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PublicationApplying an Open Innovation Method for identifying Challenges in the Cloud Business Environment(Conlife, 2013-06-29)The success of connected life services is strongly related to the success of cloud computing. These enormous data volumes can only be handled economically with cloud-based services. Therefore, cloud computing can be seen as a basic technology for successful connected life services. However, the actual use of cloud-based solutions within the B2B sector is due to existing uncertainties by the customers still limited. Therefore, the research question of the study is: Which challenges do cloud users have and how can these challenges be overcome? To answer this question a workshop was designed applying the lead user method as part of the open Innovation approach to identify challenges of the daily work life and to develop user centered and innovative cloud-based product/ service concepts. A total of 10 lead users have participated in the workshop. All participants are customers of a German small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME), which offers a number of cloud-based services for the business sector. In a first step the participants identified 42 challenges of their daily work life. In a second step the participants, who were separated into three groups, developed solution concepts to overcome selected challenges. To structure the development of the solution concepts the Business Model Canvas has been used. The workshop results show that the lead user method is appropriate to identify the challenges of the daily work life and to elaborate cloud-based solution concepts therefore. The customer Integration in the product/ service development process is suitable to develop user centered and innovative concepts.
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PublicationWas bringen die aktivsten Teilnehmer in IT-gestützten Ideenwettbewerben? Der Einfluss von Teilnehmer-Aktivität auf Ideengenerierung und Ideenbewertung( 2011-06-16)
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PublicationThe Lead User Method for SME - a Guidebook for Practitioners and Facilitators(Chair for Information Systems, Kassel University, 2013)We wrote this handbook in order to support SMEs in applying the lead user concept, which was originally developed by von Hippel (von Hippel 1986). The ability to carry out a lead user workshop can make a significant contribution to raising the innovation capacity of SME's. Several studies in different markets have found that a large amount of users which already generated innovations are lead users, and that prototypes that have been developed by lead users often form the basis for innovative and commercially successful products. Nevertheless, the realisation of the lead user concept (including the preparation of the project, the identification of suitable participants and relevant market trends as well as the execution of the workshop) requires extensive process and methodical competencies (Churchill, Sonnack, & Von Hippel, 2009), and is, therefore, hard to achieve for SME's. Without knowing how a distinct activity (e.g. a brainstorming on possible solutions to the problem at hand, or the reduction of different alternatives) should be executed, the only way to conduct a lead user workshop is to hire an external specialist who is familiar with the lead user concept, and who knows how to execute the according activities correctly. At present, the application of the lead user concept (including the identification of relevant trends as well as lead users) takes approximately 9 months, and costs about $51,000 (Herstatt et. al. 1991).
