Wanting to grow through innovation, companies are looking for customers to lead them to the unmet needs. But these people often end up with a vague, useless - or even misleading - customer input. Why? The authors studied 10,000 customer need statements from many industries, and found that the company had not even set up the definition of what the customer needs, or as a user input should be standardized in terms of structure and format. Too often, companies are asking customers to respond to potential solutions, rather than zeroing in on his experience: "work" they have to do with the product or service, and which steps that could improve the experience. On deconstruction work, companies can identify opportunities that are universal and long. In addition, they argue, companies can collect data that are consistent with their innovation strategy. The fact that the authors suggest is a disciplined process of gathering customer requirements, which will then be considered innovative ideas. They are six characteristics that are useful application client must have, including the measured value strictly from the point of view of the user - and not on factors that the Company believes, should be the basis for assessing the client. The most useful statements also prompt a clear course of action, stating that the amount of "work" in need of improvement, such as slow or not quality. The authors set out six rules for identifying feedback that will give the right input to the client making statements that resonate throughout the company functions, so that the units can come together around a common growth strategy. Finally, they define two categories of requirements of the customer - work statements and performance, accountability - and a reference to the type best suited for different innovation strategies. For managers, the message of the author is frank. Successful innovation is a process, not just the result of a brainstorming good ideas "Hide
by Anthony W. Ulwick, Lance A. Bettencourt Source: MIT Sloan Management Review 9 pages. Publication Date: April 1, 2008. Prod. #: SMR280-PDF-ENG
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