|
Overall, the survey results show that IT decision-makers express positive sentiments about the Fluent user interface benefits. Respondents cite the “greater access to features and functions,” the “improved look and feel,” and the ease in creating “high-quality documents” as the most recognized benefits. For most organizations, end user productivity falls slightly for a period of a few weeks and returns to previous levels or improves as end users become familiar with the new user experience. IT organizations experience limited increases in help desk call volumes and IT support staff requirements associated with the new Fluent user interface. While just more than half of all organizations surveyed experienced an increase in help desk call volume, the majority of these respondents characterized the volume increase as “minimal” or “moderate.” More than two-thirds of respondents had not added IT staff to support end user transitions to the new user experience. Companies rely primarily on in-house and self-service training methods, such as online training, to support end users. The majority of companies do not require their users to take mandatory training. Though most respondents were not distinguishing between “general” and “advanced” users in their training programs, Forrester Consulting believes that this may be a beneficial practice for organizations considering Office 2007 deployments.
1. IT decision-makers report that users react positively to the benefits of the Fluent user interface.
Forrester Consulting asked respondents to indicate the level at which they agreed with a series of statements about the Fluent user interface. The strongest agreement among survey respondents related to access to new features and functions, the improved look and feel of the interface, and the ease with which respondents are able to create high-quality documents. More than 86% of respondents agree or strongly agree with statements related to these benefits (see Figure 1). Forrester Consulting believes that the improvements users have experienced in terms of functionality are primarily a result of the new “Ribbon” — the banner at the top of the desktop applications — that consolidates the toolbars and menus found in previous versions and displays functions and commands. The Ribbon allows users to more easily access a number of common and high-value commands related to document publishing, spreadsheet formatting, and graphics creation. This effectively exposes users to functions and commands that, while available, may have been less accessible to the average user in previous versions of Office. In addition to the Ribbon, Microsoft has made several changes to the core functions applicable to more advanced users, such as Excel pivot tables and PowerPoint charting. The value of these new features and functions is likely reflected in the positive responses to the statement about the end user’s ability to more easily create high-quality documents.
2. Many organizations experience a short-term decline in end user productivity, but believe the benefits outweigh the challenges.
Though respondents were generally positive about the benefits associated with the Fluent user interface, the data show that there may be a short period of reduced productivity in which end users adjust to the changed user experience. Commands that have become second nature to some users may be in new locations, resulting in an initial period of relearning. As a result of the user-interfacerelated changes, it was not surprising to see “Is easy to learn” and “Requires less time to accomplish the same tasks” at the bottom of the list of benefits listed in Figure 1. Despite the time required to adjust, however, Forrester Consulting believes that the learning curve will be short term for most end users. When asked how long it took for the average worker to become as productive as with previous versions of Office, 52.8% of respondents indicated that it took two weeks or less, and 4.9% of respondents said that end users did not experience a decline in productivity at all. A small group of respondents believe that the relearning process will take longer: 11.7% of respondents said that it has taken longer than six weeks for the average user to become as productive as with previous versions.
|
