Your Web Site May Be Broadcasting, We Dont Really Care," Says Usability Psychologist Susan Weinschenk, Threatening Your Organizations Survival

When money gets tight in corporate budgets, recessions hit, and people get laid off, making computers and web sites more usable is one of the first things to go out the window. The official reason given is: There isnt money to spend on that right now.

For: Weinschenk Consulting, PO Box 226, Edgar, WI 54426.
Contact: Susan Weinschenk, (800) 236-2599, susan@weinschenk.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Your Web Site May Be Broadcasting, We Dont Really Care," Says
Usability Psychologist Susan Weinschenk, Threatening Your Organizations Survival

Edgar, WI - When money gets tight in corporate budgets, recessions hit, and people get laid off, making computers and web sites more usable is one of the first things to go out the window. The official reason given is: There isnt money to spend on that right now.

Return on investment and bottom line... those are handy terms to use when you werent really committed to something in the first place, and now need a convenient reason to ditch it," contends Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., a psychologist who studies humans interactions with technology. We are seeing businesses put on hold their efforts to make technology more usable. This is exactly the opposite of what should be done in tough times. The companies that thrive when customers and stockholders get skittish exist not only to make money, but also to make a difference."

By making a difference," Weinschenk means that companies need to reaffirm as a basic purpose how they improve life for customers. This might involve making peoples feet more comfortable by manufacturing great shoes, helping people emerge from a crisis with superior insurance products and services, providing medical technology to people who are ill, or furnishing power that fuels homes and businesses and therefore fuels peoples dreams.

If computers, intranets and web sites are hard to use, this sends a message to the people who have to use them that technology is more important than human beings," says Weinschenk, who was voted one of the Top 100 Women in Computers in Open Computing Magazine. It says, we dont see you as a living, breathing person with hopes, goals and dreams but as an inanimate cog in our business plan. More and more, employees and customers recoil from that attitude. Theres more to business than cold, hard profit. Understanding your true business purpose and showing human consideration in your technology are key to riding out a rough economy and staying strong."

For organizations wishing to demonstrate their concern for stressed-out web site and computer users, Weinschenk Consulting offers a free Online Usability checklist at
http://www.weinschenk.com/tools/online_checklist.asp.