Perspectives — value creation

Delivering a superior customer experience doesn't always require digital innovation, but it does require a clear and constant focus on the needs and rapidly changing expectations of your primary customer. Iconic British luxury brand Burberry has undergone a complete transformation within the last decade. In the mid 1990's, it was synonymous with high quality trenchcoats beloved of a wealthy but conservative clientele. I never anticipated much change from year to year when I visited Burberry's Head Office in East London to review and select pieces from the next season's ranges. As the new millennium dawned, its signature check was heavily counterfeited and became the uniform of an entirely different market sector, the 'chav'. Then in 2006, Burberry, under...

Much of the current conversation about innovation is heavily skewed to that delivered through the application of new and scalable digital technologies. Whilst this captures the headlines, it is but one of three distinct strategic approaches to innovation: 1. the aforementioned focus on delivering radical or disruptive innovation that delivers quantum leaps in product or service performance. This is almost always driven by a 'technology push' approach.   2. focusing on improving currently available solutions to better meet customer needs - so called incremental or sustaining innovation. This approach is grounded in 'market pull' and is most effective when underpinned by the robust application of user centred design.  ...

Designing customer journeys is becoming the next frontier in providing competitive advantage, and a vital component of the overall value proposition. New value for customers can be provided through developing capabilities process automation, proactive personalisation, contextual interaction and journey innovation.