Usability Strategy and Service Design of a Rich Internet Application for a Major Pharmaceutical Company All Case Studies
Simplify the work by improving the tools
The Challenge
One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, with over $25 billion in sales annually, invested in a comprehensive digital asset library and delivery system designed to give sales reps the promotional materials they need at the touch of a button. The system boasted online ordering, downloadable documents, and a strong reporting functionality that provided up-to-the-minute data on outstanding orders, stock status, delivery times, and more. But managers and sales representatives needed to go to five separate websites to use the system. Each site had a different set of functions, a different look and feel, and a different user interface to master.
The challenge: consolidate the system and create a single user interface that would unify all five sites with a common look and feel.
The Electronic Ink Solution
Connecting the five websites into one easy-to-use Rich Internet Application was only part of the story. A tight launch schedule meant that Electronic Ink had to assess usability, analyze findings, and deliver a new set of function-rich designs — while development ran on a parallel path.
Electronic Ink performed an extensive usability analysis across all sites, then developed an effective strategy and solution set for unifying the user experience.
Throughout, we adjusted our design process to accommodate the time constraints. Working in tandem with a software integrator, Electronic Ink provided detailed wire frames and functional documentation so that a single site could be built and launched to meet the client’s goal — on time, and on budget.
Net Result and Impact
The system launch was a success — users found an online experience that worked seamlessly, without any sacrifice in functionality or control. Then came the real proof: follow-up user testing revealed that time-to-task measurements on the new system were 12 times more efficient.
What’s more, the new application won high accolades across the business — so much so that the end result inspired the funding of a new project.