A hidden champion and global market leader in the field of technical interior furnishings was confronted with rapidly growing pressure from customers to innovate and ever shorter product life cycles on the global market. In order to stand out from the global competition and successfully establish products on the market, it was clear that more attention had to be paid to current and future customer needs. There was also a threat of commoditization for many products: it was becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd of competitors. Against this backdrop, the interim manager developed the concept of agile customer co-creation.
Proven and new creativity techniques combined with design thinking
The aim of agile customer co-creation was to optimize the planning of a pharmaceutical company, simplify the daily work of employees and fully align the products with the needs of users. To achieve this, customer co-creation encompassed every phase - from idea development and the development of several prototypes to the final implementation.
For the approach, the interim manager combined proven and innovative creativity techniques such as brainstorming, world café, questionnaires and more with the core of design thinking. In an open and creative "kindergarten atmosphere", the participants went through defined tasks under certain rules and thus developed new approaches and solutions, detached from everyday life.
Co-Creation workshop provides impetus for the largest research investment in the company's history
For example, 20 users collected a good 500 ideas in a workshop, which the interim manager then clustered and prioritized. In the end, the client not only had a better understanding of the needs of its own staff, but also gained many valuable, previously unspoken tips on how to optimize the company's structural and process organization. For example, it was able to develop a new and customized product solution for one of the world's largest investment projects in the industry. The idea was refined using a prototyping process and implemented via agile development with a multidisciplinary team of specialists - including experts and user representatives.
Multi-stage agile process set up for product development
After a thorough evaluation of two intensive design thinking workshops, the interim manager defined the minimum viable product (MVP). This was followed by two optimization rounds with user representatives. Only then were design drawings created for the first physical prototype. This was not cardboard engineering or a wireframe, but a physical product on a scale of 1:1. This first real prototype was then tested in a prototype workshop at the client's plant with a specialist group from the potential client. Workflows were also simulated. This allowed further product optimizations to be recorded immediately.
Pre-series product also created as a high-end virtual reality model
On the basis of further specialist workshops on the integration of other technologies (electrical engineering, plumbing, IT, sensor technology) and the occupational health representatives (ergonomics), a first real prototype was then manufactured according to the later configuration with original materials. Based on the design drawing of this pre-series product, a virtual reality model was created for visualization purposes. Both (pre-series prototype and VR prototype) were presented to the customer's decision-makers in a final joint workshop.
Innovative process ultimately leads to the largest order in the company's history
One of the advantages of agile customer co-creation is that the participants feel valued. They change their perspective: from product consumption to experience - and are motivated to take on a creative leadership role. The complex one-year product development process was worthwhile because a large number of employees worked on this customer-specific solution - and put their heart and soul into the product. In the end, this made it possible to win the largest order in the industry worldwide.
