Making Electronic Commerce Usable: The role of usability in developing web based electronic commerce systems Dr Robert Pedlow Human Factors Research Group Telstra Research Laboratories 770 Blackburn Road Clayton, Victoria 3168 Australia phone 61 3 9253-6373 fax 61 3 9253-6665 email
[email protected] Abstract The majority of industry based human factors research on usability has been directed towards either usability as a means of optimising the efficiency and effectiveness of IT systems and processes used within companies or usability as a market differentiating factor for products and services [1]. Relatively little research has been directed towards electronic commerce, where users interact electronically to purchase products or services. This paper discusses key human factors issues relating to electronic commerce in telecommunications, based on case studies from the work of the Telstra Human Factors Research Group (HFRG) and the Usability Team in IBM-GSA. Telstra is one of Australia’s leading telecommunications companies. IBM-GSA is a joint venture company between Telstra and IBM Global Services. The first case study reports on the involvement of the HFRG in the development of Transigo, a “wholesale” electronic commerce site currently being developed by Telstra in partnership with the Australian Government. Some of the key user expectations identified were: • The critical importance of perceived integrity for an electronic tendering process; • That the system would provide suppliers with complete, timely and accurate information on business opportunities. As a result of the study it emerged that for government users, whether the system was easy to use was the most important consideration. By comparison, for supplier companies, the most important issue was whether the system provided key functionality. It was concluded that issues requiring further investigation include: • Alignment of usability work for application development with business process reengineering activities; • Co-ordination of usability as a shared responsibility between the seller organisation and major user/customer organisations. [3] The second case study reports on HFRG and UT involvement with several initiatives related to the Electronic Customer Access project which is a broader strategic initiative for the development of electronic including web-based retail customer access capability for Telstra. This strategic initiative aims to provide Telstra’s retail customers with online access to a range of functions including product information, fault reporting, and 1
the capacity to order and pay for telecommunications products online. The involvement of the UT has addressed the user interface design for a customer initiated ordering application. The findings indicated the need to understand the following issues; • What customers expect from an electronic online presence • The way that customers are used to interacting with sales representatives; and • Customers conceptual model of Telstra. The involvement of the HFRG has addressed the design of a product catalogue. The assessment of the prototype found a number of usability issues for example use of terminology that is meaningful to Telstra’s customers; product categories that are intuitive from the customer’s perspective; and ensuring design consistency through what will be a large and complex electronic shopfront for Telstra. The issues identified for customer-initiated ordering and the product catalogue design are indicative of the challenges faced by a telecommunications company which offers a wide range of often complex products, in moving retail transactions from a situation where they are mediated by skilled and experienced customer service staff, to an electronic environment. Overall, it is concluded that electronic commerce raises a number of new problems for telecommunications human factors research. Some of the key areas where further investigation is needed are: 1. The impact of usability compared to other factors on the uptake of electronic commerce systems. 2. How can human factors involvement with the development of electronic commerce systems be coordinated with business process changes that usually accompany the introduction of such systems in industry. 3. The development of models for the integration of usability in the software development lifecycle for the different types of e-commerce development projects. Introduction Worldwide there has been a dramatic increase in commercial transactions via the internet over the last several years [4]. Web based electronic commerce can be divided into two major market sectors, “retail” e-commerce or electronic shopfronts where individual consumers can purchase goods online, and “wholesale” e-commerce, which involves both business to business and business to government transactions. In common with other telecommunications companies Telstra has been seeking to develop a presence in e-commerce both in terms of selling and providing a range of services itself via the internet and as a service provider providing the capability for third party transactions over the internet. One key characteristic of electronic commerce is that it removes the "middle-man" allowing customers to purchase products directly without interaction with a sales person [5]. This factor has major implications for telecommunications companies such as Telstra which as large, historically government organisations find it challenging to quickly adapt their internal systems and processes to reflect a rapidly changing external environment. The first overall aim of the present paper is to analyse the role of telecommunications industry human factors research in the development of web based electronic commerce This issue is discussed in the context of two case studies drawn from the combined experience of Telstra Research Laboratories, Human Factors Research Group (HFRG) and IBM-GSA Usability Team staff in working with a variety of electronic commerce 2
initiatives that Telstra is currently undertaking. The Human Factors Research Group is a part of Telstra Research Laboratories the research and development division of Telstra, one of Australia's leading telecommunications companies. The Usability Team was established initially by the HFRG within Telstra's then Information Technology Group and is now a part of the IBM-GSA a joint venture company with Telstra & IBM Global Services which is a preferred supplier of IT systems development and application maintenance for Telstra. The HFRG was established as part of Telstra Research Laboratories by Dr Gitte Lingard in the mid 1980s. Starting with a staff of two and growing gradually to its current strength of thirteen, the HFRG carries out human factors research on the range of Telstra's products services and internal systems. This includes technologies ranging from interactive voice response, speech recognition, graphical user interface, www interface technologies, and user interfaces for mobile phones and other mobile devices for example personal digital assistants. In 1994 Dr Gitte Lindgard from the HFRG, working with Dr Deborah Zin, a Manager in ITG Strategy and Direction, established the Customer Support Platform Usability Team in Telstra's then Information technology Group [6]. The Usability Team was established initially to provide a dedicated team focussed on usability for the systems used by Telstra staff in serving customers. When the Information Technology Group was outsourced in a joint venture with IBM-Global Services the Usability Team was also outsourced and is now in the role of a preferred provider of usability services to Telstra. As noted previously, e-commerce systems significantly change the relationship between buyers and suppliers by providing buyers with direct access to products and services [4]. Telecommunications companies may be involved in e-commerce both to enable the marketing of their own products and services, and as a third party provider of ecommerce services. Involvement in the development of systems from the perspective of a user organisation on the one hand, and as a vendor on the other, has different implications for effective integration of usability in the system development life-cycle. The second overall objective of this paper is to explore the implications telecommunications companies different types of involvement in e-commerce for the effective integration of usability in the development process for e-commerce systems. In summary the objectives of the present paper are to: 1. Analyse some of the implications for telecommunications-industry-based human factors research of the ways that telecommunications companies are engaging in ecommerce development. 