<p>CIO Users for many years have viewed enterprise applications through the "green screen." Even now the typical business app rarely wins kudos for approachability and intuitive appeal, with functionality trumping user interface (UI) design and the overall user experience (UX).</p><p>The upshot, in some cases, is slow adoption among users and a steep investment in training to get everyone up to speed. Plus, of course, slow or limited adoption impacts the anticipated return on investment for a given application.</p><p>To combat this, some enterprise applications are beginning to incorporate social, consumer-inspired interfaces. Some vendors borrow heavily from Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other mainstays of consumer culture. The idea: Put a familiar, easy-to-use front end on a system and users will respond favorably.</p><p>That approach attracted Rana Blair, principal at ECOM Engineering. The Sacramento-based electrical and telecom engineering firm needed a better way to coordinate project teams and tapped Kona, a cloud-based collaboration and productivity tool. Deltek, an enterprise software provider focusing on professional services firms and government contractors, combined elements of social media and project-oriented collaboration in developing Kona.</p><p><a href="http://www.cio.com/article/731803/Giving_Enterprise_Software_a_Social_Makeover_Attracts_Users">Keep reading...</a></p>