Understanding What is Multiexperience and Why it is important

In its prediction for Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2020, Gartner says that Multiexperience will lead the market shift after Hyperautomation. Though this topic is still in its infancy stage, yet it is already creating enough buzz in the tech world. In fact, Gartner states that more than 25 percent of the mobile apps, progressive web apps, and conversational apps at large enterprises will be built and run through a multiexperience development platform by 2023. And in this trend, the technology-literate people will be replaced with people-literate technology. Hence, rather than people getting accustomed to the evolving technologies, the technology will evolve itself to understand the people better. The analyst firm also mentions that this shall lead a step ahead in the journey of complete digital transformation.

What is Multiexperience?

Multiexperience is about leveraging various permutations of modalities (touch, voice, and gesture), devices, and apps that users interact with on their digital journey across several touchpoints; and use it to design and develop a seamless experience for the customers. The main objective here is to establish customer interaction across touchpoints, so as to offer a consistent customer experience across the modalities. Thus offering to help companies with their digital strategy on how to engage with their customers. At present, multiexperience focuses on immersive experiences that use augmented reality (AR), virtual (VR), mixed reality, multichannel human-machine interfaces, and sensing technologies. However, it is predicted to evolve into creating an ambient experience for the users. And the channels of multiexperience includes desktop, laptops, smartphones, tablets, wearables, smart TVs, IoT, APIs integration, and smart Hubs.

Multiexperience vs. Omnichannel

As this becomes an essential part of a brand's digital transformation journey, so does the challenge of developing a consistent UX across smartphones and wearable devices. With 5G entering the market frame, experts are hoping to convert this concept into a commercial reality sooner than before.  This also implies that, as the popularity and usability of multiexperience grow, lesser shall the brands will depend on having an omnichannel framework. This is because omnichannel is all about technology, whereas multiexperience is all about people. It offers more choices to customers and allows them to have greater control over how they want to be served.

MXDP

Multiexperience development platforms (MXDP) offer professional and citizen developers a range of front-end development tools and back-end services that enable rapid, scalable development of seamless, targeted, and ambient user experiences across devices and channels. MXDP, like Mendix, Outsystems, Pega, Progress, GeneXus, and Kony, are already helping businesses create low code user experiences. These platforms permit businesses a trade-off between ease of development vs. scalability and custom functionality. Further, MXDP provides continuous improvement and shorter release cycles by optimizing DevOps practices and tooling.

Implementing Multiexperience 

Jason Wong, Research Vice President at Gartner, has suggested a four-step model for applying multiexperience to a digital user journey, i.e.,

• Sync me: To store user information that can be accessed by the user anytime.

• See me: To understand the context, location, and situation, historical preferences of users and offer them a piece of better information and interaction based on those parameters.

• Know me: To leverage predictive analytics that will help creating better suggestions to the user

• Be me: To take action on users' behalf, when permitted, and making the best decision for them.

Scope and Future

The total benefits of multiexperience and switching to MXDP are yet to be explored. At present, it is stipulated that MXDP can bring greater efficiency to organizations by enabling them to support a large number of internal operations at a single platform yet in a streamlined manner. This will also boost collaboration among IT and business teams when building, designing, and managing apps as well as customer experiences. Moreover, it can employ the best cognitive services that could be beyond conversational AI and computer vision.  Fostering a multiexperience journey not only helps to enhance connectivity with customers but also unburden the employees by automating tasks and processes that require follow-up and manual intervention. This field is expected to make a colossal entry into the market, thanks to the proliferation and affordable pricing of AR and VR devices and headsets and connected wearables.