Are you asking your customers what they really need?
On November 30 at the University of Toronto, CATA Alliance, Knowledge Media Design, Whetstone, Pearson, and The Access Group are co-sponsoring a My Customer, My Co-Innovator roundtable event that will take a closer look at the nascent co-innovation trend:
"How can we co-innovate our business processes in order to serve our customers in a new way? What challenges lie ahead? Who's making progress and how? In today's world, customers and competitors are consolidating, revenue targets are increasing and business complexity is at its highest peak. How can today's leaders "co-innovate" their "business processes" with their customers? What are leaders doing differently from the rest?"
As Michael Schrage recently pointed out in strategy + business magazine, more companies than ever before are working with their customers at the earliest stages of the innovation process:
"It's difficult to create products that customers want without understanding what they really need. Now that simple realization has spurred companies such as Cisco, Procter & Gamble, and Goldman Sachs to work together with their customers at the earliest stages of the innovation process, while making the entire process more transparent throughout the value chain. As a result, information flows freely between company and customer, designers have a clearer picture of what customers need, and the resulting products are more successful in the marketplace."
[image: Toronto skyline]
