Ten years ago, few customers could tell you what good software looked like.
Now, my four-year-old and my 70-year-old mom can tell what’s a good app and what’s a bad app.
As consumers drive digital transformation, traditional enterprises must become intelligent, interconnected builders, not just buyers of software. But many lack the capability to develop the types of innovative, customer-facing applications needed to differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace.
This places extra importance on finding the correct partner who can co-create the digital entities that fulfil customer expectations and meet critical business needs.
Co-creation, a deeply collaborative way to create products and software together, is outside of how most enterprises see the traditional role of IT: to buy, integrate and implement software. It takes new cultural/organization muscle to make the change to co-creation.
Part of that change is finding great engineers who can seamlessly integrate design with development and bring the voice of the customer/consumer into the process. When you build consumer-facing products, you must work backwards. Find a partner that understands what your customers want, and who can work with you to co-create a product that meets those expectations.
No one company has all the answers. Look for a co-creation partner that can find new ways to look at a problem. They can bring insights from outside your industry. For example, a great co-creative partner can bring best practices from the gaming or entertainment industries to help co-create better patience experiences in healthcare.
Don’t underestimate the importance of colocation in creating a successful co-creation environment. Being close enough, and involved enough, to work side-by-side, interact with customers or whiteboard solutions to roadblocks builds deeper, more collaborative and transformative software.
At Catalyte, we are focused on co-creating the future with our clients. We draw expertise from many industries, giving us unique insights that add value and uncover new solutions. And, with our 100 percent onshore teams, we build additional trust with colocated teams.
Co-creation is key to better software development. Who are you working with?
– Jacob Hsu, CEO
For more of my thoughts on co-creation, listen to our Sourcing for Innovation podcast on SoundCloud or iTunes.
