The customer-centered innovation map.

Area of Science:

• Business Strategy
• Innovation Management
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Customers engage products and services to accomplish specific tasks or "jobs."
• Identifying unmet needs requires a comprehensive understanding of the entire job lifecycle.
• Current product/service offerings may not fully address all customer requirements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and explain the job mapping methodology for innovation.
• To demonstrate how deconstructing customer jobs reveals opportunities for improvement.
• To differentiate job mapping from traditional process mapping.

Main Methods:

• Job mapping involves deconstructing a customer's task into eight universal steps.
• The methodology focuses on the customer's desired outcomes at each step.
• Analysis identifies drawbacks in current solutions and potential areas for innovation.

Main Results:

• Job mapping provides a complete view of customer needs throughout a task.
• It uncovers opportunities to make jobs simpler, easier, or faster.
• This approach aids in discovering novel ways to differentiate products and services.

Conclusions:

• Job mapping is a powerful tool for uncovering innovation opportunities.
• By focusing on the "job to be done," companies can better meet customer needs.
• This methodology enables the development of more effective and competitive offerings.