Feature
Business investment in new technology shows no signs of slowing down, in spite of economic uncertainties. A recent survey from the Economist found that current and planned adoption rates across 14 emerging technologies were as high as 89% among the companies it surveyed. And even those businesses that aren’t pursuing frontier tech often pursue new solutions, such as a new accounting system or CRM tool with greater functionalities.
But these big investments might end up being big money pits if the tools don't work for the people meant to use it. For a tool to deliver on its potential value, business leaders must deliberately seek honest feedback from users and anyone who will be affected by the shift. Else, the implementation process and the ensuing change can meet resistance and sow confusion.
Usability testing is the best way to gain a realistic understanding of how a new tool will function, what drawbacks or challenges might exist, and which changes might be necessary for its success.
Why Usability Testing Should Happen Before Implementing a New Tool
Soliciting input from those who will use a new tool or system is key to effective usability testing. This is in part because those people can provide valuable insight and in part because their involvement in the process gives them greater ownership of the tool and its adoption.
“We know there’s always resistance to any change,” said Tobias Komischke, UX fellow at Infragistics, a company that provides tooling for developers and the digital workplace. “When you include some of the targeted users, they feel taken seriously. That helps a lot with acceptance.”
Claire Sears, manager of learning solutions at McLean & Company, emphasized that acceptance translates to use: “When users are included in the process, it empowers them to be part of the solution, leading to higher adoption rates and smoother change management.”
The details of users’ input are also highly valuable, since adopting any new tool — especially a major or expensive one — brings risk for a company.
“If you release something that doesn’t work for users, either it’ll have to be fixed at 100 times more cost, or the organization will have to suffer with suboptimal software,” said Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., principal at Nielsen Norman Group. “That has big productivity impact. Everyday, they’re wasting time on workarounds, suboptimal workflows and errors. That can sum to incredibly large numbers for a big company.”
Related Article: Don't Forget Change Management in Your Rush to Go Digital
4 Best Practices for Conducting Usability Testing
Usability testing is essential in helping companies avoid negative outcomes from new implementation projects. But it’s also important to design usability testing correctly to get the most benefit out of the process.
1. Start as Early as Possible
Experts agree that “the earlier the better” is a good guiding principle for usability testing. That’s because the process itself takes days or maybe weeks, and there must be time to act on the results.
“You want to do this as soon as possible,” said Komischke. “If you don’t have time afterwards to deal with the outcomes of the test, why do a test?”
Business leaders can — and should — still do the testing even if they’re past the early stages of choosing a tool, added Nielsen: “Even if you’ve already progressed, don’t wait until your next project.”
2. Know What You’re Looking for — and Then Observe
Komischke recommends starting with assessing the reasons for the testing — that is, defining what the test will measure.
After pinning down the “why,” testers should prioritize observing how users actually employ the tool when using it.
“One thing I want to emphasize a lot is testing must be based on people doing real tasks,” said Nielsen. “This is why observational research is important. What people say and what they do is different.”
That reality, he believes, is why demos are “deadly” for usability testing. “The person who’s giving the demo knows everything,” he said. “They’ll always click the right place and explain correctly. So, it seems very smooth, but the users might not have gotten things that smoothly on their own.”
Related Article: Change Management Ensures Success of Digital Transformation
3. Invite the Right People to Test
Not everyone needs to test the new tool. The testing group should include the people who will use the tool daily, as well as other staff who can benefit the assessment process in various ways.
Conference
Sep
16
HR Tech Conference Las Vegas 2025
Register
Conference
Oct
27
Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
“Work with managers to determine who will share their expertise, manage ambiguity well and help the project team think outside the box to support organizational needs,” said Sears. “Testers who feel their contributions have mattered will organically become champions of the tool and help others see the value in the change.”
There is no need to create a large testing group, either. In fact, keeping things small — without leaving any key users behind — will help make the process more expeditious.
4. Share Your Results Strategically
The aftermath of the testing is just as important as the planning and execution — and perhaps more so, since acting on the results is the whole point of the exercise.
It’s not uncommon for usability testing to uncover as many as 70 issues with a new tool, said Komischke, who recommends putting a prioritization schema in place to discern which are most urgent.
Another key step is sharing the results with the people who can benefit most from knowing them.
“The lamest thing is if you sit on really good data because you didn’t share it with the right people,” Komischke said. For one, “share it with the people who actually do the negotiations with the vendor so they can have ammunition to get a better deal.”
Related Article: Should You Include Employees in Digital Workplace Software Selection?
On the Road to Seamless Adoption
Usability testing is an indispensable step in the process of getting a new tool up and running — and enthusiastically adopted — in the workplace. That’s because, as Komischke put it, it “pulls open the curtain” on what the new tool may look like in practice when implemented at scale.
“Usability testing takes the guesswork out of understanding the needs and pain points of those who will use the tool in their day-to-day work,” said Sears. “It gives project managers the best chance of implementing a tech solution that end users are excited about.”
Following best practices for usability testing will put any organization on the road to seamless adoption of even the most complex new tools.
