Well-Designed User Interface Critical in Enterprise Software Buying Decisions

St. Paul, Minn. - IT executives overwhelmingly identify user interface as a key criteria when considering an upgrade or replacement purchase, according to a survey conducted on behalf of St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software.

The consulting arm of Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. surveyed 230 CIOs, IT directors and IT managers to determine if an enterprise application's user interface affects their organization's software buying decisions and business productivity. The study found 82% of respondents consider an enterprise software application's user interface a determining factor when deciding to replace their enterprise software applications. In addition, 90% of respondents identify user interface as a priority when purchasing an addition to their existing enterprise application infrastructure.

According to the study, information technology executives see a high correlation between the quality of the user interface and business productivity. In fact, 86% of respondents deem an application's user interface a primary reason for business productivity improvements. Eighty-four percent of respondents state that a well-designed user interface decreases error rates, and 76% of those surveyed assert that a good user interface reduces user support requests.

"We've found that while a basic browser interface may be easy to deploy and simple for many casual users, it's not actually enough for employees who spend a lot of time interacting with enterprise applications," says Dean Hager, senior VP of product management for Lawson. "The fact is that most employees expect a richer user experience, and that has led us to re-think interface design in a very comprehensive way."

Source: Lawson Software