The Usability Company Archive

Foviance, the expert in customer experience across digital channels, today announces five new clients who are all benefiting from its pioneering Experience Management services. The new projects span the telecoms, education, financial and publishing sectors.

UK ISP Eclipse Internet is using Foviance’s customer experience consultancy to support the redevelopment of its website. The project will employ Foviance’s usability analysis and information architecture services to improve levels of service for existing customers, while increasing online acquisition rates.

Foviance is also working with UK book publisher HarperCollins, to help it better identify and understand its audiences, with the objective of improving the user experience of its sites. Foviance’s Experience Management services will be used to increase traffic to its sites and boost sales, while simultaneously promoting the brand.

Education services are also high on Foviance’s new business agenda. Promethean, providers of interactive teaching aids, will utilise a combination of usability consultancy and on-line attitudinal surveys, to improve customer experience and boost conversion rates through its website.

Similarly, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the public body responsible for maintaining and developing the national curriculum and associated assessments, is using Foviance’s usability services and attitudinal analysis to support the redevelopment of its web presence.

Global investment management organisation Fidelity International is also using Foviance’s accessibility and usability consultancy. Assessment tools used to identify troubled areas will enable Foviance to recommend improvement to the site.

Formation of new company accompanied by introduction of pioneering Experience Management Service.

Recently merged WebAbacus and The Usability Company today launch Foviance, a company that offers businesses a brand new way of maximising the effectiveness of their digital channels and marketing campaigns.

With digital operations sitting firmly in marketing rather than IT budgets, experience management is now a crucial consideration for marketers. Foviance’s new Experience Management Service is helping to set a benchmark for the industry, by uniquely blending web analytics with usability consultancy to deliver regular, actionable insights into the effectiveness of digital interfaces.

The service is a European first. It combines WebAbacus’s web analytics software with the qualified usability consultancy of The Usability Company, providing organisations with a detailed picture of what happens when customers use their digital services, and advice on how to improve this experience.

The Experience Management Service accurately measures how digital channels are delivering against key business and marketing objectives, to help Foviance’s customers sustain competitive advantage and increase profitability. The service will be available across all digital channels including the Internet, interactive TV and mobile.

The name Foviance derives from the word “Fovea”, which is the part of the eye responsible for the sharpest vision. It reflects the clarity that Foviance brings to its customers’ understanding of the performance of their digital interfaces, as well as the company’s focus on innovation in this area.

Paul Blunden, CEO of Foviance (and formerly of The Usability Company) said: “By bringing the expertise of The Usability Company and WebAbacus together under one roof, Foviance is truly breaking new ground and creating a new kind of company. The combined expertise offered by Foviance enables it to measure, analyse and enhance the user experience across all digital interfaces. It is comprehensive experience management, which nobody has been able to offer to date.”

The Usability Company and WebAbacus today announced a merger of the two businesses. The as yet unnamed new company fuses industry-leading usability consulting and analytics technology to offer one of the most comprehensive customer experience services available in the world.

The combination of analytics software and survey technology with HCI qualified usability consultancy is a level of expertise that no other company can offer. It can tell organisations in such depth not only what’s happening when customers visit their websites, but also why and how to fix it.

The Usability Company and WebAbacus are European leaders in their field. WebAbacus is one of the few analytics packages in the world that can work across any channel. It was also the only European web analytics firm chosen to contribute to the Q2 2004 Forrester Wave™ report into website vendors for large B2C sites.

The new company will offer web analytics and usability consulting as a single managed service, as well as standalone services. It also has plans to take customer experience management even further, by integrating elements such as CRM, survey data and performance data. It counts 43 of the Top 100 FTSE as clients, has made initial projections for business growth of 90% per cent by 2006 (end) and employs nearly 40 people with some important hires to be announced shortly.

Paul Blunden, CEO of the merged company (and formerly of The Usability Company), said: “This newly created business has a complete skill-set to research, measure and improve a customer’s journey across an organisation’s website. It does this by fusing technology with behavioural consulting to a level of expertise that has never been seen before.

“Web analytics is vital if an organisation wants to establish website traffic patterns. Combining this with professional usability consulting means that we can now also analyse communication between a site and a user, and what is happening in the final part of the process – from finger to brain. It’s an enormous development for the customer experience industry. The recent huge increases in online marketing spend by brands leads to the need for top quality user experiences otherwise that marketing investment is wasted – usability, as well as analytics, plays a big role in this success.”

Ian Thomas, Marketing Director of the new company (and formerly of WebAbacus), said: “Forrester has predicted that web analytics firms worldwide will have to change to survive, and become 50 per cent software and 50 per cent consulting. More than ever before we should be determining what organisations need to measure, and why, to establish their true usability needs.

