Reduce Risks With Customer Feedback


We are focused on developing customer-oriented solutions. We have tried to make it clear to our customers that we want input from them. Therefore, much of the research we do, the opportunities we see, and the risks we choose to take are based on that feedback. While I'm not suggesting that customer feedback is the only place a company should conduct research, it is the number one source for VanDyke.

Because we're a fairly small company with a small budget for doing classic market research, we've come to depend on low-tech, low-cost solutions. This includes reading lots of books and periodicals. Everyone is encouraged to read, read, read. This includes reading the USENET newsgroups and surfing the Web. Early on we were able to find potential customers and beta testers online. By reviewing the newsgroup articles, we found individuals who were asking for help in finding solutions. We were able to contact those people and say, "We have a piece of software that we believe solves this problem. Will you try it and give us your feedback?"

By reading Web site reviews on both our products and our competitors', we've been able to identify new opportunities for both feature enhancements and entirely new products. And we've tried to remain flexible. When our CRT 1.0 terminal emulator first shipped, it didn't include any support for printing. In fact, I think I recall saying (or at least thinking), "Printing over my dead body!" However, once 1.0 was delivered, I realized this was a huge mistake. The customer feedback flowed, "CRT is great. It is just what I need to connect to our library system, but I need to able to print out the results of my book query." Within weeks of the official release of CRT 1.0, the beta release of CRT 1.1 shipped with printing support.




The CTO Handbook. The Indispensable Technology Leadership Resource for Chief Technology Officers
The CTO Handbook/Job Manual: A Wealth of Reference Material and Thought Leadership on What Every Manager Needs to Know to Lead Their Technology Team
ISBN: 1587623676
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 213

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