Percept Technology Labs Adds Usability Testing to its Services

by Joshua Lindenstein
originally published in the Boulder County Business Report

BOULDER, Colo. — November 28, 2003 - Percept Technology Labs Inc. has added usability testing to the list of services it offers. The Boulder product-testing lab, which does compliance, certification and reliability testing, also now will help manufacturers understand how their customers use and respond to new products.

"This has allowed us to expand to provide services for a broader range of customers," said Brian Cleveland, owner and president of Percept.

Cleveland said his company typically tests tech products such as software and operating systems but isn't limited to just those.

With usability testing, Percept receives, sets up and operates products exactly as customers do to see if the products perform as manufacturers intended. It then provides an intensive evaluation of the product, including set-up procedure accuracy and efficiency, operation of all user functions, human factors analysis and exception testing, which investigates ways a customer could use a product other than how the manufacturer intended.

Percept also tests manufacturers' technical support to see how long it takes and how knowledgeable a company's support staff is.

Percept then provides a comprehensive test report that shows how well products meet customer expectations and offers specific suggestions for product improvement.

Cleveland said usability testing is basically third-party independent verification. "By identifying the possible problems and complications that customers may experience with products, usability testing allows firms to correct these issues, improve customer satisfaction and lower overall service costs."

Percept's usability testing, which generally takes two or three days, costs between $2,000 and $4,000 for a typical tech product, Cleveland said.

He said one of Percept's clients asked the company to perform this kind of testing, and it went well. After that, Percept did market research to see if adding usability testing to its services would be advantageous.

Percept, a privately held company started by Cleveland in 1996, had 2002 revenues of $2.4 million and was the 18th fastest growing private company in Boulder and Broomfield counties last year as ranked by The Boulder County Business Report.

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