Customers *Must* Be Part of the Co-Creation Process

The Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed 226 executives at global enterprises to find out how smart companies innovate as part of a Oracle sponsored study about cultivating business-led innovation.

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One of the key findings of the study has been that “companies furthest along the innovation path utilize customer data and customer participation in their product and service improvements. Fifty-four percent of respondents in this group actively collect customer feedback and analyze customer data for clues to innovate effectively, but in different ways.”

As Oracle SVP Bob Evans blogs: “Customers *Must* Be Part of the Co-Creation Process. As companies of all sizes and across all industries realize that the co-creation of value and of experiences with customers can be a profound way to boost customer loyalty, they also must recognize that relevant innovation in a customer-free vacuum is impossible. Mid-size and smaller companies ($500 million or less) connect directly with customers in interviews about product design and testing, while companies with revenue above $1 billion or more likely to use social technology and sentiment analysis to uncover customer-focused innovations.”

You can find the details of this study & the report at the Oracle feature page or The Economist Intelligence Unit site.

Another’s Viewpoint

Title: Another’s Viewpoint
Location: Chamonix Mont-Blanc

The last few months, I have been reading quite a bit about Emotional Intelligence (EI) for professional development. An important aspect of EI is the ability to see & understand the situation from another’s viewpoint. This picture, for me, captures the essence of this aspect from a photography perspective. Walking through the icy tunnel, this fantastic framed view of the Alps with the silhouette of the couple enjoying the view, was a compelling click.

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Related Posts:
~ Photo Feature – Old Geneva Town (Part 3)
~ Photo: Man & Peace
~ Photo Feature – Linger At Balur Estate

First Day With iOS6

As usual, the download of the new version was initiated the minute I got to know it was available. The download & the install went through without a glitch. Everything working as expected.

Clock: Finally the iPad gets a native clock app. No more of trying out different apps to find the right one. Alarm, world clock – check.

Facebook: You like it or not, FB is spreading its tentacles. Integration into the iOS is just another validation of the fact that it is indeed taking over. But why are there two separate entry points to make Twitter & FB status updates? Why no option (like in Hootsuite) to update both at once? I think they’ve missed a trick here.

Camera: The panorama feature in the Camera app is welcome & eliminates another third party app from the device. Apple cleverly leaves it to app ecosystem to find user needs & fill them with apps. And within a few months include the much used features into its own applications as yet another of the 200+ features of the new version. In the process, it also pushes the ecosystem to identify new user needs all the time. Outsourcing of innovation at its best.

Maps: Just not there for India! Folks at Apple clearly weren’t thinking about its customers in certain places. Painful miss!!