Many miss out on target group insights

Mange går glip af målgruppeindsigter

It might sound a little too easy and straightforward, but the numbers in the NNIT's Expectation Barometer speak for themselves. Nearly 60% of the more than 100 participating CIOs said that they do not involve customers in their innovation, and according to Brian Troelsen, Business Development Director at NNIT, this can lead to some big challenges:

– Businesses miss out on invaluable insights about their target group. This means that they have little or no knowledge of the real needs in the market or how to meet them. As you can see with the Google case, a lack of customer involvement greatly increases the risk of failure, he explains.

Not everyone is part of the innovation showdown

A lack of customer involvement in innovation often results from factors such as ingrained procedures, working culture and, not least the "we usually" mindset.

– Right now there is a showdown with an era and its very classic approach to innovation. But for established companies, involving customers in innovation can be a major upheaval and it is often tempting to ignore. This may mean that they are overtaken by (new) competitors who have cracked the code of digital innovation – and in the worst case, the established company will be the one that goes down, says Brian Troelsen.

Selvom det lyder banalt og ligetil, taler tallene i NNIT's Forventningsbarometer for sig selv. Næsten 60 procent af de mere end 100 deltagende CIO's svarer, at de ikke benytter kundeinvolverende innovation, og ifølge Brian Troelsen, Business Development Director hos NNIT, kan det medføre store udfordringer:

– Virksomheder går glip af helt uvurderlige insights om deres målgruppe. Det betyder, at de slet ikke eller i meget ringe grad har kendskab til de reelle behov i markedet, eller hvordan de imødekommer dem. Som man kan se med Google-casen, forøger manglende kundeinddragelse i høj grad risikoen for at fejle, forklarer han.

Manglende kundeinddragelse i innovationen peger ofte tilbage på faktorer som indgroede arbejdsgange, arbejdskultur og ikke mindst "vi plejer".

– Der sker lige nu et opgør med en tidsalder og en meget klassisk tilgang til innovation. Men for etablerede virksomheder kan den kundeinvolverende innovation være en stor omvæltning og derfor fristende at ignorere. Det kan betyde, at de bliver overhalet indenom af (nye) konkurrenter, der har knækket koden med digital innovation og i værste fald, at de må kapitulere, siger Brian Troelsen.

Know your Innovation Theories

Kend dine Innovationsteorier

Design Thinking

Design Thinking

Refers to the classic brainstorm process from the design world, where a giant bundle of ideas finally becomes a single idea for designers to focus on.

Design thinking is the same brainstorm, but with the difference that it involves both customers and stakeholders throughout the whole innovation process. As a result, it is not only the company's - but also the customer's input that decides which ideas "survive", and how they end up in practice.

It gives the company unique insights and the ability to customize products to their target group during the process instead of during the launch; when it may well be too late.

Refererer til den klassiske brainstorm-proces fra designverdenen, hvor et kæmpe idémylder slutteligt bliver til én enkelt ide, som designerne satser på.

Ved design thinking er det samme brainstorm, men man involverer både kunder og stakeholdere i hele innovationprocessen. Dermed er det ikke kun virksomhedens, men også kundens inputs, der har indvirkning på, hvilke idéer der "overlever", og hvordan de ender med at se ud.

Det giver virksomheden unikke insights og mulighed for at tilpasse produktet til målgruppen i processen og ikke først, når det er blevet lanceret og dermed på bagkant.

Pretotyping

Pretotyping

Defined as the basic understanding that "data beats opinion". The company must have computerized knowledge of the target group in order to develop a successful product.

Pretotyping lets go of the traditional "waterfall model", where product development is planned in all details from the beginning with silo-divided teams and processes - such as one phase of requirement specification, one phase of programming, one hardware phase development, one phase for testing and so on. The waterfall model often means very long development cycles with the risk that the final product is obsolete or out of tune with the needs of its target group.

With a pretotyping approach, you develop and test at the same time in so-called sprints. In order to gather data - the target group's actual needs – you send a minimum viable product (MVP) onto the street, and improve it based on user input. A product with this approach is often in beta for a long time.

The pretotype concept came about when the former engineering director at Google, Alberto Savori, concluded that 80% of all Google product launches failed because developers innovated on the basis of their own gut feelings rather than concrete database knowledge of their customers.

Dækker over grundforståelsen, at "data beats opinion". Virksomheden skal have databaseret viden om målgruppen for at kunne udvikle et succesfuldt produkt.

Pretotyping gør op med den traditionelle "vandfaldsmodel", hvor man planlægger produktudviklingen ned i alle detaljer fra begyndelsen for derefter at sætte gang i silo-opdelte hold og processer – fx en fase for krav-spcifikation, en fase for programmering, en fase for hardware-udvikling, en fase for test osv. Vandfaldsmodellen betyder ofte meget langvarige udviklingscyklusser med den risiko til følge, at det endelige produkt er forældet eller rammer skævt ift. målgruppens behov. Med en pretotyping-tilgang udvikler og tester man sideløbende i såkaldte sprints. For at få data – målgruppens faktiske behov – sender man et minimum viable product (MVP) på gaden, hvorefter det forbedres ud fra brugernes input. Et produkt befinder sig med denne tilgang derfor ofte i beta i lang tid.

