Making life easy - Jim Bolger and Philip Fierlinger

30 October 2012

Making life easy - Jim Bolger and Philip Fierlinger (Xero co-founder) to share their thoughts on customer experience

What do former New Zealand Prime Minister, Jim Bolger, and Xero Co-Founder, Philip Fierlinger, have in common? For one, they are both sharing their perspective on customer experience at simultaneous events local user-experience design company Optimal Usability is hosting in Auckland and Wellington as part of World Usability Day on November 8.

While running a country may seem a world apart from setting up an online accounting software-as-a-service company, Mr Bolger and Mr Fierlinger are sure to have insightful and thought-provoking perspectives on great customer experiences.

Xero is a Cloud-based accounting software aimed at the SME market (both New Zealand and globally). As Head of Design, Mr Fierlinger says it was crucial for user-centred design to be a core driver for his company, in order for it to succeed.

While Mr Bolger, who has lead a high profile political life and is now chairman of several different companies and organisations, will share his views on customer experience from both a political and boardroom perspective.

Optimal Usability Business Development and Marketing Manager, Eamon O’Rourke, says his company’s vision is to help organisations provide world-class customer experiences and World Usability Day is a great way to highlight how this is happening in New Zealand. The theme this year is the usability of financial systems.

“We want to highlight to New Zealand companies why it’s integral to their success to think about how to provide great experiences for their customers on this day.

“We’re passionate about making it easier to interact with New Zealand companies and the speakers we’ve selected for this year’s event highlight this for the financial sector in a real sense,” says Mr O’Rourke.

Jim Bolger was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1990 to 1997. From 1998 - 2001 he was appointed to the position of Ambassador to the United States. Since then he has been the chair of several New Zealand companies and organisations, including New Zealand Post and its subsidiary

Kiwibank; KiwiRail; Express Couriers Ltd; Trustees Excecutors Ltd; Gas Industry Company Ltd; the Advisory Board of the World Agricultural Forum; the New Zealand United States Council and Board of Directors of the Ian Axford Fellowships in Public Policy. He was made a member of the Order of New Zealand in 1997.

Philip Fierlinger is one of the founders who set up Xero in 2006. Xero is an online accounting software company, whose product Philip says is loved by thousands of customers around the world. As Head of Design he oversees the design of all things Xero, including product, marketing, branding and overall customer experience. “I work hard to push the boundaries of interactive design while remaining obsessed with providing the most gratifying user experience,” he says. Before Xero, he founded iconic US digital design firm Turntable.com, whose clients included Apple, Sony and Macromedia. He also worked for acclaimed web agency Shift, working on the NewZealand.com and IRD websites. His work has garnered numerous design accolades, including seven Webby Awards.

About Optimal Usability

Optimal Usability is New Zealand’s leading user experience design consultancy, having worked with more than 200 of New Zealand’s leading companies and institutions over the past nine years helping them create world-class user experiences. It is New Zealand-owned, employing 20 people in Auckland and Wellington.

Optimal Usability’s sister companies include Optimal Experience, which has a team of seven consultants Australia, and user experience SaaS product company Optimal Workshop, with more than 90% of revenue offshore and a customer list including CNN, NASA, BBC, Facebook and Intel.

More at www.optimalusability.com

ENDS

© Scoop Media