CHAPTER 1 – Human-Centred Design. What is HCD?

Definition

Human-Centred Design (HCD) can be defined as a method bringing purposes to means, by considering user requirements, and as an interaction model working through incremental functional analysis and participatory design.

IDEO.org, a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S.A, England, Germany, Japan, and China uses the Design Thinking approach to design products, services, environments, and digital experiences. IDEO states that HCD “is a process that starts with the people you are designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs”.

Human-Centred Design consists of three phases:

 Inspiration phase to learn directly from the people the company is designing for by immersing in their lives and coming to deeply understand their needs - understanding the problem by engaging with the community  Ideation Phase to make sense of what was learned; identifying opportunities for design, and prototyping possible solutions - refining ideas, ideation  Implementation Phase to bring the solution to life and eventually to market. The solution would be more likely to be a success because the very people who are meant to be served by the solution are kept at the heart of the process and in prototyping

1.1 What is the difference between Design Thinking and Human-Centred Design?

Design Thinking was popularized by Stanford’s d.school, also known as the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, which is a design thinking institute based at Stanford University. Design Thinking is an iterative process used to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. Solutions refer to products, processes or services to be used by a person or a group of people.

Figure 1. Design Thinking process, scientific diagram (dschool; licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license).

Human-Centred Design, popularized by IDEO.org, is a mind-set that overlays design thinking to ensure that the products are actually relevant and beneficial, and in the long run, for the people they are intended to serve. It follows the Design-Thinking two ways of thinking: divergent and convergent thinking through its three phases.

Example:

Any business can use Design Thinking to build a solution that is capable of generating revenue, to create a video game or TV show for kids. Applying Human-Centred Design in addition to Design-Thinking ensures that the show actually serves the needs of the people watching it, such as the learning objectives of the children watching the show or playing the game.

Design Thinking is typically used to create market-based products and/or services, whereas Human-Centred Design takes a step further and provides a mind-set and approach to ensure these products and/or services actually improve the lives of the end-users or beneficiaries. When combined, they offer a process that has the potential to create self-sustaining solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges.

1.2 Co-creation

In order to bring the user closer to the innovation process, consumers can be involved as active actors in the development process through co-creation. In practice, it implies that collaborative workshops are organised where business stakeholders, designers, researchers and end-users gather to assess a problem and find solutions collaboratively with attention paid to the different points of view and needs of the various actors (source: Uxbooth.com).

Crowdsourcing is a related and overlapping concept, which implies that problems and tasks are given to a large crowd of people to solve or provide their contribution to. In contrast with co-creation, the tasks related to crowdsourcing may involve a lesser degree of creativity and lesser possibility for an individual to affect the features of the outcome, depending on the task at hand.

CHAPTER 2 – Human-Centred Design Methodology for Entrepreneurship. HCD for entrepreneurs

2.1 Context: why to deploy Human-Centred Design

According to the CB Insight research1 42% of start-up failures are due to the fact that there was never a need in the first place. Tackling problems that are interesting to solve rather than those that serve a market need was cited as the number one reason for failure. The 9th reason for failure was that customers were ignored.

Human-Centred Design gives the possibility to entrepreneurs to understand customers or future users better and they are able to:

● Develop on new and innovative ideas

Human-centred approach feeds the creation of products that fit better with an audience, ultimately driving engagement and growth.

● Check assumptions

Through Human-centred design, entrepreneurs and innovators better understand people’s needs, motivations and concerns, but it also gives support for a more efficient, flexible design process. By engaging early with users and seeking their input and feedback, entrepreneurs gain valuable insights while still working with prototypes. It gives the possibility to pivot early and avoid steering resources in the wrong direction. It allows to rapidly check key assumptions, uncover opportunities for improvement and gather inspiration for new ideas.

● Cut waste

By testing, iterating and interacting with users, entrepreneurs and innovators are able to consider the production and components in another manner, affecting the way resources are used. Also when considering sustainability, entrepreneurs have to take into account the entire product life cycle and therefore integrate returns and recycling from the start. It also impacts the type of components used in the first place.

