April 2020 Guest Opinion: IoT UX Design
April 29, 2020
UX Designers and Researchers today face the challenge of making Human-2-Device interaction as intuitive and simple as possible, for a whole new set of IoT products and services. To understand better what goes into creating optimum experiences in the connected financial services world, Internet of Business met with Gaurav Relhan, Vice President UX Research & Strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co, to gain his perspective on the evolution of Fintech, UX design, and research practices.
Gaurav Relhan is a research professional with over 12 years experience in the financial sector. Throughout his career, he has leveraged a spectrum of UX research methodologies, from generative to experiential research stages, and consequently driven UX design based on research outcomes. Having also served as a global Internet-of-Things (IoT) and smart cities and transport advisor, Gaurav brings a view from multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations.
Fintech Innovation While it is regularly reported that the financial services industry lags behind other sectors when it comes to IoT investment and digital transformation, Gaurav believes that “thanks to Fintech innovations, the future is already here!”
Currently, as a VP of Research and Strategy, Gaurav focuses on improving customer experiences associated with Chase’s digital engagement channels on both web and mobile throughout the product design lifecycle -from shaping the concept, to knowing the audience, all the way to conducting post-launch insights. With years of experience within the financial sector behind him – at Visa, The World Bank, and the IFC – he is pleased with where fintech has come and where it is going.
“Think of using your Alexa to make credit card payments; Amazon’s new cashier-less grocery stores; or just paying for your Tesla’s supercharging. Objectively speaking, these are all success stories in my view and it only keeps getting better.”
He agrees that the next step in fintech innovation is still unclear though, and that “the question is where we go from here? Should financial-sector IoT be seen as a disruptor or also as a job creator? How do we enhance and support IoT-based financial services for all segments of the population, not just for a few?”
Fear of compliance or security breaches has traditionally caused the sector to hesitate and resist tech adoption, and while Gaurav anticipates the realm of data privacy and security as a major area where greater research is needed overall, in the IoT space specifically, he envisions a lot more research associated with improving current user experiences, with a focus on refining APIs and dashboards.
In his opinion, research around “enhancing the current IoT user experience and exploring new financial use cases with all imaginable gadgets and edifices – think of hotels, cars, airlines – this is where the future...
