Jean-Louis Barsoux

Michael Wade

Cyril Bouquet

<article-ideainbrief class="article-ideainbrief">
 <h4 class="ideainbrief-title">Idea in Brief</h4>
 <div class="ideainbrief-contents">
  <h5>The Problem</h5>
  <p>Even renowned innovators are often unable to correctly identify and understand consumers’ unmet needs.</p>
  <h5>The Solution</h5>
  <p>A four-part framework can help. You can zoom in on individual mainstream users (the <em>microscope strategy</em>) or look for patterns in their aggregate behavior (the <em>panorama strategy</em>). Likewise, you can take a close-up look at users outside your core (the <em>telescope strategy</em>) or study patterns they exhibit as a group (the <em>kaleidoscope strategy</em>).</p>
  <h5>What Digital Can Add</h5>
  <p>Digital tools can capture data unobtrusively and in real time. They facilitate observation of large groups, allow you to find and engage with niche users, and make it possible to quickly sift through masses of data and identify trends therein.</p>
 </div>
</article-ideainbrief><p>It’s a basic tenet of entrepreneurship: Innovation is all about identifying and filling people’s unmet needs. Customers want products and services that can solve their problems better, faster, or more cheaply than existing offerings can. But even innovators and organizations renowned for their scanning capabilities often have trouble perceiving and correctly interpreting those needs.</p>

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<p>Innovation is all about finding and filling people&#8217;s unmet needs. But even innovators and organizations renowned for their scanning capabilities often have trouble perceiving and correctly interpreting those needs. Drawing on their work as researchers, teachers, and consultants, the authors outline a four-part framework to help innovators diversify how and where they look. It involves two main strategies: improving your vision (seeing in greater detail) and challenging your vision (looking at people other than mainstream users). Within each you can adopt a narrow focus or take a wider view. You can zoom in on individual mainstream users and their everyday experiences (what the authors call a <em>microscope strategy</em>) or pull back to discover patterns in their aggregate behavior (a <em>panorama strategy</em>). Likewise, you can take a look at users outside your core (a <em>telescope strategy</em>) or seek a broader view of the patterns they exhibit as a group (a <em>kaleidoscope strategy</em>). For each of the framework&#8217;s four parts, the authors describe how digital technologies can augment more-traditional ways of looking. Used together, the approaches they present will enable entrepreneurs to look further afield and on a larger scale than ever before.</p>

Identifying Unmet Needs in a Digital Age

Innovation is all about finding and filling people’s unmet needs. But even innovators and organizations renowned for their scanning capabilities often have trouble perceiving and correctly interpreting those needs. Drawing on their work as researchers, teachers, and consultants, the authors outline a four-part framework to help innovators diversify how and where they look. It involves two main strategies: improving your vision (seeing in greater detail) and challenging your vision (looking at people other than mainstream users). Within each you can adopt a narrow focus or take a wider view. You can zoom in on individual mainstream users and their everyday experiences (what the authors call a microscope strategy ) or pull back to discover patterns in their aggregate behavior (a panorama strategy ). Likewise, you can take a look at users outside your core (a telescope strategy ) or seek a broader view of the patterns they exhibit as a group (a kaleidoscope strategy ). For each of the framework’s four parts, the authors describe how digital technologies can augment more-traditional ways of looking. Used together, the approaches they present will enable entrepreneurs to look further afield and on a larger scale than ever before.

Identifying Unmet Needs in a Digital Age

Summary.

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