Question

Why is it increasingly the case that customers are vital in the creation of innovative new products and services? How has this come about?

Answer 1

This is often touted as Industry 4.0

If we look at the evolution of relationship between companies and customers we can observe an interesting pattern. In the mid-1900, the market was driven by production focused companies. The consumers had few choices in any product and had to choose what was available. This is when the companies began the production focused approach. Companies would make products and send them to the market. The consumers would buy the products. This was the cornerstone for manufacturing revolution. The more the companies produced, the more money they made. Competition was less and the focus was on production.

Towards the end of 1900s the competition for same space began increasing. This meant that companies now needed to really woo the customers to purchase their product. They had to find a way to stand out. This is when the mass media advertisements and marketing focused businesses began to grow. The companies focused on empowering marketers and salespersons to sell their products.

Then came the early 2000s where technology began to catch up. New ways of marketing methods arrived, digital marketing began to grow and the companies wanted to interact with customers. They wanted to make products that the customers want and move away completely from the production focused mindset. This gave the era customer focused businesses.

Now, companies have gone one step further and many experts and consultants believe that the next revolution is going to be a phase where companies collaborate with customers to not only know their needs but also to create the product. Concepts such as crowdsourcing have become a commonplace and is evident of these upcoming changes.