Enterprise Information Systems: Three Australian Medical Health Websites - Case Study Example

University> Report on Enterprise Information Systems by Introduction 3 Web Users 5 Product Focused 5 Researchers 7 Analysing the three websites 8 Search for finding Medibank. 8 Fig.4 NIB Member Joining Process 11 12 BUPA Search Process from a System Perspective 13 Rating and Evaluation of the Three Websites 15 Content 15 Layout 15 Navigation 15 Links 16 Graphics 16 Suggestions for improving the three websites 17 How to Improve Medibank 17 Reduce Clutter 17 Use colour strategically 17 Give Visitors breathing space 18 How to Improve BUPA 18 Pagination 18 Space Text Blocks Sufficiently 18 Use Bulleted Lists and Text Formatting 19 How to improve NIB Website 19 Professional logo 19 Invest in professional photography and graphics 20 Mobile Applications 20 Impact on Portable Gaming 21 Impact on Traditional Websites 22 Security and Privacy 22 Mobile applications in Africa 23 Recommendations on Mobile applications. 24 References 25 Introduction Web accessibility means in simple terms means that people with various forms of disabilities can effectively use the Web. More importantly, it siginifies that people with disability can navigate, understand, perceive, contribute and interact with the web (W3C). It covers all forms of disabilities that can affect access to and Web experience including, visual, neurological, physical, cognitive and auditory disabilities. Web accessibility not only looks out for those people with disabilities but also the slightly older generation with changing abilities due to ageing. According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization in 2011, approximately 17% of the world’s population has a form of disability that could affect their web experience (WHO, 2011). Additionally, the prevalence of disabilities is bound to grow even further due to a combination of an increasing global chronic diseases and an ageing population. The Web is increasingly becoming an integral part of our daily lives: employment, health care, education, government, recreation, commerce and so on. It is imperative that the Web gives equal opportunity and equal access to people with disabilities, this way it will give them unparalleled access to interaction and information to accord them the chance to actively participate in the society. Web accessibility is also beneficial to people without disabilities. For instance, a basic principle of Web accessibility is coming up with websites and softwares that capabilities to meet diverse user need, situations, and preferences. This flexibility not only benefits those people with disabilities but also those people whose have temporary disabilities such as a broken limbs or changes brought about due to ageing. Accessibility barriers to visual, audio, print media can be overcome much more easily through Web technologies. The purpose of this report was to conduct a preliminary study, reviewing and comparing three Australian medical health websites namely BUPA, Medibank and NIB, excluding the log in page with the purpose of finding out their functionality and usability. Similarly, the report looks at two user groups and their specific needs on choosing a health fund website based on health fund product from BUPA. Likewise, the report looks the process of doing a search on Medibank, NIB member’s joining process and BUPA searching process form the systems perspective. The report also evaluates the websites pointing out one strength and weakness for each site and it proposes 9 specific suggestions for improving the websites, 3 for each websites. Additionally, the report synthesizes findings from 5 sources of materials that discusses about the social benefits of mobile applications and why they are recommended. Web Users There are different types of web users on the internet out there at this very moment browsing for anything and everything on this earth. Not everyone who will visit a website, will be interested in the products that are offered. The best way is to know the different types of website and what will likely captivate their attention so as to increase the chances of making a sale to them. Product Focused Product focused are the type of web users who know exactly what it is they want when they go online to shop for it. Most likely, they have already done prior research both online and offline and they have already made their choice but they prefer to make purchases online. These types of shoppers are goal-oriented. They know exactly what it is they need and they want the site to direct it to them as quickly as possible without having browse through lots of pages or to perform complex searches. These types of shoppers main aim is to identify their product, confirm, and make the purchase. Some may not even look at the product description in details, a quick glance at the brand name and the picture will likely confirm to such shoppers that it is the product they are looking for and they will purchase it. If such a product-focused user were using BUPA’s website, they would want to find a package that suits their need on the homepage without having to search for it through countless pages. Their goal is speed. BUPA’s website’s homepage