User Experience and User-Centered Design at DATEV eG
DATEV eG products are not only convincing with technical and professional perfection, but also with a design that turns simple usage into a positive experience. In order to achieve the objective of a positive user experience, DATEV eG has long been focuse
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bstract
DATEV eG products are not only convincing with technical and professional perfection, but also with a design that turns simple usage into a positive experience. In order to achieve the objective of a positive user experience, DATEV eG has long been focused on user-oriented development and user centered design respectively. The following article offers you an insight into user experience and user centered design at DATEV eG today and points out important milestones on the way from technology-driven development to user centered design. We describe different challenges that needed to be addressed during the change and demonstrate our practical solutions. These solutions encompass methods and tools on the one hand and organizational and personal prerequisites on the other hand. All these measures facilitate enhanced design quality and efficient development of excellent software products with a positive user experience.
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Introducing DATEV eG
DATEV eG stands for high quality software solutions and IT services for auditors, tax consultants, and lawyers as well as entrepreneurs. The headquarters are located in Nuremberg (Germany) and further offices and associated companies are distributed across Europe. DATEV eG is a cooperative with about 40,000 members and more than 6,000 employees. About 1,000 of them work in the development department. The DATEV eG portfolio offers about 200 business software products ranging from business accounting via tax calculation, personnel accounting and management until auditing. Software products mean classic desktop applications, cloud
U. Schubert • M. Groß • S. P€ otzsch DATEV eG, Nuremberg, Germany e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]@datev.de; [email protected] A. Maedche et al. (eds.), Software for People, Management for Professionals, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31371-4_10, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
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services and mobile apps. The probably best known product is from personnel accounting, because DATEV eG delivers more than 10 million payrolls in Germany every month.
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User Experience and Design in Business Software
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Challenges
In the business software area design is often misunderstood as adding colors, icons and something with a “wow-effect.” Designers are expected to make products look nice at the end of the development process. However, “wow-effects” and optically overloaded user interfaces are inappropriate as revenue drivers in the business area. They do not create a positive user experience, but arbitrary product design that has no impact on your business objectives. The big challenge for software companies today is to understand and apply user interface design as a strategic instrument. Usually, customers cannot evaluate the technical quality of a software product and its detailed professional features at first sight, but they judge what they can see. This implies that design plays a highly important role in the buying decision and customer loyalty. In order to make excellent user experience desi
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