The philosophy of the Nielsen Norman Group is simple: To help companies enter the age of the consumer, designing human-centered products and services.
Human-centered products emphasize user experience over factors like technology, features, or marketing points. "User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with your company, your services, and your products. Human-centered products meet the exact needs of your customer, without fuss or bother. They are simple and elegant, a joy to own, a joy to use.
Your products reflect your overall company strategy and culture. In corporate cultures that emphasize technology, features, marketing points, or your company organization (in the case of websites), user experience is not given priority, and human-centered products will not result. Are your help lines too expensive? The fact that customers need so much help is a sign of poor products. Want a better product? You probably have to reorganize your company and change your product process.
Customer-centered, human-centered design requires corporate commitment, and a seamless merging of the services of multiple disciplines, including engineering, marketing, graphical and industrial design, and interface design. The results are faster design cycles, customers who are more satisfied and more loyal, and the transition of help lines and service desks from complaint posts and cost centers into positive customer experiences: a chance to interact and renew customer commitment, a chance to increase sales and loyalty.