Usability in application design has historically meant delivering an intuitive interface design that makes it easy for targeted users to navigate and work effectively with a system. Presentation and interactivity remain the baseline for strong usability, but as critical-thinking skills decline, IT may need to go deeper when considering usability of the tools it designs by also including simplified system and business processes as core elements of usability in order to reduce the chance of human error.
We see the impact that going deeper into process design can have on usability when users struggle with new applications whenever a new process is introduced into an application, or the functionality of an application changes drastically, or when processing exceptions occur.
I saw this firsthand a number of years ago, when I was CIO of a financial institution and our region was struck by a powerful earthquake.
The quake knocked out services throughout the area, including cell phones. Our data center was offline and damaged. Meanwhile, customers were flooding into our branches to perform transactions, but our tellers couldn’t help them because the system was down. Fortunately, we still had some “old hand” retirees in the community who knew how to perform the transactions using manual ledgers that could be entered into the system later. This lesson was never lost on me: Newer employees really didn’t understand the fundamental processes of the business they were in.
The situation is even more prevalent today, because automation continues to abstract employees away from the fundamental essence of the business, and individual critical-thinking skills are on the decline.
Together these trends should inspire CIOs and their application developers to look at application usability though a different lens.
Usability under a different lens
The Cambridge Dictionary defines usability as “the fact of something being easy to use,” but there is also a secondary definition: “the degree to which it is easy to use.”
The first definition is what CIOs and application developers historically have attuned to. In application development, this translates to the robust development of graphical user interfaces that are intended to be easy to use and readily navigable.
But that second Cambridge usability definition — are today’s applications truly designed with the “degree it to which it is easy to use” in mind?
They do, if calls to the IT help desk are down, if the need for employees to seek out supervisors or subject matter experts is down, if long-term employee retention is good, if application errors aren’t made, and if all capability delivered by applications is used to the max.
Unfortunately, these things are not happening. In fact, they likely won’t happen until IT and business leadership begin to look at application usability through a new lens that defines and assesses usability based on how well an application is fully optimized for business benefit.
Improving usability to improve application usefulness
Here are four proactive steps CIOs and IT staff can take to ensure improved application usefulness:
1. Develop business acumen and user sensitivity
The more IT’s business analysts and developers learn the end business, the better prepared they will be to deliver applications that fit the forms and functions of business processes, and integrate seamlessly into these processes.
Part of IT engagement with the business involves understanding business goals and how the business operates, but it’s equally important to understand the skill levels of the employees who will be using the apps.
For example, if you’re developing a sales application for front-line tellers at a bank because you want them to pitch credit cards and CDs to customers when customers come in, you should also take into account that turnover rates for bank tellers are extremely high. That means there will likely be a perpetual need for employee training on the app, and also that the app should be designed to be as simple and easy to use as possible, with base-level troubleshooting help baked in.
From a developer’s standpoint, this might mean fewer app “bells and whistles” are displayed as advanced app options on the fundamental first screen of the transaction, because you want the transaction to be uncomplicated and straightforward.
2. Establish clearcut metrics for application usefulness and measure them over time
The 80/20 rule — i.e., 80% of applications developed are seldom or never used, and 20% are useful — still applies. And it often also applies within that 20% of useful apps, in terms of useful features and functionality. IT must work to ensure what it develops hits a higher target of utility.
Users are under constant pressure to do work fast. They meet the challenges by finding ways to do the least possible work per app and may never look at some of the more embedded, complicated, and advanced functionality an app offers.
IT should incorporate this understanding into its development approach. Is it better to deliver a stepped-down version of the app that only contains the basics of operational execution for the front line — and to deliver more backend, advanced functionality to expert users?
Establishing metrics on what is used and not used, and by which user personas, will go a long way toward ensuring applications are more usable — and that IT’s energy is zeroed in on what can help provide more frictionless business value, not the 80% of features or applications that users don’t find useful for their work.
3. Advocate for user training and mentoring
Especially in user areas with high turnover, or in other domains that require a moderate to high level of skill, user training and mentoring should be major milestone tasks in every application project, and an ongoing routine after a new application is installed.
Business analysts from IT can help with some of this, but the ultimate responsibility falls on non-IT functions, which should have subject matter experts available to mentor and train employees when questions arise.
Providing these internal resources is a user management decision, but IT leadership should be a loud and constant advocate for them, even if such advocacy requires taking the issue to the CEO and board.
After all, when digital literacy fails, IT usually gets the blame.
4. Look at your help desk data
The IT help desk is an overlooked strategic asset. One reason is that it acts like an MRI that can probe deep into the business usefulness of an application or system.
If user calls abound, it’s likely the app is not meeting business needs, or that there are employee skills issues. The help desk is also able to drill down into the essence of any app’s help requests. An analysis of requests can identify application function areas that are difficult for employees to use or understand. The intelligence gleaned from the help desk can go a long way in establishing what a particular app’s business usefulness really is. It also furthers IT’s understanding of business relevance.
Read More from This Article: With critical thinking in decline, IT must rethink application usability
Source: News