Monthly Archives: October 2012

Are you listening to the Voice Of the Customer?….#business, #innovation

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One of the most difficult choices in New Product Development is in deciding what products to develop !

Lot’s of us watch “Dragons Den” on TV and it’s pretty obvious some of the budding entrepreneurs believe they have a great idea but have never even considered asking their customers or potential customers what they think.

To avoid wasting millions of dollars on products no one wants it is essential to listen to the Voice Of the Customer. (VOC)

Companies involved in New Product Development & Innovation need to establish effective methods to capture VOC.

This can take many different forms such as surveys, telephone conversations, face to face interviews, feedback forms, Social Media strategies etc etc etc

Whichever mix is used the information then has to be filtered and sorted to identify priorities for New Product Development. To do this effectively it is essential to have a multi-functional team involved to get a number of perspectives.

If you are involved in Innovation you need to capture the VOC.

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Digital Switchover – a great project management success #pmot

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This week has seen the completion of the Digital TV switchover in the UK.  Over a 5 year period the team has managed the successful transfer from Analogue to Digital in all regions of the UK. This has involved:-

  • Re-engineering over 1100 transmitters from Analogue to Digital.
  • Maintaining coverage at around 98.5% of UK residents.
  • Making 95% of the population aware of the programme.
  • Ensuring those who need help get it fast.
  • Freeing up the Analogue bandwidth for other uses.

The Team achieved all this and more completing the changeover on time and within budget. It was also an excellent example of collaboration between public sector broadcasters, independent broadcasters, Ofcom, Government and other parties.

Particularly impressive were the adverts targeted at the public which were clear, concise and informative.

Congratulations to the Digital Switchover team for a job well done.
chris@projectsguru.co.uk

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Your #business cannot compete on cost alone…

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According to new research published today by Allianz Insurance, some 83% of UK managers rank Innovation as the key to their organization performing strongly.

However, despite the fact most leaders are fully aware of the benefits of innovation, the ongoing challenging economic environment has caused many to opt out of such projects in recent months.

For instance, 23% of the 500 respondents noted that the economic slump has pushed innovation further down their list of business priorities, with issues such as a lack of funding and a focus on profits being the main reasons behind this fact.

This approach is not only wrong it is patently short sighted. Innovating value added products or services is the only way to ensure long term survival never-mind success. Long-term it is not possible for organizations to compete purely on cost. Globalization ensures that whenever you compete purely on cost, someone, somewhere will be able to undermine your cost base and do it cheaper. The only way to compete successfully, particularly in the West, is to produce differentiated products with high added value, which cannot be easily reproduced elsewhere where labor costs are significantly cheaper.

This requires investment in R & D, training and advanced manufacturing techniques.

Innovation is essential to long term survival.
chris@projectsguru.co.uk

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#Innovation adds value and creates jobs……

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Fantastic news today regarding the development of a National Automotive Innovation Campus at the University of Warwick.

Funded jointly by the Government’s U.K Research Investment fund, Tata Motors & Jaguar Land Rover, the centre will cost 92 million pounds.

David Willetts, Minister for Universities and Science, said: “The UK has world-class companies and great universities. This new investment will get them working together to deliver innovation and growth.”

“The automotive industry in the UK has seen a recent resurgence, but for the UK to remain internationally competitive we must create urgently a critical mass in research excellence,” said WMG chairman and founder Professor Lord Bhattacharyya. “Our vision is to create the National Automotive Innovation Campus where we link people, research and world-leading infrastructure to create and develop novel technologies.

“NAIC will be an ‘engine’ for economic growth, with wide economic benefit, and sustained growth from the creation of world-leading technologies. It will enable academic and industry teams to work together in state of the art buildings, with tailored equipment and digital solutions to create and integrate breakthrough technologies with a whole system approach crossing multiple disciplines.”

This is exactly the type of investment British Science & Engineering has been crying out for & is a terrific example of how collaboration between successful organizations and Government can work together to increase innovation & deliver high value added products along with well paid jobs.

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Invasion of the Robot cars….#auto #innovation

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Last week saw a little reported milestone in Automotive history when Californian Governor Jerry Brown signed through legislation to allow fully automated vehicles  on California’s roads.

This took place at Google’s ‘Mountainview’ headquarters where the team have been working on a car which utilizes Google’s ‘Street View’ mapping technology, a number of sensors & some clever software to enable the car to navigate without human intervention. The company has already done over 300,000 miles testing with zero collisions so far.

So why is all of this so important ??   As Highways get increasingly congested it has long been a dream to enable convoys of vehicles to travel nose to tail in close proximity in separate lanes, breaking off as necessary, to reach local destinations.

Robot cars may smack of Sci-Fi but this development could herald a massive social change and a glimpse of the future.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

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