Guide to Usability & Accessibility
Usability
Usability consulting consists of the analysis of a users' experience or interaction with a website, system or application. As expected the higher the usability of a website, the more likely the user is able to complete a sale, find information or undertake a business transaction.
The objective of usability testing, design or development is to improve the user experience and increase quantifiable benefits to the organisation. Usability is not restricted to websites, it applies to all interactions between systems and users. This may include:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
- Enterprise Application
- Call Centre Applications including CM and IVR
- Content Management Solutions
- Wireless Technologies including PDA's
Maximising usability is achieved by iterative design and evaluation through the entire software or product life cycle to progressively refine the product and ensure that the system achieves it's objectives and user interaction is easy and efficient.
Usability is an important issue, increasing the user's ability to perform a task, transaction or interaction and positively increasing the Return on Investment of the application or system.
Accessibility
Accessibility is an integral component of usability and is the capacity for people with disabilities and people using older technologies to access systems, applications, websites and portals in an efficient manner. Usability depends on a number of factors such as how well the functionality fits the user's needs, how the response of the application fits the users expectations and how well the application flows meets the needs of the users tasks.
Benefits of Usability Consulting
Return On Investment
The single biggest reason for improving the usability of a website or application is the increases in the ROI. The Gartner Group has suggested that e retailers lost more than $10 billion in 2001 from online sales because usability problems stopped customers from completing online sales. Usability testing, planning and ultimately development must demonstrate a measurable impact on sales, call center volumes, or tangible efficiencies for the internal and external users.
The main benefits from usability consulting and development are:
- Revenue - sales and revenue increases by making it easier for users to do business online
- Productivity Gains - efficiencies in time taken to complete tasks can be quantifiably measured
- Reduced Development Costs - understanding and articulating project requirements can significantly reduce costly pre and post release redesign
- Operational Efficiencies - the most important ROI is achieved by decreasing the costs associated with doing business such as call centre volumes, service and help desk costs and lower support costs.
