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6.2.2 Product Designer
Customers can also be product designers and design their own versions of the
“ideal” product using virtual prototyping tools and design tool kits provided in
the VCE.
As a co-designer of products and services, customers can contribute to a vari-
ety of product design and development activities including the validation of product
architectural choices, the design and prioritization of product features, the speci-
fication of product interface requirements, and the establishment of development
process priorities and metrics.
The role of customer as designer is perhaps more evident in industrial products
than in consumer products (Garvin, 1988). For example, in the software industry,
enterprise software developers like Microsoft and SAP often have representa-
tives from customer organizations as members of their product-development teams
(Hoch, Roeding, & Lindner, 1999). Similarly, Chaparral Steel (Chase & Garvin,
1989) and Cisco (Kambil, Friesen, & Sundaram„ 1999) rely on customers to make
design choices as members of product-development teams.
In the consumer sector also, customers have played the role of product co-creator,
for example, by participating in concept testing (Page & Rosenbaum, 1992), con-
sumer idealized design (Cincianntelli & Magdison, 1993), and component selection
(Kambil et al., 1999). For example, BMW has operated its Customer Innovation
Lab by giving customers online design tools to develop their own ideas (particu-
larly, related to telematics and driver-assistance systems). Similarly, both Peugeot
and Swarovski, a producer of crystal, have employed such design tools to facilitate
customer design efforts.
6.2.3 Product Tester
The role of customers in testing new products is not new. Prior studies have estab-
lished the highly productive role customers can play in product and prototype
testing (e.g., Dolan & Mathews, 1993; Nielsen, 1993). Customers of both indus-
trial and consumer products have participated in product testing. For example, in
the software industry, many firms have utilized their customers in beta product
testing enabling them to reduce their investments in internal product testing units
(Cusumano & Yoffie, 1998). Customer involvement in product testing enables firms
to detect product flaws early in the development cycle and minimize costly redesign
and rework. Further, by involving a diverse set of customers in product testing, firms
can gain a rich understanding of how the product would behave in a variety of user
contexts.
The application of virtual product technologies enables a greater level of
involvement of customers in the testing of new products and services. For exam-
ple, both Volvo and Audi have implemented virtual reality tools to involve
customers in product concept testing. The inputs from customers enable the
firms to minimize the number of early design flaws in the product concept and
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