The evolution of UX in business software

Reflecting on my past 20 years in the b2b software industry, there is a clear trend towards better UX. UX, done well, is valuable to businesses for several reasons:

• Intuitive software requires less training.
• Users will be happier and more productive.
• Well designed software suffers from fewer errors.

These benefits are what moved the tech industry from the command-line era to basic graphical interfaces and eventually onto the high-quality UX common in modern web applications.

In the 2010s, DX-focused business software started to flourish. At first I was skeptical. I thought that it was unrealistic to expect companies to devote substantial development resources to make use of such capabilities– but I was wrong. Unicorns like Stripe and Contentful have shown that there is strong demand for b2b software with great DX.

The relationship between UX and DX

DX is important because it empowers engineers to build integrated software with great UX. Since modern companies typically have many different platforms deployed to manage their business process (CRM, invoicing, email, payroll, etc), the DX of these various platforms will determine whether it’s possible to unify them into a coherent whole with great UX.

“DX is important because it empowers engineers to build integrated software with great UX.”

Put another way: if you want to provide unified business process automation across your various IT platforms, then you should ensure that your IT platforms provide APIs with great DX.

Benefits of a commission platform with great DX

Commissions have until now been a somewhat neglected business process. Despite their importance in motivating the sales team, they have typically been managed in spreadsheets or other outdated technology.

A commissions platform with great DX will:

1. Automate sales commissions and corrections, reducing errors
2. Increase transparency for the sales team, reducing disputes
3. Provide real-time commission data to your team, accessible anywhere via APIsAllow your team to engage in “what-if” analysis and understand the impact on their earnings if they close more deals in their pipeline.

EqualTo, the sales commission operating system, provides exceptional UX and DX to meet the evolving needs of your company and employees.

You can see a brief demo of EqualTo’s API capabilities here: https://youtu.be/243hSC1Y9Vs.

ℹ️ What is UX? UX refers to how well software is designed. Not simply how it looks - but also how it works. Software with high-quality UX is easy and intuitive to use.

ℹ️ What is Developer Experience (DX)? DX refers to the ease with which a software engineer can develop software on a platform, typically using APIs.

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