project types
usability services
intranets
As organisations have become more aware of the importance of employee involvement, development and performance and what is required to generate loyalty and retain key staff, they have invested millions in sophisticated Intranets.
Designed to provide employees with access to information at the touch of a button and despite the millions invested in their development, many simply don't get used. Why?
If it is easier to pick up the phone, flick through the office bible or the new starters' pack or ask a a colleague to find out what they want to know, then that is what your users will do. In order to encourage use of your Intranet, it must be usable by the user community it is designed for.
'We test our customer facing interfaces, but don't need to with employees'. How many times have we heard this being said? In other words, the organisation is telling us, we want to help our clients interact with us more easily, but our staff are on their own!
Improving the usability of your Intranet increases productivity, reduces training and support costs and boosts employee morale and therefore loyalty.
As part of the improvement process, I create a representation of your system using wireframes, which are mock-ups of individual interface screens.
As well as modelling the concepts, my wireframes also consider your intranet's intended content, intended audience, scenarios of use and technical constraints. These prototypes are created using tools such as Visio, Excel or Powerpoint.
Each element in the wireframe is verified by employing specialised techniques, to elicit user feedback on the developing user centred design. The wireframe is constantly revised based on this feedback and any necessary design modifications are made. Throughout this process the technical feasibility of the proposed solution is constantly monitored.