In the present scenario, almost every business seems to have an incredible idea of developing software applications but
unfortunately due to the severe lack of technical expertise, they fail
to put things into practice. And that’s when the assistance of a
reliable software development company comes into play. The world seems
to be craving for more and more software’s and who thought that one day
mere basic messaging apps such as WhatsApp would be capable enough to
turn a business into a multi-million dollar project? Software
development is one such major phenomenon that no longer needs to be
acknowledged; it’s a major shift taking place across the globe.

Now can you name me some of the best apps available in the Google play
store or the Apple store? Well, Whatsapp, Facebook, Google Drive,
Instagram, Dropbox, Amazon, Spotify, Youtube and so forth. Now can you
tell me what is common among these apps? Do you know what is that one
fine ingredient that makes these apps a cut above? It’s their
user-friendliness. 

The following post focuses on the significance of user-friendliness in any software applications development project whether it’s small or big. You see it has been assumed that almost 90% of businesses, especially the small ones, do not take full advantage of the technology. Fortunately, that’s certainly not the case for mid-size and large-scale organizations. You see these people do have plenty of technical resources and help available who ensure how to integrate such
software applications and technology in the best possible way. 

What is meant by user-friendliness in software? 

Well, when you happen to choose a user-friendly software applications for
your organization, it means that you are incorporating one such software
that won’t bother your staff or make their lives miserable but at the
same time assist them to buy in and adopt seamlessly. 
As the name implies, user-friendly software is a kind of software applications that is easy to implement and use. It doesn’t really matter whether your
staff is techie or non-techie but such kind of softwares can certainly
assist well in making their work lives seamless and hassle-free. Now do
not misunderstand me here, I am not trying to say that the software
isn’t complex or feature-rich behind the scenes or that any random
person can simply get started with it. For example, no matter how easy
the accounting software is, it can seem pretty daunting in the eyes of a
lame person, especially one who doesn’t have any idea of what a general
ledger is. In technical terms, when you can observe a smooth flow in
the user interface of the software design then it is said to be
user-friendly software. Now, what makes software user-friendly?

What makes software user-friendly? 

Well, some certain qualities or criteria must be considered to make the
software applications more user-friendly and more likable. 

#1 Easy to install 

One of the obvious factors to take into consideration here is that the
software must be easy to install. I mean imagine a situation where one
particular software applications or technology takes hours and hours to
install or integrate with different existing procedures, then what will
you do? I mean you are running a business and I am sure you must have
tons of things to take care of. Fortunately, today more and more
cloud-based software applications is seen instead of on-premises ones.
So what happens here is there is no need for any kind of local
installations. 

Implementing tech within your existing space is
never easy, in fact, it takes lots and lots of effort before you even
plan to do so. Get ready with a reliable project team and provide them a
certain time to get trained with the software applications and how to
make the most of it. And even if you see it from the user’s point of
view, one of the major turn-offs for them is the complicated
installation procedure. 

#2 Easy to update

Apart from a seamless installation, the software applications must be easy to
update. You see when the updates are complex, users most of the time
tend to skip the procedure and end up using the same old version again
and again which is absolutely not the right thing to do. As a result,
this leads to bad results and you can lose your hands of a plethora of
security patches, memory leaks and other issues which keep on arising
with time. 

Now in order to develop user-friendly software applications, you have to ensure that the updates are simple enough and users do get benefitted from the hard work of the creator of the software. In case, if they don’t update at regular intervals, the emerging issues tend to make this software more vulnerable and less secure. 

#3 Seamless Navigation

I am sureyou must have been well-acquainted with the term seamless navigation.
In fact, what you may not know is that a user interface can say a lot
about a particular software. I mean when a particular software is hard
to navigate or riddled with, this surely means that the user interface
is not well-designed. And of course, an intuitive design makes it
extremely easy for the users to adopt the tool. In addition, the
software will never be a misfit especially when you try integrating this
one with your existing options. 

In addition to this, the main objective of using any kind of software applications or technology is to increase the efficiency and productivity of the organization. I mean there is no point in developing one that doesn’t help at all. Try
creating a solution that makes the job way easier and better and not the
other way around. 