● Create partnerships

Involving different types of stakeholders at all development stages ensures the product/service has comprehensive features and by consequence a greater impact. By interacting, ideating, testing and collaborating with different types of thinkers and makers, the entrepreneur ensures his/her idea is viable. Inspiration also supports innovation. And while information is available online, routines and comfort increase the risk of mental stagnation which is counterproductive.

1 https://www.cbinsights.com/reports/The-20-Reasons-Startups-Fail.pdf?utm_campaign=Report%20%20Content%20Emails&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8zqsFqpx_LSUvOVgqnU9rCYPDGbr6xQU6MWd0bmN7j7XOTjnxx8_S_keBDQbqBBC5VokuJAitF27_eapQzo1jBYbUdw&_hsm i=24695183&utm_content=24695183&utm_source=hs_automation&hsCtaTracking=61ab122e-019b-4f59-8699c9c960ead242%7Cfed300a8-9488-4239-92b3-bb641191e0d0

2.2 Trends

2.2.1 Post-COVID

Crises may impact our daily life, but COVID-19 pandemic has changed our future permanently. Online interaction and remote working have become a norm rather than an option.

According to the Boston Consulting Group and a study conducted in April 20202 with more than 40 interviewed business executives, design and technology experts and members of the public, new modes of engagement have emerged in the past year mostly due to digitalisation.

Because of the pandemic, many organisations such as restaurants, gyms, movie studios were lagging on the digital front, and have adapted their business models and offerings very quickly. This rapid shift to digital implies that the number of technology users has increased. Among the expanded audience: children, the elderly, individuals with physical disabilities, and those who were skeptical about replacing in-person with digital interactions. Entrepreneurs and innovators have to consider the different needs of these new users as they create and improve digital channels. Expectations are likely to be higher. Some businesses have been particularly proactive in creating convenient online channels and set the bar high. Users' expectations might have increased towards offerings that consider the entire online interaction, for example regarding product returns.

For many, the COVID-19 crisis has sparked reflection and introspection. Life goals and priorities are reviewed, relationships have changed. Connections with geographically distant members have been reinforced.

Which of these changes are here to stay?

Some of the shifts, such as accelerated technology adoption, hybrid digital physical delivery, and remote collaboration, can be thought to have a lasting impact.

It is important to think differently about building and implementing solutions for the new reality. The human perspective is essential for successful design, and it is evolving at a rapid pace. Innovators need to consider different markets, geographical factors and cultural differences. While digitalisation might bring us closer and take down some barriers, people are still acting based on their culture, habits, beliefs, etc.

● Closing the gap between digital and physical experiences by striking a careful balance between the

convenience of digital channels and the immediacy of in-person experiences

Gaining a deep understanding of the customers and users through ethnographic research, journey mapping, and behavioural analytics will contribute to closing the gap. It reveals opportunities for innovation and differentiation.

● Know what not to replicate online

Not all interactions can be transposed online. Sensations like touch, environmental factors like temperature, or the physical presence of other people are essential to the experience. Some activities such as painting and exercise classes may work well virtually, others require a different approach.

2 https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/the-importance-of-human-centered-design

● Embrace inclusive design and digital upskilling

With so many new users of digital channels, products and services, designing with an inclusive perspective is important. Some customer segments, for example, may have challenges around technology access because a required device or broadband connection is not readily available. Others, like the elderly and the very young may not be used to the interfaces and processes.

● Increase the speed of innovation

In addition to meeting increased expectations and ensuring robust, high-quality and continually improving experiences, innovation needs to happen quickly. Enabling a fast pace means developing processes and a culture that supports iteration rapidly while engaging with end users. Agile methodologies3 are a way to boost responsiveness and get feedback.