Begrebet opstod, da tidligere Engineering Director hos Google Alberto Savori konkluderede, at 80 procent af alle Googles produktlanceringer fejlede, fordi udviklerne lavede innovation på baggrund af egne mavefornemmelser og uden databaseret viden om kunderne.

Failing fast

Fail fast

In a time where companies are eagerly trying to disrupt themselves and their markets before others do, there is also a need to rethink how they launch their products; they should dare to send unfinished products out onto the street. Instead of a single final launch, companies should continuously be launching improved versions of their products.

– We are talking about failing fast. It's about getting quickly onto the market and identifying and correcting mistakes before they become a costly affair, and before the product becomes outdated. With a database of knowledge of the target group and its needs, the risk is minimal and it can actually pay off to go live before the company considers its product completed. As a matter of fact, we should really accept that a product will never be completed, explains Brian Troelsen.

I en tidsalder hvor virksomheder ivrigt forsøger at disrupte sig selv og deres markeder, inden andre gør det, er der behov for at tænke lancering på hovedet og turde at sende ufærdige produkter på gaden. I stedet for en endelig lauch, bør man løbende lancere forbedrede udgaver af sit produkt.

– Vi taler om at fejle hurtigt. Det handler om at komme hurtigt på markedet og at identificere og rette sine fejl, inden de bliver en bekostelig affære, og produktet måske forældet. Med et databaseret kendskab til målgruppen og deres behov, er risikoen minimal, og det kan rent faktisk betale sig at gå live, før virksomheden betragter sit produkt for færdigt. Faktisk bør vi i vor tid acceptere, at vi nok aldrig bliver færdige, forklarer Brian Troelsen.

Winning wine

Vindende vine

An example of success that involves customers in innovation and has gone to the market without being completed is the app Vivino. The creators launched the app with a very limited database of wines. They took the view that users would upload their own contributions to shape the essence of Vivino. Today, more than 250,000 new labels come into the app's inbox every day! Vivino's first versions were absolutely a minimum viable product. The evaluation and classification of wines was done manually until a real database was built.

– Vivino is in a constant state of disrupting itself. They use classical pretotyping, listen to users, and transform this input into new features in the app. They are a textbook example of a start-up that has taken specialist knowledge on board, in this case, wine connoisseurs, to develop their business, Brian Troelsen says and continues:

– To go from traditional innovation to customer involvement is not something businesses should do half-heartedly. There needs to be a change across the whole organization - from management to the engine room, and it can be a really good investment to use external experts or experienced professionals to guide the company safely towards new innovative heights.

Et eksempel på en succes, der inddrager kunderne i innovationen, og som i dén grad er gået til markedet uden at være "færdig", er app'en Vivino. Skaberne bag launchede app'en med en meget begrænset database af vine, men satte sin lid til, at brugerne ville bidrage med uploads i stor stil og dermed skabe Vivinos eksistensgrundlag. I dag ryger mere end 250.000 nye etiketter i app'ens inbox dagligt! Vivinos første versioner var i den grad et minimum viable product. Vurderingen og klassificeringen af vine foregik helt manuelt, indtil en egentlig database var opbygget. Der sad mennesker og behandlede alle uploads.

– Vivino disrupter sig selv konstant. De benytter sig af klassisk pretotyping, lytter til brugerne og omdanner deres input til nye features i appen. De er et skoleeksempel på en start-up, der har trukket på fagspecialister, i dette tilfælde vininteresserede brugere, til at udvikle deres forretning, siger Brian Troelsen og fortsætter:

– At gå fra traditionel til kundeinvolverende innovation er ikke noget, virksomheden skal gøre halvhjertet. Der skal ske en omstilling på tværs af organisationen – fra C-level til maskinrummet, og det kan være en rigtig god investering at benytte sig af eksterne eksperter eller aktører, der har erfaring, og som trygt kan lede virksomheden på vej mod nye innovative højder, siger Brian Troelsen.

Have you taken your company's innovation pulse?

Har du tjekket din virksomheds innovationspuls?

The Expectation Barometer takes the pulse of digital innovation in Danish and international companies. What differences are there - and where? And what does it require, from a strategic, technological and organizational perspective, to drive digital innovation to even greater heights?

Try the Expectation Barometer and find out just where your business is in terms of digital innovation - and get your own personal Benchmark Map. You also get access to a series of articles about the journey of innovation pioneers towards digital transformation success.

Forventningsbarometeret tager pulsen på digital innovation i danske og internationale virksomheder. Hvilke forskelle er der – og hvor? Og hvad kræver det, strategisk, teknologisk og organisatorisk, at drive digital innovation til endnu større højder?

Prøv Forventningsbaromeret og find ud af, hvilket niveau din virksomhed befinder sig på inden for digital innovation – og få et personligt Benchmark Map. Du får også adgang til en artikelrække om innovationspionerernes rejse mod digital transformationssucces.