Enterprise software: Users say what makes a well-designed application
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 5/14/2008 2:56:00 PM
In a recent international survey of more than 1,000 business IT users, carried out on behalf of enterprise solutions supplier IFS, more than one-third of respondents identified the Web as providing the most intuitive user experience. Only one in five cited business applications used in the workplace as easy to use—well behind the Web and email applications (27 percent).
IFS undertook the study as it planned product enhancements that rise to the challenge of bringing well-designed applications to the workplace. Embedded enterprise application search, integrated communities, enhanced navigation, and individualization options are just some of the design elements and functions that enhance personal and organizational productivity.
Survey respondents were asked to identify the top three causes of wasted time when using enterprise software. Top of the list was learning to use different modules and applications (20 percent); searching for relevant information held in the application (19 percent) came second; and difficulties moving through business processes that are not grouped together or ordered in a logical way (14 percent) was third.
“One of the key reasons for installing enterprise software is to simplify the running of business processes so that decision-making can be improved,” says IFS CEO Alastair Sorbie. “Well-designed business applications that incorporate elements like search, networking, easy navigation, and individualization are what people are now demanding in the workplace—based on their personal use of the Web. Improved usability really can make a difference to the company’s revenue, making the employees more efficient and productive because it’s easier to do the job.”
Survey respondents also were frustrated by the time wasted dealing with difficulties in transferring data between systems (13 percent); and navigating around and between different applications (11 percent).
“The majority [94 percent] of IT professionals surveyed readily identified areas where business applications take longer to perform specific tasks than they should,” Sorbie says. “Bringing features and functions common in consumer Web sites into the business world was a way respondents identified as being able to save time. Business software buyers should be looking for applications that have incorporated such features into their application design now.
“Just one example from IFS is the enterprise application search we have embedded at the heart of our systems," continues Sorbie. "Because we know industry business processes and the data involved, our search capability not only performs with the ease of a Web tool, but adds the business context to the data to make it more relevant to answer the question being posed—whether it be a customer order inquiry, status report, or request from the board."
For a full copy of the report, contact chuck.rathmann@ifsna.com
