An Analysis of Software Usability in Small and Medium Enterprises

This essay critically analyzes software usability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Germany, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of an article on the topic. The analysis highlights the importance of user-friendly interfaces and the need for software companies to adapt to evolving market demands. While acknowledging the article's insights into non-technical challenges like poor communication and unrealistic goals, the critique points out its failure to adequately address technical aspects, the role of customer feedback in design, and behavioral factors influencing IT consumption. The essay also emphasizes the lack of knowledge and tools for implementing usability concepts in German SMEs and suggests improvements through knowledge sharing and incorporating customer inputs in software design.

Running head: PORTFOLIO READING CRITIQUE
Portfolio reading critique
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

1PORTFOLIO READING CRITIQUE
The purpose of this essay is to provide an analysis and a critical view of software
usability in medium and small enterprises in Germany. Key strengths and weakness of the
article provided will be analyzed. Then, few ideas and suggestions will be provided on how
to improve the situation and address key challenges.
The current competitive global market has mounted pressure on small and medium
software companies to evolve their software products on a regular basis. This is not only true
for Germany but also for the entire world. The growing penetration of affordable broadband
services has made it possible for us remain connected the entire time. The fruits that the
World Wide Web provides us are plenty such as software’s and applications that makes our
daily task easier to do. One of the key strength that has been identified that users does not
want to go into the technicalities involved but they want their software’s to have a user
friendly interface and is joyful to use. Software companies in Germany have identified these
boundary conditions. The article has failed to address challenges properly. In one of the
challenges mentioned in the article, the author described that most of the time project failures
occurs due to some non technical aspects that includes poor communication, lack of
understanding and unrealistic goals. However there are technical aspects too. Sometimes
under pressure from senior management, a developer has to release software for commercial
usage without proper testing (Bott et al., 2014). The bugs that are not captured will eventually
lead to financial losses for the company. The paper also fails to mention why information
technology has developed or progressed so much. Achievements of objectives such as
improving quality and productivity and ensuring feedback for customer satisfaction have not
been taken into account (Wasson, 2015). One of the key strengths of the paper is that the
author has recommended that the software industry must take cue from the mature
automotive industry. Concepts such as cross-functional integration and lean production have
come from the automotive industry. Customer feedback is one of the important aspects in

2PORTFOLIO READING CRITIQUE
software development. Inputs form customers should help in designing particular software.
Although, the author has mentioned plethora of ways of making software usable but failed to
address the importance of customer inputs for the design phase of software. Intensity of IT
consumption for employees in SMEs has been attributed to change in behavior along with
other factors (Tang & Zhang, 2013). Behavioral aspect was not taken into account. The
article has clearly addressed the usage of software products such as ERP and CRM in SME’s
of Germany (Scheiber et al., 2012). The article clearly mentions that there are lack of
knowledge, tools and know-how for implementation of usability concepts. However, the
paper does not discuss any recommendation. Quantitative and qualitative data collection
method shows regular interaction between clients and software developers however, the data
does not show that such interactions results in knowledge creation in relation to usability
concepts.
It can be concluded that few changes needs to be implemented to overcome the
weakness. SMEs in Germany need to ensure knowledge sharing to improve the use of
usability concepts in the enterprise.

3PORTFOLIO READING CRITIQUE
References:
Bott, F., Coleman, A., Eaton, J., & Rowland, D. (2014). Professional issues in software
engineering. CRC Press.
Scheiber, F., Wruk, D., Oberg, A., Britsch, J., Woywode, M., Maedche, A., ... & Plach, M.
(2012). Software Usability in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany: An
Empirical Study. In Software for people (pp. 39-52). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Tang, Q. Y., & Zhang, C. X. (2013). Data Processing System (DPS) software with
experimental design, statistical analysis and data mining developed for use in
entomological research. Insect Science, 20(2), 254-260.
Wasson, C. S. (2015). System engineering analysis, design, and development: Concepts,
principles, and practices. John Wiley & Sons.