“Consulting offered by traditional web analytics companies is very limited. It stops at the provision of analytics data, and does not provide an interpretation of the results or recommendations for action. Merging the two companies sets new standards for customer experience by becoming the first to take these steps.”

The Usability Company, the UK’s foremost business-focused usability consultancy, today announces that it received a Commendation at this year’s Revolution Awards for “Agency of the Year”.

The Usability Company was shortlisted alongside major digital design agencies Dare, and Glue London. The Commendation is believed to be the first for a non design agency in the Revolution Awards eight years in operation.

“Effectively coming second against such an amazing array of large design agencies is a huge achievement which clearly sends a message to the industry that usability as a speciality is being accepted as an important aspect to any project” CEO, Paul Blunden.

The recognition comes at a successful time for The Usability Company. The business has experienced a 40 per cent rise in turnover in the last year alone, and its first-class client roster boasts 35 FTSE 100 companies. Recent clients include Bradford & Bingley, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Nokia, Camelot and Next.

Sven Krause has joined The Usability Company as a Usability Consultant. In his new role, he will develop usability proposals, analyse research findings and deliver client solutions to the company’s client list, which includes 35 of the top 100 FTSE companies.

Sven joins The Usability Company from world leader in IT services, IBM, where he was a usability engineer. Prior to IBM, he worked as a Research Associate at the University of Hamburg. Sven has particular experience of intercultural specifics in usability between Germany, the US, Italy, Australia and the UK.

For The Usability Company, 2005 has started with a bang. Last month it was shortlisted for Revolution Magazine’s Agency of the Year Award alongside major digital design agencies AKQA, Oyster, and Glue London. The shortlisting is a recognition of The Usability Company’s high standing within the new media industry.

The Usability Company is also setting new standards for the industry, with the introduction of a remarkably progressive employee package.

A flexible benefits system gives individuals more control over how they are rewarded for their contribution to the company. The scheme enables employees to ‘buy’ and ’sell’ benefits across their salary, healthcare, holiday entitlement and pension to suit their particular circumstances. This includes being able to ‘flex’ on holidays.

Usually associated with large companies, flexible benefits are not often found in small businesses and are even more rare in the new media sector. The initiative underlines The Usability Company’s determination to be recognised as the market leader in its sector for employee conditions.

The Usability Company, the UK’s foremost business-focused usability consultancy, today announces that its management team has completed a successful buyout of the 30 per cent stake held in the company by business incubator, Brainspark.

The deal comes at a successful time for The Usability Company. The business has experienced a 40 per cent rise in turnover in the last year alone, and its first-class client roster boasts 35 FTSE 100 companies. Recent clients include Bradford & Bingley, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Nokia, Camelot and Next.

The conclusion of the deal means that The Usability Company will once again be fully privately owned, with complete control over its direction and the services it offers to clients. It also means that the management team will be able to fully realise its vision for the company, which is to remain a pioneer for the Customer Experience Management industry.

A strong, vibrant company culture will be created through measures such as a flexible benefits package and flexitime for its employees, which will make The Usability Company the most attractive employer in its industry.

Paul Blunden, CEO of The Usability Company, said: “We are extremely excited about the buyout, which was driven by a belief that independence for the company and in-house decision-making on its strategic direction was the best option for our future growth. The company is on a strong business footing and the buyout reflects our absolute confidence in its future.”

The Usability Company’s Chairman is celebrated for ten years of contribution to the Internet.

Catriona Campbell, founder and chairman of The Usability Company, is one of 100 individuals to be recognised for her contribution to the development of the Internet over the last 10 years, by online marketing group E-Consultancy.

The award celebrates the first decade of the Internet, and recognises individuals for their input and influence on the growth of e-commerce and the Internet. It coincides with the 10th anniversary of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which was created in 1994 to promote the evolution and interoperability of the Internet, and the NOP World Internet User Profile Survey.

Nominated individuals were selected by 100 industry opinion formers, and E-Consultancy’s 25,000 registered website users. More than 600 names made it to the nomination list, and a shortlist of 100 was invited to attend ‘An Internet Decade’ event on 7 October.

The awards were created for UK individuals rather than companies. It was also designed to recognise not just those with high public profiles, but also those people who have contributed ‘behind the scenes’.

Catriona is a respected member of the Internet community, and in 2002 was voted one of the Top 50 most influential people in the Internet industry by Internet magazine. She is also a founding board member of the UK Usability Professionals Association, a former executive committee member of the British Computer Society’s Human Computer Interaction Group and a board member of the European Usability Forum.

Commenting on her nomination, Catriona said: “I’m proud to be named as a contributing force to the Internet revolution in the UK, and I’m sure the next decade will be just as exciting. A great deal of work remains in promoting Web usability and accessibility to the masses, but I’m pleased to be a part of this technology evolution.”