Call

CUA of the Month – March, 2009

Maria
"Putting the user at the core of a project and convincing stakeholders of the benefits – that's a really satisfying achievement."
 
Maria José Palacio
User Experience Consultant
Bankinter

A Passion for Usability Pioneering User Experience Design in Spain

by Doug Gorney

"I am passionate about the discipline of user experience," says Maria José Palacio. "As a self-taught person, I have had to be."

Maria José Palacio was hooked on usability the moment she was first exposed to it in 1997 as a team manager at Informática El Corte Inglés, the corporate information technology and communications area of Spain's El Corte Inglés Group. "But user-centered design is still an emerging concept in Spain," she says. Without formal user-centered design training available to her, she had to be resourceful, relying on whatever material she could find. In 2004, she paid for usability courses she found at Open University in her hometown of Madrid. She brought that knowledge – along with CUA certification from HFI – to Bankinter, Spain's sixth-largest bank.

As a pioneer in online banking, Bankinter provided a welcoming environment for the User Experience Consultant. Bankinter was one of the first Spanish banks to build a transactional website. "To this day," Maria José says, "they are more technologically focused, across many channels, than other Spanish banks." That includes a full-time user experience team, part of Bankinter's Internet Group.

The awareness of user experience is still growing at Bankinter, she says, as it is in many Spanish companies, "User-centered design is new in terms of how much it is integrated across the business. We are doing a better and better job of selling products and services with usability. Even though each area of the bank – products, marketing and development – has its own priorities and interests, and sometimes it is hard to change the way other departments work, every area does has enough flexibility to reach consensus."

Maria says the Internet Group's mission is clear: it must put the focus on the user across the bank's online presence and throughout the web development cycle.

"My teammates and I have two very important roles in creating a better experience for our customers," she says. "First, we intermediate to make our current web initiatives as user-centered as possible. Business is business, after all – sometimes you have only three weeks to do a new website. So maybe you can't do user interviews, heuristic evaluations and so forth, but there are still usability tools you can employ."

"Second, and perhaps more important, we are creating the standards and usability criteria that will provide an even better user experience going forward."

Maria José and her team are fulfilling both roles in the mission-critical redesign task on Bankinter's three main websites, for the organization's individual and business customers and its online brokerage. Maria José has already put in five months on changing page layouts to incorporate a higher screen resolution, using the opportunity to create as many other user experience improvements as she could. The project has drawn on the full range of her user experience training, with extensive data-gathering – including user interviews – as well as analysis, use cases, page flow charts and wireframe prototypes.

"One of our biggest challenges is to design a usable interface balancing content for current customers and new ones." To do that, she is leveraging persuasion tools to pull in comparison shoppers and upsell existing Bankinter customers on other bank products.

Feeling that she could enhance the website's emotional design, she went to HFI's website and downloaded a white paper on PET design™ – "Usability Is No Longer Enough," by Dr. Eric Schaffer.

"Reading that paper confirmed that I was in the right direction," says Maria José. "You see, while our site is becoming more and more usable, it's also a little cold. You go to your task, get it done, and get out. If we understand the mood of the user, however, we can capture current customers and comparison shoppers with an emotionally engaging experience, and show them all the things that Bankinter can do for them. So, Dr. Schaffer's white paper turned on a light – gave me confidence that we should really be telling a story to draw the user in."

Maria José wants to use the redesign project to strengthen Bankinter's standard design process. "I have used a lot of usability tools since coming to Bankinter," she says, "and have shown their value to the whole Internet area. The techniques truly keep us focused on the user. Now I want to use personas so that we understand what our users will be coming to these sites for, and what they will be doing when they are there. After the redesign is completed, my hope is that working with these personas will be an integral part of a greater overall focus on the users."

As the most experienced usability consultant on her team, Maria José finds herself training her colleagues in user-centered design as well as recruiting and evangelizing for usability. An avid reader of HFI's user experience literature, "I download all of HFI's articles and white papers, read them, tell my team members about them and sometimes give them summaries in Spanish. I also recommend usability training to my teammates. They are so important to have and hopefully they will be more widely available in Spain soon."

She reflects on her enthusiasm. "You could say I really am passionate about usability. Because your focus is always the online customer, you're helping others with everything you do – improving the user experience, making the interactions richer, making the site more engaging. I can't think of anything more satisfying than that."

Sounds like Maria José's passion is paying big returns for Bankinter.

