Despite our parents' assertions that "beauty is only skin deep," it turns out that appearances--at least insofar as they reflect the utility of software user interfaces--are very important in enterprise software buying decisions.
According to St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software, a study they commissioned on user interfaces (conducted by Forrester Consulting) found that, "Enterprise software vendors should make user interface design a higher priority if they want customers to consider purchasing a replacement or upgrade to their enterprise software applications."
Forrester surveyed 230 chief information officers, information technology directors and information technology managers to determine if an enterprise application’s user interface affects their organization’s software buying decisions and business productivity, said Lawson. The study found 82 percent of respondents consider an enterprise software application’s user interface a determining factor when deciding to replace their enterprise software applications. In addition, 90 percent of respondents identify user interface as a priority when purchasing an addition to their existing enterprise application infrastructure.
According to the study, information technology executives see a high correlation between the quality of the user interface and business productivity. In fact, 86 percent of respondents deem an application’s user interface a primary reason for business productivity improvements. 84 percent of respondents state that a well-designed user interface decreases error rates, and 76 percent of those surveyed assert that a good user interface reduces user support requests.
On its face (pun intended), this makes a lot of sense. An inviting user interface that makes using the application intuitive and uncomplicated is going to appeal to anyone trying to picture himself or herself using the software in question. The ability to easily navigate through the program in order to perform necessary operations is obviously a critical aspect of the buying decision, and that decision begins with the prospective buyer's first look at the goods.
I know you purists out there may insist that an attractive and easy to manage interface is merely window dressing, and that it's what the product does that counts. It seems to me, though, that if the prospective purchaser has a negative experience up front, she or he won't be as receptive to the wonderful features unearthed once one gets past a clumsy or ill-conceived interface. It's just common sense.
[By the way, if anyone is thinking that I just threw in this photo of actress Hedy Lamarr on a whim for eye-candy purposes--and that she doesn't belong in a technology forum--think again. A little know fact about Ms. Lamarr is that she actually patented an idea that later became the basis of both secure military communications and mobile phone technology. So the next time you flip open your cell phone, remember that you wouldn't be flipping if it wasn't for the brains behind the Hollywood beauty.]
But I digress. Many of you out there are enterprise application buyers and evaluators. How important is the user interface when you evaluate some new program? Share your experience here!
Comments (1)
I think that the further down the 'food chain' you go, the more important a good interface becomes. It's easy for a CIO or other techno-geek to scoff at this because we tend to easily get past bad interfaces and just get on with our business. But for CSRs and other front line users, there is a huge difference in the various interfaces and you will have no problem getting strong opinions on which ones they would rather use.
That said, there are also a lot of other issues that should be addressed that are related to the interface though not exactly the interface. For instance, our agency management system is not particularly good at working on a two-monitor setup. Its child windows tend to pop up on the wrong monitor, so we end up doing a lot of extra mouse motion when working on both screens, as we have to do all the time now that we are paperless.
There is also a lot of arrogance in the software design field that basically tells software engineers that it's ok to act as if yours is the only program your end user will ever want to work with, and the fact that it might conflict with some other software that is unneccessary from the designer's perspective (like an e-mail program or an anti-virus suite) is of no concern to them.
My two cents for today.
Posted by Aaron Stein | January 3, 2008 4:52 PM
Posted on January 3, 2008 16:52