Ever wondered why so many application development projects have much longer than planned user acceptance testing phase? For a very long time developers focused on completing the functionality, with limited focus on usability.
For the last few years, there has been a distinct trend towards a “consumerization” of IT. To a great extent Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0) has been a fall out of this rapid transformation sweeping the technology and business landscape. It is bringing in revolutionary changes to the way that organizations use technology for enhanced customer experience. The emphasis is now on a “user centric” approach to developing and deploying applications.
So how does the new consumer-driven IT differ from the earlier technologies for providing an enhanced experience for users? Has there been a substantial shift in the thinking and approach of vendors towards developing solutions that have a direct impact on customers and users alike?
Traditionally, vendors developed products and solutions with a focus on avoiding failure and emphasis on searching the right answer. The motto was to make the right product the first time. Little or virtually no customer research was done to understand the customer or user need. These resulted in product failures and recalls, user antipathy and frustrations among others. The last decade has seen a slow transition in vendors’ approach to product and solution development, largely influenced by rapid technology advancement, new process methodologies and demanding customers/users. Vendors today are customer driven, with high up-front investments in customer need research, and are open to adopting an incremental and iterative approach to product development. Unlike earlier, the focus is on asking the right questions during the various stages of development, increasing dependence on experiments and user experiences and rigorous testing. This leads to developing the right product through a continuous improvement approach – dependence on trial and errors, and constantly going back to customers for feedback. To a large extent, this approach has helped in mitigating many of the user concerns of technology not being user centric.
Taking the example of Usability: in the overall organizational IT needs and expectations, it has long been a bête noire for technology vendors and solution providers, with users having “less than happy” experience using the technology. The simplicity of this platform lies in making it a user friendly interface which is easy to adopt and use. In today’s highly technology enabled environment, the “Gen Xers” and “Gen Yers” need anywhere, anytime access to information for personal or professional use. The advent of smart phones and easy access to internet is empowering an employee to work “virtually” and “on the go.” So, what have been the latent needs and expectations of the current generation of users towards usability that were not effectively addressed earlier? Many of the studies and user feedback have highlighted on few criteria, which provide some insights into the users areas of concerns while using technology.
- Ease of use: simple and efficient to use with easy access and navigation
- Intuitive: Adoption of a technology has direct correlation to its intuitiveness
- Appealing to senses: Technology adoption is directly influenced by the sensory and visual perceptions of the user
- Speed: One of the demands of the users has been the speed of the application. Many times, due to slow processing of the application, the user’s perception and orientation to use the application is drastically changed
To a major extent, E2.0 has been addressing many of these issues. If we look back at the conventional corporate environment, the flow of information would follow just one path i.e. top to bottom or bottom to top. In today’s dynamic and fast moving business environment, with teams and partners located remotely, the speed of operations has become crucial for business success. The “consumerization” of IT is enabling users to create, modify and manage information with ease, resulting in increased productivity. At the end, happy and motivated users lead to enhanced efficiency and higher business value for the organization. Would it be then right to say that the ”consumerization” of IT is leapfrogging organizations to a higher platform of business agility and responsiveness?
I look forward to your thoughts and perspectives on this tectonic shift in the technology and business landscape.
