Here at the Virgin Mobile offices, we have some of the brightest minds in the tech world. All the way from software engineering to customer experience, we’re proud of our employees who are industry leaders themselves.
Meet one of them: Juraj Cangar, Head of Product and Proposition, who leads user experience. He is the genius who knows how to make magical experiences that make our customers’ journey the best in-class.
Ahoj, Juraj! Tell us about yourself. What date is your name day?
Ahoj! Interesting question about the name day – most of my colleagues don’t even know it exists! 😊 It’s like a second birthday for us in Slovakia, where I’m from. I celebrate it on April 24. I joined Virgin Mobile UAE more than 7 years ago when it was a team of just a few people where I had an opportunity to build the first digital telco in the UAE. Today, I’m heading the product team and our main objective is to make mobile simple, intuitive, approachable, and fair through our amazing mobile app.
What does good UX look like to you?
The one that doesn’t make you think. Good UX has the right balance of simplicity and clarity and is fast and responsive. A touch of wittiness or attractive design choices earns a few extra points with me.
What is the philosophy behind the UX of the Virgin Mobile UAE app?
Our philosophy can be summarised in one word: 'Simple.' Our approach is to make every activity easy, clear, and intuitive, while ensuring openness and fairness. UX drives our product decisions. If we can’t create a good experience, we either change the product or abandon it altogether. We also stay away from fine print and providing as much detail as possible. We actively encourage and value customer feedback. Our focus extends beyond the app experience to encompass the overall product experience, whether it's SIM delivery or interacting with our support team.
How has the landscape of UX changed around the world in the last couple of years, and how is that reflected in our app?
The landscape of UX has changed significantly. Customers are way less forgiving, and the expectations are high. Apps need to be fast and responsive with clean, uncluttered, and effective user interfaces. Seamless and easy operations are the key, together with subtle visual cues or animations to make the experience enjoyable. Augmented Reality and especially voice user interfaces are becoming more and more popular through integrations with virtual assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant. It’s an everyday challenge for us to keep up with these expectations and we’re constantly identifying areas of improvement in our app.
What are some things people don’t realise about UX?
You need to ask them 😃 I would say it’s the complexity of the work behind great UX. Behind every simple screen or flow, there exists a world of options, countless rounds of research, and thoughtful decisions. It's a dynamic and cyclical process that thrives on continuous improvement fueled by feedback, insights, and data. As users, we may occasionally find ourselves wondering, 'Why didn't they do this or that?' Yet, it's important to remember that there's often a wealth of knowledge and reasoning behind every design choice. However, this doesn't mean we should shy away from challenging ourselves and striving for better solutions.
What are you most excited about in the future of the Virgin Mobile UAE app?
While I can’t share any specific details about the future plans yet, I can say that I’m particularly excited about the app redesign project we have going on. We’ve been working on it for quite some time, and I can’t wait for all of you to see the results. It’s breathtaking and refreshing. There’s also one more feature that we've been trying to bring to this market since we launched (so for 6 years!) and it looks like the dream will finally come true. Stay tuned!
Thank you Juraj!
It was great to chat with you - and we loved your insights about the evolving UX landscape and what that means for Virgin Mobile UAE.
We’ll continue to spotlight more of our leaders - so stay tuned. Feel free to slide in our DMs on social media if you want to ask more questions from our experts.
