Will consumers save frustrated IT users?

Participated in a panel discussion on usability in IT systems at the Logistics Fair in Gothenburg last Friday. A sympathetic discussion with the always nice Jonas Söderström at InUse moderated by Eric Behm at Business Region Göteborg.

The questions, and indeed the problems, were the usual ones. Why doesn't it work, what needs to be done and who has what responsibility? Important questions that usually, and also this time, came down to the fact that the end user needs to be understood, engaged and taken into account. We have known for at least 20 years that users need to be understood and that the focus cannot only be on the technology but on how it is used. To be honest, I would have expected the same general conclusions both from our discussion, and the subsequent session on mobility solutions.

The difference this time was that the consumer perspective was dominant in almost every issue.

The consumer-driven development, penetration and ease of use of mobile platforms were consistently highlighted as a source of inspiration for ERP development. BYOD was described as a buzzword among today's ERP developers. Open standards and interfaces create competition and user customization. And employees with a private smartphone or tablet simply won't accept bad solutions anymore.

This bodes well for frustrated IT users who are clenching their fists. After all, what consumer would accept lock-ins, incompatibilities, long lead times and incomprehensible interfaces?