● Foster interconnectedness and micro communities

Community belonging should be integrated into design. For example, by creating virtual micro communities composed of geographically diverse people sharing a common interest, a sense of familiarity, personalization, and connectedness will be fostered. Marketing strategies are of great importance to reinforce the feeling of community. For a greater impact, innovations should be designed to function within ecosystems, therefore by considering interconnectedness and interdependencies from a more technical level4 .

2.2.2. Artificial Intelligence

The increase of artificial intelligence (AI) possibilities offers vast potential to transform businesses. For instance, it enables the introduction of largely scalable intelligent services. In order to realise its potential, companies should be conceived as hybrid learning organisations, which requires new ways of working and organising themselves. The organisational structures and processes need to combine technological and human capabilities: integrating algorithms and decision engines in order to learn at the speed of incoming data, refocusing humans on higher-level problems that algorithms cannot yet solve, and creating new interfaces for humans to effectively collaborate with machines5. Rapid digitisation puts into light the power of AI, which through its algorithmic decision engines help coordinate activity e.g on online marketplaces, leading to a massive increase in e-commerce in many countries. It has also shown its limits, such as reimagining business models. Creating alliances between people and AI systems will become an even more important challenge as digitisation progresses. That development necessitates the deployment of humancentred design for instance in the interfaces, so that the capabilities of AI can be as well as possible made to yield results utilisable effectively by people.

2.2.3. Circular economy

Circular economy approach rethinks the traditional take-make-dispose economic model and suggests a new model that retains as much value as possible from resources, products, parts and materials to create a system that allows for long life, optimal reuse, remanufacturing and recycling67. Innovations supporting the reuse of

3 https://www.bcg.com/capabilities/digital-technology-data/agile/agile-at-scale 4 https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/the-importance-of-human-centered-design 5 https://www.bcg.com/en-nor/publications/2021/how-pandemic-accelerated-business-leader-agenda 6 https://www.bcg.com/en-nor/publications/2018/ten-steps-toward-circular-economy 7 Kenniskaarten: https://kenniskaarten.hetgroenebrein.nl/en/knowledge-map-circular-economy/what-is-thedefinition-a-circular-economy/

resources can make companies less dependent on scarce raw material, increase operational efficiency, drive further innovation, and enable new offerings attracting customers and deepening existing relationships. It has been estimated that the transition to the circular economy could unlock over 3 trillion euros of GDP growth worldwide by 2030. Benefits are also foreseen for the society as it would make it easier to shelter, feed, and clothe the 8.5 billion people expected to inhabit the planet by 2030.

There is a growing pressure to reduce the environmental impact and for companies, it means increased government regulations, consumer demands and costs. Pressure is also growing internationally as presented by the U.N.’ Sustainable Development Goals.

There are three types of circular innovations with progressing degrees of complexity that companies can implement gradually:

 Process innovation, it is usually the easiest as companies follow processes. It requires to improve production processes, logistic and/or recycling methods  Product innovation, somewhat more challenging as it concerns more areas of the organisation. It requires to improve or develop goods and/or services  Business model innovation is the most challenging. It requires to rethink or implement significant changes on how the company generates value8

According to the joint report from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and The Boston Consulting Group in 20189, recommendations for entrepreneurs have been identified to implement circular initiatives:

 Engage with external stakeholders  Explain the concept and communicate the vision with your team members  Educate team members on dematerialization and remanufacturing, eco-design, recyclability, and practices extending product lifetimes  Collaborate with external partners  Define your business KPIs to measure progress  Do good and talk about it

2.3 Practical guidance, templates and other methodologies

2.3.1. Lean start-up methodology10

The core idea of Lean is to eliminate everything that does not create value for the end user, seen as wasteful11. Lean includes seven principles12 summarizing its most important points:

 optimize the whole  eliminate waste  build quality in  learn constantly  deliver fast  engage everyone

8 http://docs.wbcsd.org/2018/01/The_new_big_circle.pdf p.13 9 http://docs.wbcsd.org/2018/01/The_new_big_circle.pdf 10 http://theleanstartup.com/principles 11 Poppendieck & Poppendieck, 2007 12 Fagerholm et al., 2014

 and keep getting better

The Lean Start-up13 builds on existing ideas in scientific literature to popularize experimentation in start-ups. It focuses more on “should this product/service be created instead of can it be built”. A core component of Lean Start-up methodology is the build-measure-learn feedback loop, which is in line with the human-centred design methodology. The principle is to act with the end users as much as possible to collect feedback and react accordingly.

