Use It or Lose It Is your business usable--or disposable? Figure it out before your competitors gain an edge.

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were going to create a medical device that would soothe andentertain children during the often-traumatizing process ofanesthetizing them, it would have to seem fun for kids and helpfulto doctors. "For physicians, it had to read as a fine-tunedanesthetic monitoring device," says the 48-year-old Cohasset,Massachusetts, anesthesiologist and inventor. "For kids, itneeded to read as fun."

What Hart faced was a thorny question of usability. The UsabilityProfessionals' Association describes usability as a qualityof a product that makes it easy to use and a good fit for itsusers. Usability is an established concern on the Internet, whereWeb site operators hire experts to evaluate their onlineportals' friendliness and ease of navigation. It's lessrecognized as an issue in product design, retailing and services;but according to Zurich, Switzerland, consultant DavidMcQuillen, it should be. "Simply put, I think mostbusinesses are too hard to use," he says. Poor signage,mazelike phone-call routing and counterintuitive Web sites areexamples of common usability failings, he explains.

Businesses should care about such things because usability is animportant element of competitiveness for most businesses, saysMcQuillen. To improve your usability quotient, make products,processes and the overall customer experience easy, useful andenjoyable. Check ease of use by looking for moments when customersseem confused or make mistakes. Study all aspects of the customerexperience, and remove or change those that aren't useful ordon't add value to the customer in some way. Enjoyability isoften overlooked, McQuillen says, but it's obvious thatcustomers prefer to buy from companies that provide an enjoyableexperience. If customers don't seem to enjoy any aspect ofinteracting with your firm, changing that will boost usability.

Techniques for evaluating your company's usability includeself-shopping-visiting your store, applying for credit,requesting service, seeking information and returning a defectiveproduct as a customer would. You can also learn by studyingcustomers as they shop. Start with key interactions, such asproviding information, making the actual sale, using the product orservice, getting after-sale support and making repeatpurchases.

Think about different types of usability, urges AaronOppenheimer, principal product behaviorist with Design Continuum, aBoston product development firm. "You can think of the productin terms of emotional usability as well as functionalusability," he says. "Does a can opener opencans-and make me feel good while doing it?"

Design Continuum addressed both issues when the company helpedcreate the pediatric anesthetic-delivery device Hart eventuallydubbed the Pedisedate. After several revisions, designers wound upwith a brightly colored headset that connected to a CD player or aNintendo Game Boy. It delivers music or game sounds through oneearphone, monitors oxygenation through sensors in the otherearphone, and delivers anesthetics through a snorkel that swingsdown in front of the child's mouth.

Most companies should recognize better usability in increasedsales, larger average orders, more repeat customers, less customerchurn and similar metrics. When Hart tested the Pedisedate at aresearch hospital, the usability he had worked to develop was anadvantage. Anesthesiologists appreciated the high-tech respiratorymonitoring; the young patients endorsed its usability differentlybut definitively, especially given the negative reaction childrentypically have to conventional methods of administering anesthesia."Of the initial 100 kids," says Hart, "we probablyhad 15 of them ask, 'Can I take it home?'"

Mark Henricks writes on business and technology for leadingpublications and is author of Not Just a Living.