2. Present some case studies of the ways usability work has been provided for ecommerce projects, and identify some of the key issues that have emerged. 3. Set out a proposed agenda for further investigation regarding usability issues for electronic commerce. Participation of telecommunications companies in e-commerce Telecommunications companies, in general, participate in electronic commerce both as service providers at various levels and in using electronic commerce technology to market their own products and services. In line with telecommunications companies worldwide, Telstra has embarked on a range of electronic commerce initiatives in both these areas. The table below summarises some of the major roles that Telstra has taken in various electronic commerce initiatives in various market sectors. The cells in the 3
table also show where the case studies discussed in the next section sit in relation to the various types of electronic commerce initiatives.
Government Agencies
Marketing Telecommunications products and Services "High end" e-commerce initiatives. Often replacing and/or supplementing dedicated EDI technology with web based access.
Providing a capability for third party transactions Telecommunications companies as trusted carriers providing the capability for business to business and/or business to government transactions. (See case study 1.)
Major Corporates Small to medium size enterprises Providing web based access for Telecommunications Retail customers ordinary retail customers. (See companies providing a third case study 2.) party capability for web based retail transactions. The first column in the figure deals with those cases where Telstra is adopting electronic commerce to market its own products and services both to other organisations and to retail customers. The second column deals with those cases where Telstra is acting as provider of electronic commerce services both for retail companies and for organisationto-organisation electronic commerce. Case Study 1: Human Factors Research Group involvement with a business-togovernment e-commerce initiative The Transigo project was undertaken by Telstra in strategic partnership with the Australian Commonwealth Government [6]. The objective of this project was to develop and implement an internet-based electronic commerce system to support the full range of transactions between private sector supplier organisations and Government agencies involved in purchasing. The principal stakeholders for the project and their respective roles were: • Purchasing Australia - an arm of the Australian Government public service responsible for setting up the policy framework and developing practise for Government agencies to implement procurement reforms using Transigo. • Telstra - responsible for commissioning and developing the system. • Aspect Computing - prime subcontractor responsible for application development. • Various other vendor groups - responsible for developing components of the system. The involvement of the HFRG was sought by the Telstra project manager in early to mid 1996 and was concluded by mutual agreement in mid 1997. Key areas of human factors input to the project during this period of included: • Input to the contract & requirements specifications between Telstra & Aspect. • Substantial input to the development of a web page design styleguide. • Several heuristic assessments of the user guide. • A user needs assessment for one of the pilot adopters of Transigo - the Bureau of 4
• •
Meteorology . A limited user needs assessment for supplier company users, based on interviews conducted at a supplier company forum. Usability testing involving end-users from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Reviewing the history of the HFRG engagement with this project indicates several key questions that need to be addressed in future. The first of these concerns the factors involved in user acceptance of e-commerce technology. There was some evidence that Government users saw ease-of-use as critical, whereas suppliers saw functionality as critical. The stress on functionality by suppliers seems likely to be a reflection of the relative novelty of e-commerce in the Australian business community. Consistent with the first stage of the market maturity process, suggested by Spool (1997), these users were most interested in whether this new product offered them significant advantages over their current way of doing business not whether the product was easy to use. A key issue, in providing human factors input to this project concerned the difficulty in obtaining direct interaction with and/or information regarding end-users of the system. This problem was a direct reflection of Telstra's role as prime contractor for the system with no direct links to either buyer or supplier organisation users of the proposed system. It is notable in this context that the contract between Telstra and purchasing Australia made only very general reference to a need for the system to be easy to use. As a matter of record, the contract has recently been terminated. While a range of factors was involved in this outcome, one issue reported was widespread dissatisfaction with the system by end-users [8]. Case Study 2: HFRG and UT involvement with the development of web-based access e-commerce capability for retail customers This case study draws on HFRG and UT involvement with several related initiatives which are components of an overall strategy to provide electronic access, including a web- based e-commerce capability, for retail telecommunications customers. The customer initiated order project was developed to provide an alternative channel for customer initiated orders and after-sales customer care for retail products and services. The project was commenced as a joint initiative between Telstra's consumer and mobile business units. Usability team inputs to this project included usability testing of a pilot version of the site and a conceptual design workshop that aimed to address high level design considerations. The conceptual design workshop identified as a key issue the lack of data about how customers interact with Telstra. Findings from a variety of other activities suggested that some of the key concerns for retail customers were: • Provision of useful functionality rather than visually appealing site. • Have significant difficulty finding information in general whether searching, browsing or using categories. • Impatience with and even resentment of advertising materials. • Tend not to read instructions. •
Tend to return to the home page or a fixed point of reference before embarking on the next activity.