scores highly on this. It has products right on the homepage without forcing users to do extensive searches to get information such a user may not be in a hurry but their personalities doesn’t allow them to linger and spend a lot of time admiring a website. Such a user might even notice a good bargain on the website but they will not dwell on or get distracted by any other product once their minds are made up. To capture the attention of product-focused shoppers, web designers need to design websites and pages that offer a proper identification of the products through descriptive names and well thought out images, the sites should have an intuitive search that will display relevant results which will make it easier for such users to identify their products easily. Designers should also keep in mind that such users do not like to spend a lot of time on websites so they should include a site map to make it easy for them to identify their location. Additionally, designers have to put in place an easy check out system for such users so that they can make their purchases as fast as possible. Researchers Researchers are web users who are focused much the same way like the product focused and they are primarily goal driven. They browse with the plan to purchase a product but the purchase may happen that day, a day later, the following week, or even in months to come. They are most likely gathering information about different types of products and their costs and they might be at any stage of their research process. These types of users may be learning about different products, or they may be having sufficient information and they may just be searching for the best combination of offered features. These types of users may browse through a site multiple times to gather sufficient information first before committing themselves. The goal of any business is to make a profit and as such, the main aim is to turn these researchers into paying customers. Trust will be of essence to these types of users. If they get detailed product descriptions, clear navigations, and excellent support they will be more inclined to make a purchase. However, if the site offers unclear product information and poor support, they will not bother spending time on the site leave alone making a purchase. BUPA again scores highly on this. It has detailed product description as well as general health information under the health and wellness tab. It provides easy product comparison, which is essential for such users. It also provides consistent product information that the researcher type can use to make an informed decision about the product that they want as well as determine the differences between products. Analysing the three websites Search for finding Medibank. Fig. 1. Medibank home page. Fig 2. Medibanks members log in page. Fig 3 choosing a medical cover plan Fig.4 NIB Member Joining Process The NIB new member joining process is an easy straightforward process. Once you access the NIB website, on the homepage you will clearly see a tab labelled “join nib.” The home page is attractive; it is neat and clean and it does not have a lot of information unnecessary information. On hovering the mouse around the “join nib” tab, a drop down menu appears and lets you choose the category that you would like to join. Primarily, there are three main options that appear on the drop down menu; ‘Health Insurance,’ ‘Life Insurance,’ and ‘Travel Insurance.’ From that step it is the prerogative of the user to choose the type of insurance that they want. On the homepage, there are also dedicated tabs for the three types of insurance that the company offers. If a user would like to get additional information about the type of insurance that they would like, they can just click on any of the three tabs and they will be able to access all the information that they require. Fig. 5 NIB clients Details forms Fig 6 client registration process BUPA Search Process from a System Perspective fig 7. BUPA homepage screenshot Fig 8. BUPA search Results Fig 9. BUPA Search Process The BUPA search is quite an intuitive process. When you log into BUPA’s website, the search bar is places strategically on the top right hand corner where it is easily accessible. The primary navigation option are lined horizontally in a menu on the top of the website while the secondary navigation options are place underneath the primary one. Also, there is a vertical side menu bar on the left corner of the website that easily facilitates navigation. As displayed in the screenshot in fig. 5. BUPA provides multiple search options. One for the general search placed on the top right hand corner about general details on the websites and the others provide multiple search options for various health policies and medical covers that the company offers. Rating and Evaluation of the Three Websites There are different criteria’s for evaluating websites, however for the purpose of this report I evaluated the websites based on their content, layout, navigation, links and graphics. Content The three websites, BUPA, Medibank and NIB all performed remarkably when it came to content. Out of a possible score of 5, NIB scored 4, it had well stated and clear purposes about