The future of innovation lies in customer experience

FOR a long time, innovation was assumed to be best delivered in the product space. Companies believed they created value through the products and services they offered, and so they competed by offering product variety and expanding the markets they served. But the convergence of industries and the emergence of active consumers in an increasingly networked society now challenge that view.

Converging technologies are causing industry boundaries to shift and blur, changing the very nature of products and services. Traditionally, the education, communication, and entertainment markets were served by distinct industries: the consumer electronics industry, the computer industry, the communication devices industry, the music industry, and the movie industry. Today, the lines between these industries have all but disappeared in the wake of the consumer digital space.

Digitisation has enabled the combination of features and functions of traditional industries and products in a host of ways. A mobile phone today is an e-mail device, weather forecaster, a camera, a music streaming device, a date-finder, and an e-wallet. Soon, Google Glass will do these, and more. Similar convergence scenarios are occurring in the financial services, healthcare and car industries, among many others.