In the ever-evolving technology industry, the ability to create groundbreaking products is just the first step toward success. A new tech product may do something that’s never been done before, but if nobody needs what it does, it’s not really useful. Ensuring that their innovations meet a genuine social, consumer or industry need is what sets the most thriving tech companies and teams apart from the rest.
Below, 20 Forbes Technology Council experts explore effective ways tech teams can ensure they are creating truly meaningful solutions that meet real needs. By prioritizing relevance and utility, tech companies can make a lasting positive impact and gain a competitive edge in the dynamic and constantly shifting tech landscape.
1. Apply ‘Problem-First Innovation’
To ensure meaningful tech, apply “problem-first innovation.” Start with a problem, then design tech to solve it. By empathizing with users’ struggles, teams can innovate solutions that genuinely address real-world needs. It’s about making technology serve the problem, not vice versa. – Andrew Blackman, EZ Cloud
2. Work With The Users Who Would Benefit
To make technology useful, work with the users who would benefit from the very same technology. One way is to create a small, prototype version of the product, experiment with the users and listen to their feedback. It is also important to hear from not just a few but enough target audience members and use active listening so that we can ensure the product is relevant and useful to them. – Ramki Pitchuiyer, Ascendo AI
3. Complete A DVF Assessment
A desirability, viability and feasibility assessment at a very early stage is the mantra. Desirability means connecting with potential users, markets or stakeholders to assess and validate how the new product or service impacts their needs. Viability validates the economic viability of users and the market to use or adapt the service or product. Feasibility means evaluating chosen tech before its actual development. – Srinivasulu Nasam, Bosch Global Software Technologies Pvt Ltd
4. Focus On Necessity, Not Novelty
Juicero, a $120 million startup, created a novel, yet unneeded, juice packet opener. This example highlights the importance of understanding customer needs. During the pandemic, companies showed that true innovation lies in quick adaptation to meet new requirements. Meaningful tech emerges from necessity, not novelty. – Marlene Ronstedt, Data Union DAO
5. Create A Fast Feedback Loop
Creating impactful tech starts with understanding users’ needs. Conduct surveys, then build prototypes for user testing. This forms a fast feedback loop, ensuring that the product grows in the direction of having the greatest impact on its users. For a quantitative method of assessing and improving our technology, we use surveys consistently to track the user satisfaction score. – Madhav Srinath, NexusLeap
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
6. Seek Inspiration From Unconventional Sources
To create meaningful tech, companies and teams should seek inspiration from unconventional sources. Exploring disciplines beyond their niche, such as psychology, sociology and art, might unveil hidden user needs. Additionally, this interdisciplinary approach enables the designing of solutions that address real social, consumer or industry challenges and resonate with users. – Vinita Rathi, Systango
7. Solve A Problem You’ve Experienced Yourself
The problem statement that one is trying to solve should be self-experienced, not only communicated. I also believe in the old-school style of doing surveys. The problem should be experienced by the masses, as it ensures there is a high chance to get a good product-market fit. Anyone can create a good product, but the game is about product-market fit, and you need to solve a big problem to get it. – Phil Portman, Textdrip
8. Adopt An Empathetic Approach To Innovation
In the pursuit of meaningful tech, empathetic innovation is key. This strategy ensures technologists delve into users’ lives, evolving technology from mere novelty into tangible solutions. It serves as a compass, guiding us toward solutions that truly matter. In essence, true innovation echoes within human necessity, creating a resonance that profoundly and positively impacts lives. – Amitkumar Shrivastava, Fujitsu
9. Create A Solution To An Actual Problem Statement
One way to ensure that your technology is creating a meaningful experience is to create a solution to an actual problem statement given to you by your ideal clientele, and never lose sight of it. As you continue to develop, allow a few trusted clients to trial it, provide feedback and even give you ideas on features that can be added that would make their lives even easier. – Tracy Davis, TRAX Analytics
10. Design Prototypes To Capture Users’ Feedback
