Chris Averill, CEO of CADinteractive , asks what real qualifications you should look for in a usability consultant.

I often look at those in the usability marketplace wondering how they got into it and find myself challenging the perception that post graduate qualifications make you a better practitioner than experience.

We all know that you can't beat experience and often a postgraduate course forms relationships with other like minded, fast tracked people; as many MBA graduates have found to their benefit.

But now it seems that having Dr. before your name is as important to usability research as having MBA afterwards for business consultancy.

But what do clients want?

During a recent UKUPA event hosted by Prudential, which focused on world usability, the question was asked:

"As a client, what do you primarily look for, experience or a title?"

The answer, unsurprisingly, was both. Ideally, clients want a Dr. Usability to front an experienced team. However, after seeing lots of hands in the air from our peers in the usability world keen to tell it how it really is, the clients agreed that experience, certainly in the UK, gives a more realistic approach to solving usability issues - and is a priority.

In my experience, companies in the UK and, I suspect, many other European countries, have very ingrained business methods. Senior decisions makers are often unaware of how small changes can greatly improve customer interaction with their product or service, and more importantly, the impression they are left with, good or bad, after the experience.

This view was aired to me after the event by a couple of usability customers after panellists talked about mature and immature clients - especially in the US where education and big business often go hand-in-hand through commercial sponsorship of universities.

Interestingly, one panellist, (who is practising in the UK), was talking to what he thought were mature clients. In reality, they were large companies just starting to understand, and promote usability and customer experience, like so many other businesses in the UK.

As the market matures, some companies will prescribe proven solutions backed up by academic research. Others will deliver agile solutions that change to meet clients' needs based on best practise and their years of experience.

My advice to anyone buying usability services is this:

Choose a company that has experience in, but not limited to, your sector. Insist on meeting the people who will be working on the project, see what they know and how good a fit they are within your business.

A Doctor of Usability may have great "bedside manners" during your initial meeting but if he or she has little experience in your industry it will soon become apparent. If you are at all unsure there's nothing wrong with getting a second opinion.

ABOUT CADinteractive

CADinteractive is a User-Centred Design Consultancy with Usability and Information Architecture expertise. The company ensures that needs of the end user are identified, understood and amalgamated with business, design and technological objectives to create the optimal online experience.