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.

1. 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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