The products index located on the Telstra web site enables customers to search or 5
browse for information about products and services. The HFRG input to this project involved usability testing of two alternative layouts for the product index. A keys issue addressed by the testing was whether positioning of the navigation panel on the left or right was preferable in enabling customers to easily search for a product or service using the site. The testing also addressed design of a Dynamic Tree Menu for the site. One of the key findings to emerge from the testing was that customers experienced significant difficulty with interpretation of the names, categories and descriptions of products and services. A study by the UT investigated a new categorisation scheme for the front page of the Telstra web site. Using a card sorting methodology, this study developed a new set of categories for information displayed on the web site. In the first part of the study the participants sorted cards with the names of 60 items of information into categories. In the second phase of the study participants attempted to locate specific items of information using both the existing site categories and the new scheme. One of the major findings was that it is essential that language used to describe products and services be assessed for meaningfulness to users unfamiliar with internal corporate terminology. Conclusions Factors influencing organisational and retail users' acceptance of e-commerce One of the major issues that emerges from the case studies concerns those factors influencing user acceptance and spread of e-commerce, and the relative importance of usability as one such factor. One study of factors influencing adoption of internet stock trading found that users' concerns, expectations, perceived ease of use, value added and trading behaviour were critical determinants of their adoption of internet-based trading [9]. A further issue that emerges in this area concerns the importance of a number of end-user subjective attitudes to commercial transactions. Perhaps the most critical of these is the perceived "trustworthiness" of the transaction mechanism [10]. One published study investigated what aspects of user interface design impact e-commerce site traffic and sales [11]. While the study is quite limited, the findings suggest that the biggest impact by far on site traffic and sales comes from design of the product list, and that some issues which have been considered to be important in web-site usability (e.g. number of levels in the site) have little or no impact on these outcome measures. Aligning usability activities with business process re-engineering Another area where further work is needed concerns methods for aligning usability activities in the development life-cycle with business process re-engineering. Application workflow for organisations using e-commerce is necessarily substantially shaped by the business process that end-users follow in carrying out a transaction, for example selling a product to a customer, or purchasing a product from a supplier company. However the introduction of e-commerce is normally intended to enable redesign of the business processes. Integrating usability in the systems development life-cycle for electronic commerce One further consideration that emerges, particularly for the first case study, concerns how usability can be effectively integrated in the development life-cycle in those projects where telecommunications companies are acting as third party providers of ecommerce. Development contracts for these projects need to clearly specify what the 6
clients business objectives are, what the usability objectives are, and how these will be met in the development process. While this will be difficult for telecommunications companies who are acting as prime contractors in this situation, clear specification of these objectives can minimise the risk for the prime contractor as well as the customer [12]. Directions for further investigation One key area where further investigation is needed concerns those factors influencing organisational and retail acceptance of e-commerce. In particular, it would be highly desirable to have more information on the importance of usability compared to other factors ( for example provision of key functionality), in influencing the uptake of ecommerce systems for organisation-to-organisation e-commerce. This would enable better informed prioritisation of usability work for these types of systems. For retail ecommerce systems, the key issue is to develop an understanding of how retail users of telecommunications understand telecommunications products and services, and their expectations about interacting with telecommunications companies. Alignment of usability activities for e-commerce systems with business process reengineering presents a number of organisational and conceptual challenges for human factors specialists. Often the business processes being modified will be in separate organisations than those responsible for development of the e-commerce system (see case study 1 for example) and there may often be a range of organisational barriers between the human factors specialists and the business process specialists. Another area where further work is indicated concerns the specification of usability in IT contracts for e-commerce systems. This issue is discussed in [6]; where it is suggested that contracts and requirements specifications need to identify system usability goals. For organisational e-commerce systems this presents particular challenges, since organisational e-commerce is likely to involve usability issues across multiple organisations. Optimally, it would be desirable in such situations for partnership agreements to enable joint usability activities for buyer and supplier organisations proposing to use the new system. This will require development of different approaches to IT contracts [12], and acceptance of such approaches by business decision makers.
Acknowledgments -The work reported in the case studies discussed in this paper was conducted by members of the Usability Team in IBM-GSA and members of the Human Factors Research Group at Telstra Research Laboratories, including the author. The permission of Dr Hugh Bradlow, Director of Telstra Strategy and Research to publish this paper is gratefully acknowledged.
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