Usability in IT-systems of financial firms

– A distant dream or reality?

Amira Roula

Abstract

Banks have long been early adopters of technology; when it comes to usability, this thesis shows that they are also early adopters of new academic research. The problem is not adoption of a usability way of thinking, but in the way this is communicated in an organization. This thesis argues that HCI research needs to shift focus to the organizational aspect of actually implementing usability, no matter which definition of usability is used.

A greater focus on usability work in the form of usability evaluation and inclusion of end users in iterative IT development projects will not only be beneficial for banks’ cost reduction efforts, it will also be beneficial for the external users of the banks’ IT-systems, the private consumers, in the form of more usable and time efficient systems.

Different usability evaluation methods need to be used, depending on the particular function or system to be evaluated. This thesis argues that VSM is an easy to use method that can be implemented when evaluating the usability of a system or function.