Steps to Successfully Changing Your Business Software Part II: Interaction Design

As I said in the previous article on business process analysis, there are four steps to follow for successfully changing your business software:

1. Business Process Analysis
2. Interaction Design
3. Software Selection
4. Implementation

In this article I discuss interaction design.  Interaction design focuses on the user requirements for software.  There are three sets of requirements that have to be addressed in choosing a new software solution:

Business Requirements
Technology Requirements
User Requirements

Business requirements include analyzing the needs of the business and how to fulfill them.  These requirements should be identified during the business process analysis phase.  Technology requirements identify what is technologically feasible and affordable, given the current computer systems in the business and its budget.  User requirements identify what is needed in software to help staff accomplish tasks and goals in order to fulfill the needs of the business.

Identifying user requirements and using good interaction design is vital for successfully changing your software.  It's critically important for the people who will be using the new software to be involved in the process as soon as possible.

When it comes to purchasing software for businesses it's normally the case that the people who make the purchasing decisions are not the same as the people who will actually use the software.  Usually it's the business owners, executives, and managers who make the purchasing decisions.  These decision makers would normally not be using the software the way regular employees would.  Executives and managers don't always do data entry and produce reports.  For smaller businesses, they might have to, but in larger businesses they focus on management.  This situation contrasts with consumer purchases, such as personal software, or automobiles for personal use.  For these purchases, the buyer is the same as the user.  In a business of any appreciable size, the buyer and the user are not the same.  This means that the buyer has to have intimate knowledge about the users of the product.  In other words, the buyer needs to know all about how employees perform their daily tasks and how software can best meet their daily goals.

When decision makers select a new software solution they make assumptions about how the interface should work for the employees who will be using it.  These assumptions are almost always wrong.  Or they might not put any thought into how the interface should look, and assume that the right training will make employees efficient in the use of the new system.

In order to avoid this mistake you'll want to use at least some techniques of interaction design.  If someone in your company has the skills for doing this, that's good.  However, you'll probably want to seek out a consultant who has these skills.

Interaction design involves these basic steps:

1. Document how employees currently perform tasks to accomplish goals - both with and without software.

2. Sketch out new ideas for improving efficiency.  Sketch out new software interface ideas.

3. Present your ideas and get feedback for improving your design.

Iterate through these steps until you and your employees agree you have a good design.  Note that interaction design is done before software selection.  That is, you develop ideas for your ideal software interface before you shop for new software.  Also note that this stage involves conversation with the employees who will be affected by the new software purchase.  This stage uses their feedback to help select the best software for your business.  If you get the users for the new system involved in the decision making process early you're more likely to get their buy-in.  When employees are kept out of the decision making process until after the new software is selected they are more likely to be resistant to the change.  If employees feel they have a voice in the process they will feel empowered, and can bring invaluable insights to the table.  If they have a good idea of what's coming and feel they have a voice in the selection they will willingly work with you to make the implementation a success.  One of the big reasons for software project failures is lack of buy-in from the very people who will be using the software, and who are a vital component to its success.

Steps to Successfully Changing Your Business Software Part I: Business Process Analysis

Whether you do everything in-house or hire any consultants, these are the steps to follow:

1. Business Process Analysis
2. Interaction Design
3. Software Selection
4. Implementation

In this article, I begin with business process analysis.

Shopping for commercial software, a cloud application, or a programmer to create software, should never be the first step you take.  You must first be sure you have a clear understanding of your current processes and the changes you intend to make.  If you don't have processes and people's jobs documented already, now is the time to do it.

But before I go any further, there's a fundamental item to address, which is the reason why you are looking for a new software solution.  Is it to fix broken business processes and employees?  If it is, that's the wrong reason.  See if any of these statements ring true for you:

• If feels as though you and your business are always playing catch-up.

• You keep having to fix problems, sometimes doing the work yourself that you had delegated to an employee.

• You have high employee turnover.

• Important items too often fall through the cracks, causing upset customers.

• You have multiple prices for the same items for multiple customers.

• You have individualized processes for catering to the desires of several, or many, of your customers.

• You experience many bad and stressful weeks, dealing with crises, emergencies, or some bad news.

• You continually make changes to  processes and workflow in an attempt to resolve problems.

• You call unscheduled, on-the-spot, meetings to address and resolve issues.

• You are often upset and angry with one or more employees, and lecture them for problems when they pop up.

• Work in some areas is always behind.

• Employees routinely or intermittently make mistakes in their work that have major negative impact on customer fullfilment and satisfaction.

• Your employees routinely experience issues and downtimes with computer equipment and software.

• You lack documentation for procedures, processes, and job positions.

If much of the above describes what your business is like you should seek out the help of a business management advisor or coach.  These statements are indicative of a business that is badly managed from the top.  As a business owner, it is often difficult to see that the root cause of many issues lies with you, and not with the people who work for you, or the software they use.  We all tend to think we know what's best.  An outsider like a business coach should be able to help you see where you can make changes in yourself and the way you run your business.  From there, processes can be improved, and you'll be better able to assess what changes in software you should make.  When new software is purchased and implemented in businesses that are not well managed from the top the results are often not good.  It usually just introduces more problems to solve.

No matter how small your business is you should have your jobs and processes documented before attempting to make any significant changes in software.  If you're interested in replacing the core software your business needs to operate this is critically important.  The process of working through documentation will reveal inefficiencies you may not have noticed before, and details you need to consider for process automation. You should then have a clearly written plan for process improvement, which includes what improvements you want to make in software. If there's nobody in your company available to create the documentation, or you need help or guidance, you can call on a business consultant who specializes in this area.