High-tech environments are fraught with change and uncertainty.
Customers have difficulty envisioning how technology can meet their
needs. They aren't aware of what new technologies are available
or how those technologies might be used to solve current problems.
They might not even be aware of the needs they have. Moreover, in
this environment, firms must accelerate the product development
process, closing the time between idea to market introduction.
As a result of these factors, successful firms in high-tech markets
must incorporate information about customers, competitors, and market
trends into product development and marketing decisions despite
the inherent difficulties, and the all-too-common tendency to diminish
the value of such information. Hence, this chapter focuses on gathering
information in high-tech markets, and examines:
High-tech marketing research tools, including empathic
design and lead users;
Quality Function Deployment, a tool to link customer input
to product design;
The gathering of competitive intelligence in high-tech
markets;
Forecasting techniques and complications in high-tech
markets
The chapter’s opening vignette is on the extensive
tools Microsoft uses to stay abreast of its markets.
The chapter’s technology tidbit addresses the use of information
technology for data mining.
The chapter’s two experts are:
Bonnie Pinkerton, Future Product Manager
at Hewlett
Packard, who speaks about HP’s use of market research
to drive successful innovative products in digital photography.
Tami Syversen, Competitive Intelligence
Analyst at Sun Microsystems,
who provides insight about the role of a competitive intelligence
analyst.
