SAP GUI of the 21st Century | User Empowerment

Consumer-focused companies (Amazon, eBay, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) have redefined the standard requirements for usability in an era where technological interaction is now a frequent, daily norm for many of us. However, whilst enterprise technology has proved very successful in providing a means for integrated business functionality, its focus on complex, process-driven solutions to everyday business problems has been reflected in its overall interface design.

Consequently, back office users are now faced with a daily paradoxical relationship with software interaction from work to social contexts. The cost of this paradoxical usability relationship from an ERP perspective?

Productivity Implications – Users have to navigate through a number of differing screens in order to complete a single end-to-end business process, often executing a number of replicable, system-required keystrokes along the way.

Under-usage – SAP data entry/lookup is often a complex, disjointed & time-consuming process challenging users unnecessarily in the pursuit of task execution & process adherence. Users often have to make judgmental decisions on data entry and relevance in the presence of a myriad of ERP data functions or fields, often not related to the task or business process being executed. Data displayed over a number of different screens increases the likelihood of error incidence rate.

Risks to Data Integrity – Simple, self-explanatory screens reduce the risk of bad data entry incidence and reporting abnormalities. Mapped user options, logical to the task or process being executed can yield significant data integrity improvements. Simply changing the appearance or labeling of a key data field(s) within the business process can also yield significant data validity & reliability improvements.

Overall Costs – Inefficiency (non-value-adding data entry), IT service help desk calls, data error rectification & user training all have significant, underlying business & user empathy costs. According to a business survey conducted by Experience Dynamics (2009), there was an 80% reduction in help desk calls following user-centric design implementation.

Renovation of the traditional SAP GUI could easily address the above barriers to daily ERP interaction, using a design-orientated, user-centric approach.

To conclude, usability should be viewed as a means of gaining a competitive back-office, user advantage. Integration of end-users contextual requirements will inevitably become a key requirement of any future overall enterprise strategy as the workplace continues to evolve in an era of digital transformation, increasing analytics & mobilization requirements. Furthermore, the increasing complexity of networked business processes, coupled with the growth of consumer/user interface expectations, will continue to drive the future development of functional interaction with enterprise software, offering consumer-grade task execution and streamlined workflow management. Renovating the SAP GUI with these principles in mind is essential for future success.