Please HP, don't hurt 'em

We recently extolled the virtues of Oracle’s awesome online centre for utilities … not only for its appealing, next-gen design but its top-to-bottom usefulness for potential utility customers. Oracle’s site sets the bar high, and meets expectations.

Not all smart technology firms, do, though.

Like Oracle, HP attempts to set the bar high with the online resources it offers for smart-grid-thinking utilities. Unlike Oracle, HP’s attempt does not succeed.

HP’s Smart Grid Solutions area is both unwieldy and opaque, making it nigh-impossible for customers to visualise what its offerings are. The information, once you find it, is helpful, but getting there is kind of like trying to pop balloons in a carnival game, with the odds rigged against your success. Between the popups, frames and odd download protocols for pdfs, its smart-grid area seems designed to drive users away rather than encourage them to stay.

As we’ve noted before, the whole idea of a smart grid is supposed to be streamlined service, efficiency and ease of use. Any company that wants to operate in this space should keep that in mind when designing resources for its target customers to use. “Painful” should never be part of the equation.