Usability

Simply put, download speeds matters – it always has mattered, and it always will matter. Just visit an Internet café and watch web users in action. Before long you’ll notice how often the back button is used by those too impatient to wait for content, particularly when much of it will be available elsewhere.

In CRM, user acceptance is a huge issue. End users, who are rarely the same people who choose applications in the first place, can be extraordinarily resourceful when it comes to undermining or working around new products or implementations introduced by manager. All this means that creating applications that are efficient and enjoyable to use is imperative for both ISVs and CRM implementers.

The typical software sales process could almost have been designed to favour those products that present a clear, intuitive, attractive and easy-to-use interface to the user.

The US eLearning market has a projected value of $11.5 billion by 2003 while the European market is expected to be worth $4 billion by 2004. However, poor usability will contribute to disappointing results for many eLearning companies.

Intranets could hardly be described as the sexy end of web development, but many companies around the world are experiencing real value from improved efficiency in terms of internal communications. Intranets can be big business.