In 1999, Donald Norman wrote a book about the concept of invisible technology. The idea was that technology will both help us and disappear into the background. Steve Jobs was a strong supporter of this way of thinking, and it persists through practically all retail products. The consumer rewards those who make the user experience flawless.
But, where does this fit into enterprise technology?
Years ago, a typical sales process would involve discussions related to functionality with little regard for how it "looked". Maybe users back then were more technical, or their skillsets more diverse, but in recent years, there has been a shift.
Companies and users now seem to be focusing more on how a system looks based on an assumed belief that polished UI correlates to a "better" system. And, perhaps this is true if your business is looking for simplified software. Consider the consumer side of things in this equation. The most used apps are incredibly well funded. The Instagrams, Facebooks, and Snapchats of the world have hundreds of millions of dollars to deliver a limited set of functions, perfectly. Viewing photos, having a profile, and posting comments are not complex in any way, but these companies have dedicated years to making the transitions between screens and the ability to learn how to use these features, invisible.
And, it's beginning to affect the business world.
Let's discuss financial systems. To anyone beyond the back office, these types of systems are foreign. The public may assume this software does something complex, but without real world business needs, a regular person just doesn't care about what's really going on. The result is a relatively small group of users who know the true capability of a business. And, it's within these subtle differences that a business, in a competitive market such as commercial real estate, will either find success or stumble. The alternative is every company having the same software with the same abilities. Competition would end and all we'd see are more ads for banks that say things like "we do things differently," while never actually sharing any differences.
User Interface and User Experience
These are two very different things, but they often get grouped together for understandable reasons. Over the course of the last 2-3 decades, there has been a stampede towards software that caters to this type of focus. Companies love it because pretty software makes their companies look modern. They also like that easy to use software makes it more straight forward to train and/or replace employees. Afterall, if a system has a clear cut path to manage any process, then there is no need to pay higher wages for higher skilled workers.
But, companies may be shooting themselves in the foot. By chasing ever prettier UI and simpler and simpler user interfaces, they are leaving behind the distinctions that made their business valuable. If everyone begins to use the same 3rd party vendor, then that entire area of need is removed from the competitive landscape. This may make sense for something simple like a CRM, but some companies literally build their business on supporting complex scenarios and simplifying this could make their offer obsolete.
Bringing improved UI and UX to the most complex of systems.
This is clearly the best idea, but is it practical? Large companies pay a premium for quick development. They love responsive support and depend on their vendor's products to offer whatever their marketing teams can think up. But, if each round of changes requires multiple passes to improve UI, documentation, and UX, then that competitive edge in timing and costs may be lost.
Avoiding the risks of legacy software while bypassing the perils of going too simple for pretty UI is a tightrope. But, in our modern world, this is exactly what's necessary. As much as I enjoy my iPhone and swiping every which way to get where I need to go, I think it may be misguided to demand the same from our business workhorse systems.
- Thomas Benedict
Nextcept offers implementation support, project management, and strategic planning for lenders, startups, and other B2B businesses. We believe in prioritizing goals and being strategic with plans to avoid failed projects and sunk costs. With unparalleled flexibility, nextcept can help turn new ideas into reality quickly, effectively, and safely.