Design thinking is a critical part of developing a tech product that can be adopted and used by the targeted customers. As part of the design thinking process, it is critical to capture users’ input in a detailed way (depending on the type and size of the product) and even capture their feedback for minimum viable prototypes before making a huge investment in product development. – Raj Polanki, Wacker Chemical Corporation
11. Ensure Companywide Understanding Of Who The User Is
The most important thing for tech companies to do is ensure there is a real, clear understanding of who the user is across the company, at all levels. Everyone in the company, from accounting to customer support and everyone in between, should know who the user is, what their needs are and how your product or service betters their life or experience. – Patti Mikula, Hackworks Inc
12. Host Focus Groups
Creating an innovative product that meets social and industry needs is based on the basic needs of society and market development trends. It is necessary to explore the potential audience of the product through a focus group and determine whether the product meets the audience’s needs at the moment and will continue to over time, given the development of the industry and the emergence of new technologies. – Maksym Kovalenko, WMG International (adWMG)
13. Use The Jobs-To-Be-Done Framework
You must deeply understand what pain points and problems you’re really solving before you create a product. Once the product is created, keeping a close ear on user needs and hopes can inform how the product evolves. A helpful way of thinking about this is the jobs-to-be-done framework: What job is a customer hiring your product for? A user research function or team is helpful to facilitate this. – Liz Li, Velocity Global
14. Adapt A Failed Product To Solve A True Issue
You may have a great idea and a product that seems like it could end world hunger. But as it turns out, the market has no need for it. Rather than quit, find out how you can adapt that product to solve a true industry issue. Lots of things in this world are broken, and finding solutions is difficult, but having a starting point can sometimes be the difference between a great market fit and a failed product. – Shams Syed, AptPay Inc
15. Identify Customer Needs And Create A Strong Vision
It all starts with identifying the needs of the customer. When developing a new technology, it’s important to have regular conversations with potential prospects to effectively build a solution that fills a market void. It’s critical to have a strong vision that drives how you solve a problem that was previously unsolvable and create connections that did not exist before. – Yu Xu, TigerGraph
16. Ground Yourself In The User’s Day-To-Day Life
Start with the user. Make understanding them and their challenges the most important step in your process. Ground yourself in the reality of their day-to-day life so that you can meaningfully figure out what technology is needed to support the experience you’re trying to create for them, rather than the other way around. – Shannon Goggin, Noyo
17. Prioritize Ethical Considerations
Tech companies can ensure they’re creating meaningful tech by focusing on solving real-world problems. This requires a deep understanding of the target audience and their needs, as well as a commitment to delivering solutions that provide real value and impact. Prioritize ethical considerations and ensure that technology is designed and deployed in a responsible and sustainable manner. – Leon Gordon, Onyx Data
18. Listen To Learn Why Prospects Don’t Buy
Talk to customers, at all times—this is the single most important thing. Other key things you can do include going to industry events and absorbing what the market really cares about and listening very carefully to prospects who don’t end up buying your product. Understand why they did not buy. Don’t be precious about the initial idea; listen and iterate, at all times and in all stages. – Maria Scott, TAINA Technology
19. Invest In Social And Real-Time Product Testing
Vendors must invest in social and real-time product testing. The process positions the vendor to reduce downstream liabilities and additional risks. The testing can help identify society’s needs, proper usage and constraints and provide visibility into operational risks. When this process is followed, newer technologies can serve true needs, reduce cyber risks and save human lives, rather than becoming risk factors. – Dewayne Hart, SEMAIS
20. Involve Users And Conduct Usability Tests
Bring the customer’s voice into the process. Develop a “user-centered” design approach. By adopting a user-centered design approach, companies can prioritize the needs and preferences of their target audience. This means involving users throughout the development process, conducting usability tests and iterating based on user feedback. A product-market fit is achieved when you have a prospect who is willing to pay. – Reuven Aronashvili, CYE
Read the full article here