CUA of the Month

Each month we highlight the successes and achievements of a different member of our CUA community. If you are a Certified Usability Analyst and would like to be considered for CUA of the Month recognition, please send a brief professional bio to hfi@humanfactors.com

Privacy policy

Reviewed: 18 Mar 2014

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which Human Factors International, Inc., an Iowa corporation ("HFI") collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users (each, a "User") of its humanfactors.com website and any derivative or affiliated websites on which this Privacy Policy is posted (collectively, the "Website"). HFI reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of this Privacy Policy at any time by posting such changes to this page. You understand that you have the affirmative obligation to check this Privacy Policy periodically for changes, and you hereby agree to periodically review this Privacy Policy for such changes. The continued use of the Website following the posting of changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes an acceptance of those changes.

Cookies

HFI may use "cookies" or "web beacons" to track how Users use the Website. A cookie is a piece of software that a web server can store on Users’ PCs and use to identify Users should they visit the Website again. Users may adjust their web browser software if they do not wish to accept cookies. To withdraw your consent after accepting a cookie, delete the cookie from your computer.

Privacy

HFI believes that every User should know how it utilizes the information collected from Users. The Website is not directed at children under 13 years of age, and HFI does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age online. Please note that the Website may contain links to other websites. These linked sites may not be operated or controlled by HFI. HFI is not responsible for the privacy practices of these or any other websites, and you access these websites entirely at your own risk. HFI recommends that you review the privacy practices of any other websites that you choose to visit.

HFI is based, and this website is hosted, in the United States of America. If User is from the European Union or other regions of the world with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law and User is registering an account on the Website, visiting the Website, purchasing products or services from HFI or the Website, or otherwise using the Website, please note that any personally identifiable information that User provides to HFI will be transferred to the United States. Any such personally identifiable information provided will be processed and stored in the United States by HFI or a service provider acting on its behalf. By providing your personally identifiable information, User hereby specifically and expressly consents to such transfer and processing and the uses and disclosures set forth herein.

In the course of its business, HFI may perform expert reviews, usability testing, and other consulting work where personal privacy is a concern. HFI believes in the importance of protecting personal information, and may use measures to provide this protection, including, but not limited to, using consent forms for participants or "dummy" test data.

The Information HFI Collects

Users browsing the Website without registering an account or affirmatively providing personally identifiable information to HFI do so anonymously. Otherwise, HFI may collect personally identifiable information from Users in a variety of ways. Personally identifiable information may include, without limitation, (i)contact data (such as a User’s name, mailing and e-mail addresses, and phone number); (ii)demographic data (such as a User’s zip code, age and income); (iii) financial information collected to process purchases made from HFI via the Website or otherwise (such as credit card, debit card or other payment information); (iv) other information requested during the account registration process; and (v) other information requested by our service vendors in order to provide their services. If a User communicates with HFI by e-mail or otherwise, posts messages to any forums, completes online forms, surveys or entries or otherwise interacts with or uses the features on the Website, any information provided in such communications may be collected by HFI. HFI may also collect information about how Users use the Website, for example, by tracking the number of unique views received by the pages of the Website, or the domains and IP addresses from which Users originate. While not all of the information that HFI collects from Users is personally identifiable, it may be associated with personally identifiable information that Users provide HFI through the Website or otherwise. HFI may provide ways that the User can opt out of receiving certain information from HFI. If the User opts out of certain services, User information may still be collected for those services to which the User elects to subscribe. For those elected services, this Privacy Policy will apply.

How HFI Uses Information

HFI may use personally identifiable information collected through the Website for the specific purposes for which the information was collected, to process purchases and sales of products or services offered via the Website if any, to contact Users regarding products and services offered by HFI, its parent, subsidiary and other related companies in order to otherwise to enhance Users’ experience with HFI. HFI may also use information collected through the Website for research regarding the effectiveness of the Website and the business planning, marketing, advertising and sales efforts of HFI. HFI does not sell any User information under any circumstances.

Disclosure of Information

HFI may disclose personally identifiable information collected from Users to its parent, subsidiary and other related companies to use the information for the purposes outlined above, as necessary to provide the services offered by HFI and to provide the Website itself, and for the specific purposes for which the information was collected. HFI may disclose personally identifiable information at the request of law enforcement or governmental agencies or in response to subpoenas, court orders or other legal process, to establish, protect or exercise HFI’s legal or other rights or to defend against a legal claim or as otherwise required or allowed by law. HFI may disclose personally identifiable information in order to protect the rights, property or safety of a User or any other person. HFI may disclose personally identifiable information to investigate or prevent a violation by User of any contractual or other relationship with HFI or the perpetration of any illegal or harmful activity. HFI may also disclose aggregate, anonymous data based on information collected from Users to investors and potential partners. Finally, HFI may disclose or transfer personally identifiable information collected from Users in connection with or in contemplation of a sale of its assets or business or a merger, consolidation or other reorganization of its business.

