What is the Next Product Development Revolution?

How Digital Innovation is changing what products are, how they are defined, and how organizations compete

"The Next Product Development Revolution" to be held on April 2-3, 2013 in Cambridge, MA will bring together industry leaders who are developing breakthrough products and customer experiences through the strategic use of digital, social and mobile technologies. This groundbreaking conference is the first to focus specifically on the impact of the digital revolution on product innovation.

The following topics will be covered: *Experience Innovation.*Viral products, social influence on product adoption. *Informationalization, sensors, mobile, the Cloud – making products smarter and more customizable, avoiding commoditization.  *Tapping big data to predict future market needs and opportunities. *Going beyond VOC for deep customer insight. *The Industrial Internet - the next digital disruption.

Why is this Conference Important?

Few companies are leveraging the full potential of social media, big data, and digital technologies — especially in B2B (business to business). Those that do will have a huge and early advantage in understanding what customers want – what makes products go “viral,” how information/IT and mobile technology are becoming integral to products themselves (think remote monitoring medical devices, accident-avoiding cars, etc.).

Growth into new emerging markets also requires a deep understanding of customer needs – social networks have become one of the most powerful means to gaining this understanding. Influence is determined by social factors as well.

To differentiate your offerings and stand out in the sea of look-alike commodities, total customer experience will become more critical than products themselves. At this conference you will learn how to ensure your customers’ experience is exceptional and that word-of-mouth leads to “must-have” widespread adoption.

Lastly, given the massive amounts of data – both about customers and for customers (to compare products/pricing/user feedback) – it is crucial to have an effective Big Data strategy and for managers of R&D, Marketing and IT to collaborate. Silos are not only detrimental inside an organization, they will hurt you in the marketplace.

For more details and updates, please visit the conference microsite.