When a client is faced with the decision to select a Digital Asset Management system or Content Management System I often see a battle play out in the decision making process between user experience (user interface) and system functionality.
Usually in the early stages of system evaluation a product is measured by functionality against a set of requirements. Products that look good on paper are then evaluated in Web-based or in-person demos.
Once the end users get chance to see the product in action, user experience begins to trump functionality. In discussions with clients after a demo hear things like "I really liked how simple and easy to use that system seemed" or "Everything on that system seemed complex and disorganized." Of course, much of the user experience on display during the demo has to do with the skills of the presenter (Author note: I'm working on a blog about the importance of giving a good demo).
It's true that a simple, sleek and easy-to-use interface will help in training new users of the system. It can also allow users that have not been trained to easily pick up and teach themselves how to use the system. The speed at which you can train new users and increase adoption of a new system presents an opportunity for a change management win.
If you choose a system based primarily on user experience, the lack of additional functionality may become an issue after the training and adoption phase. You might start hearing things like "If only the system could do X" or "It really annoys me that the system does this instead of this." Feature requests start pouring in and custom development costs begin to rise.
Conversely, implementing a new system that has tons of bells and whistles but lacks on the user experience can take longer to implement and can become more of a change management hurdle. The features are all there but it could take extensive training to show users how to do the various tasks in their workflow. If the system isn't intuitive, users may not use it.
So can you have it both ways? Can you have all the features and functionality while still having a great user experience? The answer is yes, but is usually more expensive.
Additionally if you find that you are faced with the choice of functionality vs. user experience you should ask a few key questions to your vendor finalists: How many customer-based feature requests have you integrated into your core product over the last year? How customizable is the user interface of your product?
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