Companies have invested a lot of money and training into improving their business information systems and have added more enterprise applications.

Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) spent nearly $195 billion on information technology (IT) goods and services in 2007 — $72 billion on IT services and $24 billion on software — according to an IT spending survey conducted by CompTIA and AMI-Partners (via Baseline Magazine).

In December, research firm IDC predicted that SMB tech budgets would increase 8 percent to 10 percent in 2008, compared to spending growth of 3 percent to 4 percent for enterprises. Even in February, when it was quickly becoming clear that the economy was slowing dramatically, many industry observers didn't expect SMBs to slash their technology budgets as dramatically as their larger counterparts.

According to the CompTIA/AMI-Partners survey, which we discussed in January, 90 percent of SMB respondents said productivity software suites were among the top technologies they had either deployed or planned to purchase in 2008.

Yet how effective have these tools been for business? Not very, according to a recent study that has determined well-designed business applications are crucial to productivity improvement.

In a recent international survey of more than 1,000 business IT users, carried out on behalf of global enterprise applications company IFS, only one in five respondents cited business applications used in the workplace as easy to use. That is well behind the 27 percent of business IT users who identified Web and e-mail applications as providing the most intuitive user experience.

IT professionals were asked to identify the top three causes of wasted time when using enterprise software.

What were the top time wasters when using business applications?

• Learning to use different modules and applications (20 percent)

• Searching for relevant information through the application's complex navigation structure (19 percent)

• Difficulties moving through functions or business processes that are not grouped together or ordered in a logical way (14 percent)

• Transferring data from one application to another (13 percent)

• Navigating around and between applications (11 percent)

"One of the key reasons for installing enterprise software is to simplify the running of business processes so that decision making can be improved," IFS CEO Alastair Sorbie said in a statement. "Well-designed business applications that incorporate elements like search, networking, easy navigation and individualization are what people are now demanding in the workplace."

Organizations that respond to the complexities of enterprise applications "have the opportunity to remove frustrating time-wasters for staff involved at all stages, providing opportunities for them to be more productive both individually and collectively," Sorbie continued. "Improved usability really can make a difference to the company's revenue, making the employees more efficient and productive because it's easier to do the job."

The right tools make our jobs easier. Yet the wrong technology often leaves us with the same problems — along with less time and less money.