Monday July 6th, 2009
The positive thing about the economic crisis we have been experiencing recently is that it is forcing companies to innovate, modernize and specialize.
It is a part of a defense strategy that, properly executed, not only becomes a short term solution, but also a great opportunity for the future in a long-term sense. It is hard to reach that conclusion, but it is good for everyone, including end consumers and the companies themselves.
Xperience Consulting’s response to the crisis is innovation. In fact, we have been building a software tool for the last 7 years. We took the biggest step in 2007, and today – in the middle of the financial crisis, we are starting to profit. This step included two major achievements: launching a new product with new business model and accessing international markets. As a result, in Spain we continue to work with the usability consulting and user experience optimization, but in the rest of the world we position ourselves as a ‘software as a service (SaaS)’ company under a different brand: UserZoom. Our online research software, called UserZoom Self-Serve Edition, which’ s SaaS version was launched in mid-2008, is being used by many companies in the U.S. such as Google, IBM, Monster, Paypal, Verizon, Sprint, Continental Airlines, Wachovia, or the sports network ESPN.
The great advantage is, among many others, our business model. The consulting model is difficult to export and, therefore, the growth and the international expansion are quite complicated and involve a lot of time and resources, unless you opt for the purchase of the companies. While with the SaaS model, we charge our customers for access to our software via annual subscription. It is accessed via the Web, because it is a 100% on-demand or web-based which also means that it is accessible 24/7/365. Being translated into 15 languages, our customers are currently in the U.S., EU, Australia and Japan.
This year, we are witnessing how companies are substantially reducing their budget for research projects done by the consulting companies and/or agencies. However, they have sufficient funds to purchase tools to do their job better, with its own in-house team. In recent years, we have found that the vast majority of U.S. companies (world’s most advanced market in our sector) already have their own team of usability and user experience. These teams, with their own budgets, are purchasing our online research solution (UserZoom Self-Serve Edition).
Source: Xperience Consulting
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