(Astigan.com) – Technology aimed at consumers is becoming intuitive, user-friendly, even addictive.

But once they get to work in the morning, even the most enthusiastic techie often struggles with the software they use in the business world. Compared to the consumer technology we use every day, the enterprise software we use to run our businesses is a mess. It is hard to use and even harder to learn.

Anyone who uses enterprise software like enterprise resources planning (ERP) knows that this is true. But the day has come when these business technologies will re-invent themselves for intuitive usability, becoming almost as attractive and seductive as the infamous “Crackberry.” Organizations implementing enterprise software streamlined for usability will realize measurable benefits as they spend less on training.

According to Dan Matthews, chief technology officer with global enterprise software vendor IFS, businesses stand to benefit from intuitive software not only in terms of reduced cost, but by harnessing the enthusiasm that is driving the success of consumer technology. While most companies that run ERP and other complex software do not use a fraction of the functionality at their disposal, intuitive and highly user-friendly software could help “pull” users deeper into the product, enticing them to take advantage of all the software product has to offer.

“Just think of the last time you ordered a new iPhone or Blackberry or other high-tech gadget,” Matthews said. “You were probably eagerly anticipating its arrival, and when it did come, you tore open the packing, immediately exploring the many new features and capabilities. You probably showed the gadget to your friends, who suddenly found they needed a gadget just like yours.

“How many companies feel that way about their ERP implementation? If more companies did look forward to the new technology and how much better it was going to simply their work and increase their productivity, they would naturally be more enthusiastic about delving into their new software and exploring its more advanced features.”

Matthews stresses that enterprise software need to adopt conventions and navigation patterns that people are already familiar with, specifically the navigational patterns typically found on the web.

“Everyone who will use enterprise applications has used a web browser before,” Matthews said. “And it is always easier for someone to recognize how to use software than to teach them how to use it for the first time.”

Revolution underway

In October of 2008, IFS is implementing IFS Enterprise Explorer — a new user interface for its enterprise software — for a group of early adapters around the world. This interface is designed to bridge the gap between consumer and business technology, and in alpha testing had delivered measurable results in productivity.

In alpha testing at IFS offices in Stockholm, Matthews walked a group of customers through the workings of the new interface and collected  impressions of the design and its level of usability.

“The new navigation possibilities are amazing and make it very quick to get around,” Senior CAD Engineer Derek Johnstone of IFS customer Wolfson Microelectronics said. Wolfson manufactures high performance mixed-signal semiconductors to the consumer electronics market. “There are several different navigation functions to use, and it’s easy to go back and forward in the application. The collaboration functions eliminate many of the manual steps currently necessary to communicate between colleagues. Now I’ll be able to carry out all the stages in a single application. With a couple of clicks I can select information and send it to a colleague, extremely quickly and easily.”

At the close of the two-day alpha program, the testing team pitted IFS “power users” – highly-skilled users of IFS’ enterprise software – against those with little or no experience with the product to see which group could complete various tasks in IFS Applications the fastest. Power users were asked to use the IFS interface they worked with every day while the novices used IFS Enterprise Explorer. In every case, the novices completed tasks faster despite their lack of experience in the applications.

IFS has always been mindful of usability issues, and was the first to include an integrated enterprise application search (EAS) tool in enterprise applications. Usability is also enhanced by the fact that IFS Applications is a unified product while many other enterprise applications really consist of numerous individual software products that had been purchased by a large software vendor and integrated point-to-point. This forces users to learn not one but several interfaces.

Written by Charles Rathmann

Tags: blackberry, business, crackberry, ifs, iphone, software, stockholm, Technology