Poor software costing Aussie businesses billions: study

Business software that employees find difficult to use is costing Australian business an estimated $49 billion a year, equivalent to a wasted 1.2 billion hours, according to new research from e-document and printing software vendor Global Graphics.

Some 69 per cent of Australian office workers say they have found business software difficult to use, citing excessive software functionality and a lack of training as their main concerns.

The research found that workers want software developers to make their products easier to use.

Global Graphics CEO Gary Fry believes that business software developers could learn greatly from consumer technologies and social networking.

Fry said employees can use Facebook with minimal training, and this ease of use should be mirrored in the business software space.

“Consumer technology companies make money by attracting as many users as possible and that means making products easy to use,” Fry said. “By making business software as easy to use as consumer technology, employees are more efficient and less frustrated while companies benefit from lower training costs and higher productivity.”

Of the 1010 workers surveyed, 68 per cent estimate they lose up to an hour every week as a result of complicated business software, while 25 per cent admitted they lose up to five hours.

“The warning to developers of business software is clear – take a leaf out of the consumer world and make your software easier to use,” Fry said.

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