their business and the message was clear throughout the website. The same goes for BUPA. However, when it came to Medibank, I rated it at 3 point out of a maximum of 5 when it came to content. The site has clear purposes and themes but some elements seem not to be related. Layout BUPA had the best layout; it was simple, clear, and uncluttered. It had an exceptionally usable and attractive layout which made it easy to locate most of the important elements. The same goes for NIB, both of them utilized white spaces and proper graphic alignment to make the sites more legible and attractive. Out of a possible score of five, I rated them at 4. On the other hand, Medibank had the least score of 2.5. Even though it had an attractive layout, the homepage had too many details. This gave the impression of a poorly done website, with too many details that overload a visitor and distracts them from the main purpose of visiting the website. Navigation When it came to navigation, NIB scored the highest. I gave it a score of 4 out of a possible 5. The links for navigation were clearly labeled and they were also consistently placed which allowed for easy movements from related pages both backwards and forwards. Even though it was a big site, it was hard to get lost. The same can be said for BUPA although i gave it a score of 3.5 out of 5. The reason is that all the links in the sight were clearly labeled; however, not all of them were consistently placed throughout the site. Conversely, Medibank still performed poorly when it came to navigation. Medibank’s homepage had too much information and too many links, it was cluttered, and that made navigation quite a challenge. To add to that, the page was unnecessarily long and it required a lot of scrolling down to get to the footer where one could access other useful links. For this reason, it gets a score of three out of a possible five. Links Surprisingly, when it came to links, Medibank had the best score of 4.8 out 5. All the links that I evaluated were working. There was not even a single link and in addition to that, all the external links redirected to credible sites. The reason why the website does not get the maximum points is that I did not evaluate all the possible links in the website. Both BUPA and NIB also scored highly when they were evaluated according to their links quality. None of them had a broken link and all of their internal links worked perfectly and pointed to the right information. Likewise all their external links linked to reputable sites. Both get a respectable score of 4.7. Graphics BUPA had the best graphics in all the three websites. All graphics had a uniform theme throughout the entire site, they were high quality, and they enhanced the readers understanding and interest. The images used for navigation on BUPA too had an ALT tag that described the image and its link to enable the visually impaired navigate the site. It gets a score of 5 out of 5 on this. NIB too scored highly only that it had a few misplaced images that really did not represent the company’s objectives and for this reason it got 4.9 out of 5. Medibank lagged behind too in graphics. Even though it had a uniform look and feel throughout the site, the colour choice was a bit dull unlike the vibrant colours that is expected from such a site. However, all the images had an ALT tag that described the image so that visually impaired people can use the site too. Suggestions for improving the three websites How to Improve Medibank Reduce Clutter Medibank should get rid of excess clutter. The website is a bit visually overloading with images and multiple colour combinations. It might some trivial but it might take some people quite a while to process information when confronted with a lot of options. They should reduce the images on the images on the homepage and instead focus on their main business; insurance policies. Medibank should also reduce the number of links in the header and footer on their homepage and their drop down menus. There are too many links on the homepage making the homepage unnecessarily long forcing the user to scroll down for long. Use colour strategically Even though the colour palette on Medibank’s website complement’s the colours on its logo, the colour choice is not striking enough to captures one’s attention. It is Luke warm and there are no colour codes for the most important links. Give Visitors breathing space Medibank has too much information on its homepage, there is a lot of information and images competing for attention and in the end none of them manages to quite capture that attention. With so much competing, the website visitor does not have enough space to breathe and absorb all of the information the site has to offer. They should control the white spaces between images and tabs and links. This will help improve user experience which might increase the returns from their website. How to Improve BUPA Pagination BUPA should paginate or limit the number of search results on their search pages. I found that it displayed too many search results on some of their searches. They should either limit their search results or they should number them and only display a handful on each page so that they do not over load visitors