advantages for businesses by using context-specific methods supported by continuous UX research to re-scope, validate, and iterate to achieve successful digital transformations.