INTELLIGENT SOFTWARE BUSINESS
Linking software user experience
and business gains
Consumerised era of device interfaces is reinforcing the need to bring ease of
use into business application interfaces as well says Dan Matthews at IFS.
T
he consumerisation trend has
massively raised the bar for
what we expect of our business
applications. The clear link between user
engagement and profitability is beyond
doubt. This has been apparent on the
consumer side for years. So how does
this translate to enterprise software?
Surprisingly little research is available
on the topic of how enterprise software
usability affects profitability.
In my discussions with customers, I see
that businesses are increasingly realising
that user experience correlates closely
to user engagement. The implications of
successful user experience make it way
more than just a satisfaction ranking.
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Increased workforce engagement is
tied closely to improved performance,
motivation and persistence, before we
even get to effectiveness, time and cost
savings, or the improved employer
branding advanced user experience
applications give. All of this results in
increased profitability.
An IFS usability study of over 200
enterprise software users in industrial
companies found a strong correlation
between digital transformation and
software usability. Respondents who said
their enterprise software prepared them
for digital transformation, for instance,
were 400% more likely to say their
enterprise software was very easy to use.
In the same survey, almost 46% of the
middle-age demographic would consider
changing jobs due to poor enterprise
software usability.
One concrete example is Deloitte, which
states that incorporating usability into the
redesign of a client’s ERP systems led to
a 300% increase in worker productivity, a
55% reduction in training time and a 21%
improvement in upsell and cross-sell. It is
apparent that there is a close correlation
between business success and software
usability on the enterprise market as well. A
couple of strong trends from the consumer
market are redefining the meaning of
enterprise software user experience today.
Let’s take a closer look at those.
Issue 13
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS