Product innovation

Plaster robots, capsule coffee machine and self-driving cars are product innovations. In some cases, common functionalities are combined with a round product. In very few cases, the product itself is patented. It doesn't even have to be a physical product

What is Product innovation?

Think of the first smartphone. A combination of many functions that already existed individually, but not in this combination. This is exactly a product innovation . A bundle of functionalities that nobody has offered together so far. This way, a product innovation can be a physical product. In this sense, a new type of life insurance or other services and service products are also a product innovation .

Example for Product innovation?

Who is responsible for Product innovation in the company?

Most of the time, the product manager is responsible for innovation. In companies that focus on only one product in the portfolio, it is often the management itself. This also applies to startups that usually start with a single product and may still offer variants. The portfolio or program manager often comes into play. In particular, if the products in the portfolio are not entirely overlapping or a close coordination makes sense.

What are the challenges and risks of Product innovation?

product innovations are the most difficult innovations of all. On the one hand, product innovations are not obvious and good ideas for product innovations are a big challenge. In addition, product innovations require high skills in terms of imagination. To imagine a product that is not yet available for many. In addition to the technical and economic details, there is an additional challenge in addition to the technical and economic details: in particular, social acceptance decides on the success or failure of the product innovation . And on the one hand, it is difficult to predict and on the other hand very closely linked to the right time. The greatest risk is the lack of acceptance on the market because the innovation is ahead of its time, or is not accepted for other reasons. This is accompanied by the risk of relying on the wrong horse too long because the hope remains that the breakthrough is just in front of the door.

How does innovation consulting help Product innovation?

view from outside

No innovation comes as often as the product innovation . Why is that? They are the blinkers. Product managers and managing directors do not see what others already know. Innovation counseling helps to open and over the To imagine the box. The external look is important and cannot be replaced.

predict the future

It is not the customer’s job to know what his problem is [Steve Jobs]. But if you are skillful, you even know what the customer of tomorrow wants. Many years of consulting experience with the right innovation methods and tools helps. In individual coaching or in the co -creation innovation workshop.

Clear product definition and positioning

The more functions, the better, overengineering and innovations that the world does not need. In contrast, a crystal -clear product definition and market positioning helps. Then product development also succeeds. Here, too, the view from the outside is almost irreplaceable.

Sailing the market success

No matter how smart you are and how beautiful your idea is, if it does not withstand the experiment, it is wrong [Richard Feynman]. It is important to put assumptions and hypotheses on the sample of reality. And painful. As an innovation consultant , we make the pain tolerable. With a clear product innovation process and a sugar.

What tools and procedures are available for Product innovation?

The time machine is particularly important for successful product innovations . It reveals where a product develops and what the next generations of the product will look. There is always a previous solution that has met similar needs. With the smartphone it is the mobile phone, the camera and the PC. Or ultimately even the post -carriage. At Walkman it was the stereo system. It was the loudspeaker with the headphones. In the Thermomix, the food processor and the oven, etc. In the tool intertwined with the time machine, the development or evolutionary laws of technical systems are to support the precise forecasts. > The product definition makes it particularly important. This is best done by the innovation qfd. An almost unbeatable and indispensable combination of needs analysis, positioning, benchmark and product specification.