Personal Information as Provided by User

If a User includes such User’s personally identifiable information as part of the User posting to the Website, such information may be made available to any parties using the Website. HFI does not edit or otherwise remove such information from User information before it is posted on the Website. If a User does not wish to have such User’s personally identifiable information made available in this manner, such User must remove any such information before posting. HFI is not liable for any damages caused or incurred due to personally identifiable information made available in the foregoing manners. For example, a User posts on an HFI-administered forum would be considered Personal Information as provided by User and subject to the terms of this section.

Security of Information

Information about Users that is maintained on HFI’s systems or those of its service providers is protected using industry standard security measures. However, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and HFI cannot guarantee that the information submitted to, maintained on or transmitted from its systems will be completely secure. HFI is not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures relating to the Website by any Users or third parties.

Correcting, Updating, Accessing or Removing Personal Information

If a User’s personally identifiable information changes, or if a User no longer desires to receive non-account specific information from HFI, HFI will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update and/or remove that User’s previously-provided personal data. This can be done by emailing a request to HFI at hfi@humanfactors.com. Additionally, you may request access to the personally identifiable information as collected by HFI by sending a request to HFI as set forth above. Please note that in certain circumstances, HFI may not be able to completely remove a User’s information from its systems. For example, HFI may retain a User’s personal information for legitimate business purposes, if it may be necessary to prevent fraud or future abuse, for account recovery purposes, if required by law or as retained in HFI’s data backup systems or cached or archived pages. All retained personally identifiable information will continue to be subject to the terms of the Privacy Policy to which the User has previously agreed.

Contacting HFI

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, you may contact HFI via any of the following methods:
Human Factors International, Inc.
PO Box 2020
1680 highway 1, STE 3600
Fairfield IA 52556
hfi@humanfactors.com
(800) 242-4480

Terms and Conditions for Public Training Courses

Reviewed: 18 Mar 2014

Cancellation of Course by HFI

HFI reserves the right to cancel any course up to 14 (fourteen) days prior to the first day of the course. Registrants will be promptly notified and will receive a full refund or be transferred to the equivalent class of their choice within a 12-month period. HFI is not responsible for travel expenses or any costs that may be incurred as a result of cancellations.

Cancellation of Course by Participants (All regions except India)

$100 processing fee if cancelling within two weeks of course start date.

Cancellation / Transfer by Participants (India)

4 Pack + Exam registration: Rs. 10,000 per participant processing fee (to be paid by the participant) if cancelling or transferring the course (4 Pack-CUA/CXA) registration before three weeks from the course start date. No refund or carry forward of the course fees if cancelling or transferring the course registration within three weeks before the course start date.

Cancellation / Transfer by Participants (Online Courses)

$100 processing fee if cancelling within two weeks of course start date. No cancellations or refunds less than two weeks prior to the first course start date.

Individual Modules: Rs. 3,000 per participant ‘per module’ processing fee (to be paid by the participant) if cancelling or transferring the course (any Individual HFI course) registration before three weeks from the course start date. No refund or carry forward of the course fees if cancelling or transferring the course registration within three weeks before the course start date.

Exam: Rs. 3,000 per participant processing fee (to be paid by the participant) if cancelling or transferring the pre agreed CUA/CXA exam date before three weeks from the examination date. No refund or carry forward of the exam fees if requesting/cancelling or transferring the CUA/CXA exam within three weeks before the examination date.

No Recording Permitted

There will be no audio or video recording allowed in class. Students who have any disability that might affect their performance in this class are encouraged to speak with the instructor at the beginning of the class.

Course Materials Copyright

The course and training materials and all other handouts provided by HFI during the course are published, copyrighted works proprietary and owned exclusively by HFI. The course participant does not acquire title nor ownership rights in any of these materials. Further the course participant agrees not to reproduce, modify, and/or convert to electronic format (i.e., softcopy) any of the materials received from or provided by HFI. The materials provided in the class are for the sole use of the class participant. HFI does not provide the materials in electronic format to the participants in public or onsite courses.