Harris CorporationIt is no exaggeration to say that Fluxible would not be happening without the support of some amazing sponsors. The very first company to approach us, within just days of our first tentative announcement on Twitter, was Harris Corporation. They were an early and enthusiastic supporter of the event and their commitment at the Platinum Sponsor level helped us get it off the ground. Thanks for that!

We chatted with the folks at Harris to learn a little more about them, and here’s what we learned.

Tell us a little about Harris

Harris is a multinational company that deals with communication. The Broadcast division, which has offices in Waterloo and Toronto, produces products that aid corporations with communicating to audiences and consumers.  We make software and hardware that drives high quality graphics and video onto your TV screens and on digital signs in stores, arenas, museums, theatres and the like.

What does UX mean to the company’s business?

Our Waterloo location has been specified as the UX Centre of Excellence for Harris. That means that (a) we’re excellent, and (b) any projects requiring a front end can make their way onto our project list. As a small team, we’re dedicated to ensuring that the voice of the customer is heard when we’re developing products.  We visit our customers and watch them use our products.  We talk about the problems they’re trying to solve and look at the way they’re making use of the solutions we’ve provided.  We contribute to the strategy that drives our product plans. We design solutions that address needs and goals, and we make sure there is consistency to how things are done across products.

Any thoughts on the perceived corporate value of UX and benefit of it to your customers?

We know that if we create products our customers can use, they’ll not only remain our customers, but they’ll be happy to return to us time and again.  If we provide solutions to their problems and create methods to deal with problems that they didn’t even know they had, we’ll delight them with a lightened workload. If we present products with features that address their needs directly, they’ll spread the word.

Making things that are just RIGHT for our customers is what we’ve committed to do.  They’re paying us to provide them with a solution; we shouldn’t force them to work for it once it arrives in their environment.

Why did Harris sponsor Fluxible?

We approached Fluxible, wanting to be sponsors, as we believe in UX as a discipline.  We think that it’s important to support the practice itself; even moreso when it allows us to contribute to the local community as a whole.

Is there anything interesting Harris hopes to learn at the conference?

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