The enterprise software we use at work is slowing us down, and for all sorts of reasons, from individual components of the UI to the workflows that take us from one piece of software to another. Andrew Hogan, principal analyst specializing in design, discusses some of the biggest problems he sees in these tools and offers critical insight on how some companies are fixing enterprise UX.
How much can UX impact us, really?
It’s difficult to figure out how much your email client or sales software could be slowing you down
- One financial services company sped up employee quote creation by five times by rethinking its software
- Japan Airlines eliminated 40% of employee time spent on paperwork by replacing it with quicker apps
- A study found that every 1% improvement in satisfaction decreased the risk of burnout among doctors using electronic medical records
Bad labels are confounding to learn
One of the biggest culprits for bogging down workers is acronym soup
- While established employees can master acronyms over time, new employees can take a long time to learn them
- For example, call centers have high turnover rates because of the time it takes to learn the specialized software
Your company can do something about it
Many companies are using their own design teams to fix shortcomings in enterprise software.
- Whereas employees are reluctant to use new software they dislike, by focusing an internal design team on the task, companies can do everything from solidifying workflows to developing some of their own specialized software and tools to give their employees the help they need.
Are your computers slow?
At the baseline level, enterprise systems are slow.
- Every microsecond, every bit of time these things take to load, breaks your concentration. After you get beyond a certain amount [of time waiting], you’re ‘doing something else.'”
- Why is enterprise software slow?
Workflows lead employees nowhere
One of the greatest divides Hogan sees between consumer software and enterprise software comes down to a boring, perhaps esoteric, word: “workflow.”
- If you’re ordering a meal via Uber Eats, every step is perfectly sequential. You know your options, and you know when you’ve done each step successfully.
- Compare that to loading Excel, and staring at an endless spreadsheet. What do you do first, especially if you’re new to a job? And when do you know you’re done?