The Lean Start-up methodology encourages business owners to conduct experiments and adapt their products to fit the market needs. Experimentation for product development is not a new trend, as it has been used for several years already, especially by software development companies. Experimentation is an activity fundamentally linked to innovation14. The goal of experimentation is to make sure that the solution creates customer value as companies should not rely only on the experience and intuition of their employees15 . Through experimentation, it becomes possible to identify what is valuable to the customers and to prioritize development activities. It reduces risk-taking as decisions are based on collected data. In the experimentdriven approach, assumptions about the product are systematically identified, prioritized and validated16 .

The first step is to identify the problem to be solved and then develop a minimum viable product (MVP), or prototype, to start learning quickly from testing. By collecting feedback, the start-up can measure and learn from potential users. The start-up also employs an investigative development method called the "Five Whys", largely used in Design-Thinking methodology as presented in the Design-Thinking Guide. During this measuring process, the start-up will be able to either go on with its business model or make a structural change to test the product further and its strategy.

To support the Lean Start-up process, the lean canvas can be used to validate ideas and concepts. It focuses more on problems, solutions, key metrics and competitive advantages. Once the business strategy is validated, the business model canvas can be used.

“The Business Model Canvas was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder based on his earlier book: Business Model Ontology. It outlines several prescriptions which form the building blocks for the activities. It enables both new and existing businesses to focus on operational as well as strategic management and marketing plans. The Lean Canvas, on the other hand, has been proposed by Ash Maurya as a development of the Business Model Generation. It outlines a more problem focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses." (Canvanizer)

2.3.2 The five steps of Human-Centred Design

According to the principles of Human-Centred Design, a requisite of the problem to be solved is that a solution is discoverable and that it can be found by interacting with the people studied.

Step 1: Empathise

Design Thinking starts by understanding people and defining a problem emerging from this group. HumanCentred Design suggests that this phase is based on “Inspiration”, and that there is no hurry to get to the execution of the solution. During this first step, it is important to fully understand the people the solution is trying to serve, and HCD also provides ethical methods on how to do so.

13 Eric Ries, 2011 14 Thomke, 1998 15 Lindgren & Münch, 2016 16 Lindgren & Münch, 2016

Step 2: Define

Design Thinking recommends framing one problem that can meaningfully be designed towards. During this phase, Human-Centred Design proposes converging stakeholders to better understand their needs, assets, and opportunities to align around one common shared problem.

Step 3: Ideate

Design Thinking suggests coming up with as many ideas as possible, right and wrong. Human-Centred Design favors creative processes in this “ideation” phase on how to generate more ideas by involving the people the solution will be serving.

Step 4: Prototype

Design Thinking encourages the development of a minimum viable prototype to see if the solution will actually be adopted by the market. Human-Centred Design provides tools in this “Implementation Phase” suggesting that prototypes would be built in partnership with stakeholders and end-users to get their feedback and suggestions.

Step 5: Test

Design Thinking guides to test the prototypes to identify if they could be adopted, and to learn more about the end-user. Human-Centred Design in this last phase verifies that people will adopt the solution, and that it actually creates an impact along the identified goals of making things better17 .

3.2.3 A/B testing

A/B testing (also known as split testing or bucket testing) is a method for comparing two versions of design elements against each other to discover which one is the most successful. It allows individuals, teams, and companies to make careful changes to their user experiences while collecting data on the results18. It allows building hypotheses and learning why certain elements of the experiences impact user behaviour.

A/B testing can be used to continually improve a given experience and allows to identify which changes had which effect on the user behaviour, and which ones did not.

