An article in the spring edition of Harvard Business Review caught my attention today - "Customers As Innovators: A New Way to Create Value".
It looks like some companies are providing customers the resources and toolkits to develop new products. Outsourcing the design to customers appears to cut down on time and money in developing custom designs.
The article states that there are three signs that your industry may soon adopt the customers-as-innovators approach:
1) Market segments are decreasing and customers are demanding more customized products
2) You and your customers need many iterations before you find a solution
3) You or your competitors use computer-based simulation and fast prototyping tools to develop new producs. This technology could be the basis of a tool kit that customers could use to develop their own designs.
Wouldn't that be great to be part of the design process of a new product?
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