Making systems more usable is smart business. Usability increases customer satisfaction and productivity, leads to customer trust and loyalty, and inevitably results in tangible cost savings and profitability. Because user-interface (UI) development is paramount to the user experience, it pays to do it right.
Most software and Website development managers view usability costs as added effort and expense, but the reverse is more commonly true. Because the first 10% of the design process, when key system-design decisions are made, can determine 90% of a product’s cost and performance, usability techniques help keep the product aligned with company goals. Usability returns many benefits (return on investment, or ROI) to products developed for either internal use or sale.
Customers directly benefit by usability improvements by increases in ease of use, ease of learning, user satisfaction, and user productivity. At the same time, decreases occur in the number of “user” errors, costs for training and support, and maintenance. Taking proactive measures in usability and quality during the initial production stages can produce a monumental cost saving effect.
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Usability systems just don’t fall out of the sky. It requires focusing on the system's potential users from the very beginning and verifying positive changes at each step of the way. We do this by talking directly to the user at key points in the project to make sure the site will deliver upon their requirements.
The stages are carried out in an iterative fashion, with the cycle being repeated until the project's usability objectives have been attained. This makes it critical that the participants in these methods accurately reflect the profile of your actual users.
This process not only requires designers to analyze and foresee how users are likely to use an interface, but also to test s the validity of their assumptions with regards to user behavior in real world applications.. UCD answers questions about users and their tasks and goals, then uses the findings to make decisions about development and design.
User-centered design benefits users, the users’ company, and the vendor company. Increased usability increases productivity and job satisfaction while decreasing customer support needs and documentation requirements. When users feel more effective with their work, rates of absenteeism and employee turnover are lowered. All of these benefits are in alignment with fulfilling successful business goals.