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Derek Kleckner
Certified Usability Analyst and Web Specialist
Premier, Inc. |
Usability training + enlightened management = immediate payoff
by Jesse Berkowitz
Premier helps hospitals improve their clinical and financial performance by:
- reducing costs through group purchasing
- strengthening quality & safety
- managing risk (insurance)
Premier's website must promote and service these distinct lines of business, each with very different target audiences. As the company undertook a major site redesign in the spring of 2006, usability was a primary concern.
| "Our philosophy was: listen, then design. You can never fully anticipate the voice of the customer – everyone has a unique perspective. You can know your customers but you still aren't them. No amount of training and empirical knowledge eliminates the surprises that occur by talking with real users." |
"We have a phenomenal amount of leadership support for the user-centered design process," says Derek, one of three CUAs at Premier. "Our management saw the value right away, so it wasn't a hard sell. This was a nice surprise, since I had heard some horror stories from colleagues at other companies whose executives don't get it."
Premier saw the redesign as an opportunity to demonstrate that it listens to the voice of the customer. The site architecture was overhauled and new language reflected the terminology of its users.
"Our philosophy was: listen, then design," explains Derek. "You can never fully anticipate the voice of the customer – everyone has a unique perspective. You can know your customers but you still aren't them. No amount of training and empirical knowledge eliminates the surprises that occur by talking with real users."
Since Premier is involved with so many aspects of healthcare, there were lots of people to represent in user testing, from CFOs to clinicians to pharmacists. Through interviews and user studies, Derek and his colleagues learned that customers wanted easier access to specific information relevant to them (e.g., contracts for group purchasing).
Premier streamlined its formerly crowded homepage and presents one coherent "voice" to clients in the new design, which went live in the fall of '06. Content also was pared down across the site – no simple task considering how many experts contribute to each section. Having direct customer input was the key to making such sweeping changes.
"We definitely saw the light of usability," exclaims Derek. "And the timing was right. I had just earned my CUA certification and was able to put the skills and techniques we learned to use immediately. It's definitely worth the time and investment to become trained and certified. The usability process works, and the results can be quantified. We're going beyond the website now and moving to institutionalize usability."
A beneficial byproduct of Derek's certification process was the "great network of helpful, like-minded people" he developed, including both fellow course participants and HFI instructors.
"I really became part of a usability community through the classes," he says. "One member of our certification track even set up a wiki for our group to stay in contact. It's wonderful to draw on each other for advice and support – that's something no amount of tuition can buy."
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