The Imperatives of Customer-Centric Innovation
Keen demands of customers
The ever-increasing velocity of the pace of business, constant advances in technology, and sudden shifts and upheavals in market segments—expected and unforeseen—create an acute need to innovate ahead of constantly changing customer needs and demands.
In his 2017 Letter to Shareholders, Jeff Bezos called out the underlying nature of customers’ ever-increasing expectations. “One thing I love about customers,” Jeff wrote, “is that they are divinely discontent…People have a voracious appetite for a better way, and yesterday’s ‘wow’ quickly becomes today’s ‘ordinary.’”

AWS re:Invent 2020 - Keynote with Andy Jassy
Andy Jassy also touched upon the need to stay ahead of fast-changing business environments and customer needs in his re:Invent 2020 keynote speech, stating that, “Speed disproportionately matters at every stage of your business, and in every sized company…Speed is not preordained. Speed is a choice. You can make this choice. And you’ve got to set up a culture that has urgency.”
Watch Andy Jassy's keynote at AWS re:Invent
Meeting customer needs during company growth
As companies grow and scale, maintaining focus on meeting customers’ requirements at speed becomes more difficult as other business imperatives and pressures (e.g. cost, infrastructure, competition) arise. But the necessity of understanding your customers’ needs and desires, and rapidly inventing solutions that meet those needs, is more critical than ever for companies looking to remain innovative in an increasingly uncompromising business environment.
It is not enough to simply react to what your customers are telling you they need. This may address prominent pain points or the highest priority issues in the short term, but does not guarantee that that you will proactively stay ahead of those needs. They will inevitably shift over time, and there is a likely chance you won’t even know when this shift occurs.
