ČSOB usability testing

Why did the ČSOB Foundation decide to support the User Experience and Interaction Research Center at FIIT STU?

The area of innovative banking is closely linked to information technology. Usability and user-driven research is an inherent part of the development of such innovations and it can help make to be better on the market.

Educating high-quality graduates without financial support is not easy, despite the fact that labor market demands in this area are high. Therefore, through its Foundation, ČSOB has decided to support education in the User Experience Research Center (UXI) with a financial donation.

UXI was created in May 2015 in response to the needs of the current IT world to better understand issues related to human-computer interaction. The research center includes two workplaces equipped with eye tracking, deep emotion recording cameras, and sensors such as EEG for monitoring the synaptic potential of brain, ECG, and other sensors. UXI is one of the few workplaces in the world to explore the behavior of individuals and groups alike.

In UXI, we focus on complex human (user) observation when working with technologies – PCs, smartphones, tablets, web / mobile / desktop applications, multimedia surveillance (TV, projector). We conduct research in the area of the modeling of user and group behavior at various levels of detail through qualitative and quantitative studies (eg, examining the impact of user characteristics on quantitative studies, HCI literacy, cognitive abilities). We design adaptive, personalized and interactive software systems.

With the help of the ČSOB Foundation, we have been able to improve education and research in providing and evaluating user studies, completing UXI in hardware and software infrastructure, implementing administrative processes for its operation, enabling students to gain access to the Research Center and thus work on their projects. At the same time, we have contributed to increasing the number of conducted experiments in UXI and educating young people who perceive human-computer interaction and UX as a key component of application development.

UXI conducts research projects in collaboration with several partners. Each project is an example of the successful transfer of research findings into practice. At the same time, we verify our hypotheses in projects, thereby we creating mutually beneficial cooperation.