#4 Error-handling 

Much like humans, even no software is perfect. Yes, several things can go
wrong in the development or deployment of software. So it is very
important to hire a reliable team of software developers who can help in
developing one that turns out to be effective in regards to
error-handling. Imagine there is an error in the software and it just
neither displays any kind of warning nor it tries to rectify the issue.
What to do? Here’s when troubleshooting is needed. You see, end users
are never responsible for reporting bugs. All they can do is call for
relevant support and allow them to resolve the issue. Of course, in this
scenario, several third-party tools and technologies can be used but
again there are fair chances of the same third-party tool not being
user-friendly. 

#5 Attractive and consistent design elements

Have you ever wondered why there is a lot of gushing going around about
design consistency in software? Well, when such things happen the UI
becomes pretty simple and even the end users can easily become familiar
with it. In fact, users tend to recall all the predictable patterns in
the behavior of the software and get to know it pretty well in a pretty
short span of time. 

You see users most of the time don’t even
care about if the UI is pretty or not, because for them aesthetics will
always be secondary to functionality. In fact, there are times when
looks, feel and functionality go hand in hand and this is how a seamless
user experience can be created. 

How to develop software that is more user-friendly? 

An ideal software development process is said when both the client’s needs
and how the end customer will use the software applications are
well-taken care of. It’s not just about the great aesthetics but how
efficiently they can provide value to the end user in the most
convenient way possible. To meet these demands or to kill two birds with
one arrow, you must understand why you are creating the particular
product, what kind of issues it will solve or what necessities it will
take care of. For that, you must consider all the below-mentioned
pointers, I am sure they can be of much help! 

#1 Get well-acquainted with your audience

One of the obvious yet important factors to take into account is getting
well-acquainted with your target audiences. By doing so, you can easily
figure out what kind of message or content most people care about these
days. For example, let’s say you are given a chance to talk in front of
hundreds of people and keep them hooked for a while. Well, how will you
do so if you have no idea about them? Let’s say you start talking about
accounting and finances but what if among those hundreds 80% of them are
pursuing arts or some other subject instead of accountancy? So you see
offering your target audiences exactly what they like is extremely
important.  

Now I am sure you must have been offered several
pieces of advice in regard to knowing your audiences. However, what you
are never ever told is what exactly you need to say to hook up the end
users for the long haul. Take a pause for a second, can you market your
business right now? This is something that will make you notice in the
eyes of the end users. It’s like you are reading their minds, you know
exactly what their pain points, challenges, ultimate objectives, desires
and so forth are. In short, you must be able to articulate their
problem. Here the buyer’s persona must be given prime importance. For
this what you can do is:

• Review demographics, data and information available regarding your end user
• Create their persona 
• Do ample research and conduct surveys
• Do not forget to see what your competitors are up to
• Take relevant and regular feedback
• Keep innovating and experimenting 

#2 Research about the Market

Knowing your end users or audiences is not just enough, you must also
understand what are the current market dynamics. Developing any
application or software applications is a complicated procedure. And I
am pretty sure after doing so much you don’t want your project to lag
behind just because you didn’t work out on your basics, i.e. the market
research. One of the best examples to think of is YouTube. The best
video streaming app was launched back in 2005. Do you think there was
any other ideal time other than this for the launch? I guess not! In
addition to this, during that time several video-sharing applications
came into existence but none of them could make significant changes in
the market such as YouTube. I am sure you will definitely agree with
this. 

Now here comes the big question, from where one can gather
relevant data? Some of the most trustworthy sources to consider
include:-

• Gartner
• Statista
• Google Trends
• Gallup
• Knoema

Analyzing your competitors is extremely important. By doing so, you might get to
explore something never seen before. In fact, some of the most amazing
ideas come from your competitors, I mean by spying on them. Here’s a
crucial tip, do not take any kind of metrics or pieces of information
for granted, no matter how you find it irrelevant.   

Final Thoughts

And this is it for now! You see, developing an app or software applications
does cost ample time, money and energy. So developing user-friendly
software can certainly be a life-changing opportunity to make your
business grow to the next level. I hope you did enjoy reading the post.
If so, feel free to share among your peers and help us in spreading the
word. 

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