Bad function means lesser strength of implementation.
Bad UX means poor productivity and unhappy users.

Ideally, top class function top class UX – but UX definetely takes the higher precedence.

Just to add a point. Take a look at the CMS Watch Report (FREE) on Web Analytics. I am surprised to see three different parameters on Usability of reports been added into the Reports section of the Tool Analysis report. First time I am seeing usability getting in as one of the important parameters for decision making with a tool.

Also, you can find more information on the dashboard and making the tool easy to use in the blog that I would recommend http://www.kaushik.net/avinash

Cheers
Sivanesan

Thanks for your comment, I agree with you in most of the areas. However, my reservation kicks in when the whole solution is looked upon from the perspective of “user friendliness” alone by users – This slipup is prevalent in areas where the users are a bit of unsophisticated ones whilst making decisions.

I am not using the term ‘unsophisticated’ to demean the executives who make or influence the buying decision, but, when we venture into the something new, our level of understanding of the new subject/venture is fairly low and gradually grows. So, once the user turns Sophisticated, he should not regret the decision he either made or influenced in the past.

Cheers!
Arun

PS: Please do mail arun[at]zeus[dot][co][dot][in] the casestudy you were refering to on the Web Analyics arena, I am sure it will be a good read.

Excellent post, I agree to the your point, that Organizations should not consider the usability factor alone as a primary decision factor for buying Enterprise Solutions.

But at the same time, if the vendors or the product companies continue selling the product which involves lot of infrastructure, process, dependencies etc then it will not meet the end objective of the client. Afterall when you buy a Merc, you don’t buy it based on the engineering standards, it is the experience that makes it different. This also depends on who the users are for the system. Typically, the marketers and the Business Owners may be the users of reporting system but IT people will be the designers and users of data management tools.

In the web analytics space, I can give u an example of a company(send me a mail if u want to know the name) that clearly outraged the early entrant in this space because they focussed on the information needs of the marketers, wherein the other company used to focus on the mechanism or technology part.

I would say that the product companies need to consider the usability factor and information needs of the user because they are going to be differentiating factors.

Cheers
Sivanesan