Virtual Customer Environments: IT-Enabled Customer Co-innovation and Value Co-creation - Information Technology and Product Development - page 107

Table 6.1 Customer innovation and value co-creation roles in the VCE

Customer as
marketer and
support specialist

Customer as
ideator

Customer as
designer

Customer as
tester

Primary
focus

Product
conceptualization

Product design and
development

Product testing and
prototyping

Product diffusion
and after-sales
support

Desired
outcome(s)

Product
improvement
ideas and
suggestions
New product ideas

Inputs on product
features and
design tradeoffs
Production and
delivery of
products/services

Identification of
product design
flaws
Inputs on product
(prototype)
performance

Delivery of product
support services
to peer
customers
Diffusion of new
product
information
Product
improvement
suggestions

Examples Microsoft, Procter &

Gamble, and
Ducati

Peugeot, Diesel,
and Adidas-
Salomon

Volvo, Ducati, and
Microsoft

Microsoft, IBM,
and Macromedia

Interaction
facilities

Discussion forums
Messaging tools
Product knowledge
base

Discussion forums
User design tool
kits
Virtual prototyping
tools and
interactive games

Discussion forums
Virtual concept
testing tools
Virtual product
simulations

Discussion forums
Messaging tools
Product knowledge
base

1974; von Hippel, 1988). While some have argued that customers need to play a piv-
otal role in the generation of new product ideas, others have argued equally fervently
that involving customers in idea generation will simply lead to imitative, unimagi-
native products. It is now relatively well established that the utility of customers as
a source of innovation varies with the maturity of the technology and the alignment
of product line with the current customer base (Christensen, 1997; Leonard-Barton,
1995). When both the dimensions are high (continuous innovation), customers are
an excellent source of innovation, while when both the dimensions are low (i.e.,
evolving technologies and emerging markets), the value of current customers as
resource is limited.
VCEs facilitate interactions among customer that enable the generation and
gradual evolution of innovative ideas for new products and services. Consider
the example of Ducati, the Italian motorcycle company. Ducati has implemented
a virtual space called Tech Café where customers share design ideas (includ-
ing detailed engineering drawings) for customizing and improving motorcycles;
some of the suggestions have been incorporated into Ducati's next generation of
products. Similar mechanisms have been employed by Hallmark and other com-
panies to get customers to conceptualize products and channel ideas into the
product-development pipeline.