The importance of user experience in online e-commerce to drive business growth, Mark Congiusta

We spoke to Mark Congiusta , who will be speaking at the upcoming  Get Digital event Get Digital is on from 13-16 April 2021. It will be held from 0900 – 1800 Irish Standard Time. It will be held via Zoom. Mark is the Senior User Experience Manager at Amazon

Mark Congiusta to speak at #GetDigital

Tell us about something interesting that you’re currently working on.

I have recently joined a new team at Amazon working in the AWS group building a UX team responsible for the design of hosted database management tools. Basically, as companies move away from managing expensive, complicated, unscalable, server-based IT infrastructure, they push everything into the cloud, not only freeing themselves from the hardware complexity involved but also expanding the tools and capabilities available to them.

My team is focusing on making data manipulation tools available to more than just back end developers which will have huge benefits for data scientists, analysts, and AI researchers allowing them to focus on the information itself and not the programmatic mechanics of parsing it.

What challenges did the last year, particularly COVID-19, present to you professionally?

I have actually been a remote worker for about 8 years working with global product development teams so my individual day-to-day professional life was not impacted much. The challenges were much greater in relation to the traditional office based individuals I collaborate with and manage on a daily basis who had to figure out how to work this way on the fly and in an extremely compressed time frame while also dealing with the realities of a global pandemic occurring all around them.

I spent a lot of time coaching my teams on the best practices of remote work and encouraging them to prioritize their personal well-being and mental health. Adaptation has been an evolutionary process and just as we’re getting OK at it, things are slowly starting to turn around.

This is not just a good thing, it’s a fantabulous thing. Remote work isn’t for everyone and I’m happy for the people who look forward to returning to the office. Plus I’m pretty sure that if I don’t go on an extended business trip sometime this year, my family is going to throw me out of the house, so fingers crossed.

What will you be talking about at GETDigital?

I’m going to be focusing on the user experience of online e-commerce and its role in business growth and building strong, trust-based relationships with your customers. In a previous professional incarnation, I spent several years working in advertising helping clients to navigate digital advertising and building brands online.

As the technologies available to drive sales online explode and become more ubiquitous it can be very difficult to understand where to even start. My talk will be a primer focused on the importance of a good digital customer experience and where to concentrate your efforts.

Which people or websites do you follow to keep up to date with in your area?

I still use RSS, which may date myself, but so what. I’ve got folks I lazily follow on Twitter and LinkedIn (when it’s not too spammy.) My favorite thing about design in general is that everything can become fodder for your creative inspiration. Don’t focus on a subset of experts, go wide and follow your interests. Oh and read books. Lots of them. Doesn’t matter about what. We need to worry less about what to think and more about how.

How can people find out more about what you are working on?

Not really a blogger and my Twitter feed is polluted with very unprofessional opinions so definitely don’t go there. You could try me on LinkedIn where I throw something up from time to time but if you’re really interested you’re going to have to reach out and ask me directly. Just like people did in the olden tymes. I’ll respond to most reasonable inquiries though it may take me a while.

What are your plans for the immediate future?

Finish getting my family vaccinated, spend time with people I haven’t been able to see in person for over a year, and make it back to Ireland for a fresh pint(s) of Guinness as soon as is humanly possible.

Is there anything else you’d like to add or plug?

I’m hiring UX designers in both the US and Ireland so hit me up on LinkedIn if you want to learn more.

More about Mark ->

Managing the design process while building and empowering creative teams to effectively execute on a strategic vision is what I do best. Having fun in the process is what I love. Making great products that customers are thrilled to use is my passion. Instilling that passion into my team is my job.

I have been organizing, managing, and inspiring design teams of all kinds for over 20 years, and in all that time, I’ve learned more than a few things about process, people, and products. Whether it’s a team of developers, user experience designers, product owners, or a healthy mix of all of the above, everybody wants the same thing: to create something amazing.

I want that more than anybody, but as a leader, it’s not my job to tell these people what the phenomenal new idea is. Instead, it is to give them the space and support necessary to do what they do best and be as successful as they can possibly be. Genius is much more effective—and repeatable—when it is a team sport.

I work hard at collaborating with the smartest people I can find in order to pool intuition in the pursuit of ever grander ideas and the mitigation of sameness. Because, as I see it, failure isn’t the enemy, mediocrity is.

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