How Important is User Interface in SaaS?

Maybe not the most fun thing to talk about when considering the seemingly limitless universe of digital capability, but “User Interface” or “UI” is a term used to describe how easy and functional a device or a software product is to use. Please don’t tell your local UI Designer we said it wasn’t the most fun, because they’ll definitely tell you, with a beer in hand, that it may be one of the most important things your user will experience, so maybe buy him another beer and agree with him, after we dig a little deeper.

A great or a poor user interface can make or break for a business application. UI very often coupled with UX (the “User Experience”) should resonate with the users, be intuitive and increase productivity, resulting, of course, in improved stickiness and customer success.

The first thing the new visitors see after registering for a free trial for a business software is the interface – designs, layout, navigation, workflow, forms, filtering, etc. First impression is so important for potential clients to decide – continue further or close the tab and head back to the online Solitaire website to kill some time for awhile, or maybe even call the UX guy – he always seems up for going out and having a little fun!

The software-as-a-service has moved on from complicated clunky desktop products. The SaaS marketplace is flooded by whole lot of new cloud competition, and a great UI/UX is so important in making your application stand out from the crowd.

If a software is capable of performing a certain task but is so complicated that no one can successfully use it, it begs the question – how useful it is? Unfortunately, many times at early stages of the development of a SaaS product it is considered that functionality is more important than user-friendly designs. This has left us with many software programs with thick instruction manuals, guidebooks, help directories and FAQs. Yikes. Just thinking about that makes us not fondly recall cramming for high school tests the night before, pretty much forgetting everything we had tried to remember when it came test time.

Much of this issue comes from the increasingly complicated world in which we live. Design expert Don Norman calls this “the Paradox of Technology”: As we create programs and devices to make our lives simpler these devices and programs themselves become increasingly complicated. This often overlaps another aspect of design called “legacy,” which refers to the common pattern of entirely new devices and applications being visually similar to older versions. This is completely different than the theory of, if you buy a Chrysler 500, some friends will think it’s a Bentley. Two different things.

Computer programs in particular can be examples of the best and worst of legacy in design. Typing on a computer is very similar to typing on a typewriter, and we organize content on our computer in folders via tabbed navigation that look very much like conventional paper folders. There’s not any reason that these things need to be the case but they make it easier for us to understand computers. On the other hand, a lot of accounting and management software clings to the past even when advances in technology and the ways in which we think about technology would allow for something much improved. Think of it like knowing you should stop wearing jean jackets, but at the same time, man, they are super comfortable, right?

For small businesses this can mean spending a painful amount of time learning how to navigate and use the software individually while for larger enterprises it often means hiring big teams and taking the time to train employees how to use the tools.

Business management software from kpi.com brings the advantage of powerful functional software with a user-friendly interface that performs all of the tasks seamlessly. From accounting and human resources management to sales and reports, simple menus and administration panels put all of the tools that kpi.com has to offer right at your fingertips in a format that even those new to apps can navigate with ease. We keep our users in mind through constant updates to your apps so that you never need to worry about purchasing software updates.

Plus, we know some super cool UX folks who like to socialize after work every now and again. Don’t worry, we keep them in line!