with information. Use of stock photography for the sake of just advertising has the opposite effect. They should revise their content and reduce unnecessary content. Space Text Blocks Sufficiently BUPA can consider putting enough spaces between words, characters, lines and paragraphs. I found that some of their words were spaced too closely and some of their paragraphs were either too close or too far apart. Spacing can radically affect the legibility of readers. This has an effect on the reading speeds and comprehension too. Use Bulleted Lists and Text Formatting BUPA should use bulleted lists and text formatting to make information on the website more appealing. Bulleted lists and text formatting are more appealing to the eye and they capture attention more easily because of their distinctive appearance from the rest of the text. They can utilize this to highlight their main selling points. They can do this by breaking up paragraphs into bulleted points and highlight important information in bold or in italics. How to improve NIB Website Use intuitive navigation NIB should provide secondary website navigational options just below the main navigation bar. It found that it has quite a confusing navigation layout. This can result in people opting to quit rather than trying to figure out where they are headed. The less important links can be put at the bottom of the page. Professional logo NIB should have a logo to help people identify their brand more easily. They should also place it prominently on their website. Likewise, they should also make sure that they have a professionally done logo in high resolution that should be place on the upper left side of their website. Similarly, the logo should have a link that re-directs a visitor back to the homepage. Invest in professional photography and graphics Nothing portrays cheap more than poorly done photography and graphics. Users with a keen eye can point out such materials easily and they will be left with a cheap impression about your company. NIB should look at the photos on their website. Poor photography and graphics that have nothing to do with your site are even worse than poor photography. NIB should either invest in professional photograph or stick to stock photography. Mobile Applications From early 2007 when the first iPhone was launched, users could attain the same experiences and functionalities of computers on pocket sized portable devices popularly known as smart phones. Since their advent these smart phones and their related software known mobile applications (apps) have become ubiquitous in almost all aspects of our daily live over. According to Mobilewalla.com, an app ratting website, the one millionth app was created and released to the public in 2011 and roughly 15000 apps are created and released weekly, even though most of those apps are duplicates or slight variations, such numbers are incredible for a new industry (New York Times 2011). According to recent reports by Cisco, worldwide mobile data traffic has more than doubled for the fifth year. Projecting this data into the future, the report further estimates that the worldwide data traffic from mobile devices will more than likely increase 19-fold between 2014 and 2019. Going by these trends, it is estimated that by the end of that period, there will be more than 10 billion mobile devices actively in use around the world (Cisco Visual Networking Index 2012). In essence, mobile devices will be the preferred mode of internet access as compared to desktop computers and laptops. Below are the social effects of mobile applications. Impact on Portable Gaming Before the advent of smart phones, gaming for majority of the “gamers” occurred on hand held devices such as the Sony PSP of the Nintendo DS. Smart phones have become ordinary, and ever since, practically thousands of free and low priced high quality graphics games have become readily available, leading to the evolution and revolution of the entire mobile gaming scene. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android Operating Systems (OS) have been customized and are currently capable of processing most of the inventive games. Consequently, the traditional portable gaming devices such as the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP are losing ground to the smart phones. (Holzer & Ondrus 2011). In 2009, the Sony PSP contributed 11% of generated revenue by the portable mobile games in America with the Nintendo DS accounting for 70% and the iOS and Android OS accounting to 19% and 11% respectively. A decade into the 21st century, Nintendo DS sales slumped to 55% of the revenues while games sales on smart phones picked up by 34% and 22% respectively. By 2011, the market share for the Nintendo DS had fallen to 37% while the Android and iOS market share had risen to account to 59% of the total revenues from lucrative portable gaming industry. In 2009, the revenue from the gaming softwares for the two smart phones platforms stood at $500 million, subsequently, the following year, they had risen to $900 million and by 2011 they had more than doubled to $1.9 billion signifying the rate at which mobile apps are taking over the digital scene (Holzer & Ondrus 2011) Impact on Traditional