Organizations plan to invest in 'human-centered' software

A new survey shows that 76 percent of respondents consider building human-centric applications more important than it was two years ago, driven by a combination of business considerations and cultural shifts.

The survey, of over 700 application developers and IT decision-makers, from infrastructure software company Progress shows a gap between intentions and actions, however. 98 percent of respondents say human-centric app development is important, but only 34 percent are currently addressing the issue through tools, training and policy.

"Creating human-centric digital experiences means personalizing experiences and tailoring them to both people and their context, so they are as relevant as possible. It also means making those experiences accessible to a broader range of people with a broader range of needs and abilities," says Loren Jarrett, EVP and GM, digital experience at Progress. "At Progress, we are committed to helping organizations proactively invest to build more inclusive, contextual and tailored digital products."

Barriers to developing these apps include the speed of development while meeting customer demands at the same time (42 percent), complexity and lack of agility (41 percent) and lack of in-house skills (29 percent).

An average of only 59 percent of current applications in surveyed organizations are estimated to meet accessibility requirements. 86 percent say it's harder to retrofit inclusion and accessibility into existing applications rather than factoring them into new apps from the start. Nonetheless, 56 percent say human-centered apps are a major need and plan to invest in them in the next 12–18 months.

The full report is available from the Progress site.

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