The Impact of Technology

Chapter 10

New products are the life-line for continued success in today's competitive marketplace. The WWW essentially facilitates the product development process by enhancing the quality and speed of communications. Specifically the following functions of the product development process are facilitated.

Product Ideas: Typically, business has relied on stakeholder feedback via the marketing department for product enhancements and innovation. The proliferation of the WWW allows the creation of web lists of stakeholders who can provide instantaneous feedback regarding product performance or dissatisfaction. Besides, this a ready-made audience for checking product ideas.

Research: The web has become exceedingly popular for conducting both primary and secondary research. Focus groups and survey research have become standard features of the WWW. On the secondary research front, the WWW allows an organization to assess a product's competitive, social, legal, and cultural environment quickly and cost effectively.

Product Development, Beta Testing, and Commercialization: The use of the web in these functions comes from its inherent ability to bridge groups of people that are spatially separated. The web lends itself to the creation of virtual cross-disciplinary teams that are geographically separated to enhance the product development process. While these virtual teams can never take the place of a physical get together it may be a cost effective tool for idea swapping in the initial phases of product development and follow-up in the latter stages of beta testing and market development.

Bock H. Walter and Jeff Seene (1996), "Cyberpower for business," Franklin Lakes, NJ, Career Press.