The value of design
You will spend significant time and money developing your application or embedded system. How can you present all the features in a way that will maximize productivity, encourage customers to buy, delight your visitors or reduce training cost? How much of that time and money is spent on features users don't want or need?
Designing software with the user in mind has a real return on investment. Consider these possible outcomes:
Reduced training
If your customers have to train their work force every time they hire, that increases the cost of owning your software or product. If you can reduce that cost, competitive benefits come from customer loyalty.
Lower support costs
Avoid the cost of your customer support lines constantly helping customers use your software. Software that is designed with the user in mind can reduce calls for support.
Increased customer satisfaction
Whether your software helps users buy, print, operate machinery or crunch numbers, by improving the user experience customers will use your application more and see it as a valuable asset.
More sales
If you have an e-commerce application, user centered design methodologies can identify and remove barriers to buying.