Websites Most people currently think that mobile apps will ultimately displace standard websites the same way portable compact disc (CD) players displaced portable cassette players and the same way CD players were displaced by iPods. Progress in mobile technology has transformed web programmers into mobile app programmers who are capable of programming the same websites into dedicated mobile apps. This trend of dedicated mobile apps supplanting websites is expected to increase for a number of reasons; To begin with, apps can be accessed anywhere on the go as long as there is a reliable wireless internet connection. To add to that, a lot of organizations and other websites administrators have already created customised similar mobile versions of their sites to take advantage of the smart phones and come up with optimised user interfaces, faster loading times and other notable features to take advantage of the functionalities of fast loading mobile browsers. It is not surprising that as of 2012, the total number of users accessing websites primarily from personal desktop computers were fewer than those who were accessing the same from mobile phones. Security and Privacy There have been multiple concerns and complaints about privacy and complaints due to the proliferation of mobile apps. With any personal and commonly used technology, comes along privacy and security issues. Most of the privacy issues arise from applications that have the ability to access mobile device unique device identifiers (UDIDs). UDID is a string of numbers specific to each device and meant to be anonymous. However, this is not the case for Apple. In order for anyone to use the Apple store, one has to formally register with Apple meaning they have all your personal details. Therefore, some applications have been able to positively identify people using a combination of UDID and other information. An example is Path, a social networking app that when downloaded the app would copy and transmit the whole contacts list, including e-mail addresses, names also all the phone numbers and other contact information straight from the device without the owners knowledge back to the database at the company’s headquarters. By tracking UDIDs, some advertisers can create user profilers across several apps and direct advertisements relevant to their profile. Similarly, there is no telling what government organizations can do with such vast amounts of information. Mobile applications in Africa In Africa, health practitioners with access to a combination of mobile health related (m-health) projects have been at the helm of utilizing mobile applications as a developmental tool (Granot, Ivorra, & Rubinsky 2008). These projects are many and range in scope and variety, from measles outbreak monitoring in Mozambique, to facilitating and aiding remote diagnosis and treatment in Zambia, to sending advisory messages on the various forms of contraceptives available in Uganda, Benin and Malawi. In South Africa, Malawi and Kenya, mobile applications are often used to send reminders and updates to HIV patients about the prescriptions and the available drugs and give community based health workers the chance to send details about patients from far flung areas back to the regional and national head quarters (Granot, Ivorra, & Rubinsky, 2008). In the Democratic Republic of Congo; mobile phones are broadening the reach and access of medical information by providing expectant women and mother a hotline number to call and ask for any information regarding their unborn and young children free of charge. Similarly, mobile applications have also been used to aid in the collection, monitoring, and measurement of medical data such as tracking and monitoring disease outbreaks. An example is a the affordable low cost medical imaging solution that uses readily accessible mobile phone technology to relay images and data to a server where professionals can offer better diagnosis (Buys et. al, 2009). Recommendations on Mobile applications. According to data Cisco Visual Networking Index (2012), there will be more mobile devices in the world than there will be people. There will roughly be two active devices for each person globally. Consequently more people will be accessing the internet primarily from mobile devices rather than from desktop or laptop computers. Therefore it is strongly advisable for companies to start plannign for this shift from websites as their primary mode of communication to mobile applications. References Buys, David Wheeler Piet, Susmita Dasgupta, Thomas, and Timothy S. (2009) .“Determinants of a Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Cell Phone Coverage.” World Development, 37(9): 1494–1505. Cisco Visual Networking Index, “Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2011-2016”, February 14, 2012, pp. 1-3. Holzer & Ondrus. (2011). Mobile Application Market: a developer’s perspective. Telematics and Informatics (28), 22-31 Jarvenpaa, S.L., Lang, K.R., Takeda, Y., and Tuunainen, V.K. (2003) Mobile commerce at crossroads, Communications of the ACM 46(12) 41-44. "One million apps, and counting at a fast pace". New York Times, December 11, 2011. 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