Why should I care about software usability? By usability, we mean ‘user-centered approach and design’, which incorporates user concerns, needs and wants from the beginning of the design process. Users who are presented with feature-rich software that is difficult to use will most likely resist it and seek out alternatives. Hence it is essential to perform usability testing that would help you determine how easy it is for users to use the software the way they desire. Some of the reasons why usability should be ensured by testing before releasing the software in the market: 1. Reduction in support costs – usable software will reduce the number of support calls, which directly reduces support costs. Making the usage of software easy will mean less time spent on attending support calls for your support staff 2. Reduction in training costs – an intuitively usable software means less number of training hours spent in learning it and less cost would be associated with it. 3. Enhanced adoption – most enterprise software system implementation fail due to poor user adoption. Better usability will mean better adoption of software systems and enhanced business benefits 4. Market differentiator – usability can be a huge differentiator in the market place and the software with better usability will be regarded as superior Usability testing of the software will ensure the end-user experience with the product will be positive devoid of any complexity in using them. Usability testing has to be integrated with the software development process and all usability principles and guidelines should be factored in the design early in the cycle itself.
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