A/B testing is mostly used for digital product development, but it can also be used by product developers and designers to demonstrate the impact of new features or changes to a user experience. Product on boarding, user engagement, modals, and in-product experiences can all be optimized with A/B testing.

Here are the six stages to construct A/B tests19:

1. Collect Data

Analytics will often provide insight into where to start optimizing

2. Identify Goals

17 https://blog.movingworlds.org/human-centered-design-vs-design-thinking-how-theyre-different-and-how-to-usethem-together-to-create-lasting-change/ 18 https://www.optimizely.com/optimization-glossary/ab-testing/ 19 https://uxdesign.cc/a-b-testing-your-designs-b648e413b124

Conversion goals are the metrics used to determine whether the variation is more successful than the original version or not. Goals can be anything from clicking a button or link to product purchases and e-mail signups.

3. Generate Hypothesis

Once the goal is identified, A/B testing can start generating ideas and hypotheses to verify why and how improvements from previous versions have had an impact. The list of ideas can be organised in order of priority and in terms of expected impact and difficulty of implementation.

4. Create Variations

Using A/B testing software makes the desired changes to an element. Many leading A/B testing tools have a visual editor making changes easily.

5. Run Experiment

Kick off the experiment and wait for participants. Interaction of the participants with each experience is measured, counted, and compared to determine how each performs.

6. Analyse Results

Once the experiment is complete, results should be analysed. The A/B testing software will present the data from the experiment and present the difference between how the two versions performed, and whether there is a statistically significant difference.

2.4 Application of HCD in entrepreneurial context

This section discusses the deployment and tools of HCD methods in an entrepreneurial context.

2.4.1. Cognitive engineering

Cognitive engineering (CE) is a composite discipline that deals with computer science and engineering, but also involves human and social sciences. The goal of CE is to gain a comprehension of the needs and experiences that people have along the life cycle of a product, taking into account human capabilities and limitations in the design of systems. CE focuses on designing high-level requirements through taking user needs and requirements into account, and through emphasising testing. For this purpose, modeling and simulation tools and methods need to be employed during the product’s entire lifecycle. As it is not possible to analytically anticipate users’ cognitive functions, it is necessary to run human-in-the-loop simulations (HITLS) to discover and identify them. CE is in stark contrast with systems engineering in that CE, likewise as HCD in general, takes people (uses, needs, user requirements) first (outside-in approach to engineering), whereas systems engineering takes systems first (inside-out approach to engineering). In the inside-out approach, human factors are normally taken into account after the product has been developed, through user interface development (Boy 2012)20 .

20 Orchestrating Human-Centred Design, Guy André Boy, Springer, ISBN 978-1-4471-4339-0 (eBook), 2013, p35-42

2.4.2 Agile methods for software development

Agile methodologies are widely used in software development. Their principles and values are listed in the Agile Manifesto21 which highlights the concept of customer collaboration. Within customer collaboration, the consumer is actively involved in the development process, although the degree of involvement depends on the methodology used and room should be given to steer the direction of the project through interventions due to possibly changing needs22. The most common way to integrate HCD and an agile approach is through Scrum and Kanban, detailed in the next sections.

Other aspects to integrate HCD with agile approaches are23:

 little design up front, where the user research activities are conducted at the kick-off meeting or in stage 0  prototyping during the project lifetime  user stories, where user requirements are created with all stakeholders  inspection evaluation, where paper prototypes are assessed to clarify the user interface  user testing through interactive prototypes involving the end users  one sprint ahead where HCD experts work one sprint ahead or in sprint 0

❖ Scrum

Scrum is a framework that has been designed to help creating value through adaptive solutions for complex problems (Schwaber & Sutherland 2020). A Scrum team comprises of a Scrum Master, Product Owner and Developers. The team focuses on one objective at a time (the Product Goal). The Product Backlog lists the to-dos (Product Backlog Items [PBIs]) related to the product and is managed by the Product Owner. Within the Scrum team, there are no hierarchies nor sub-teams (Scrum.org 2021). The Scrum teams are also selfmanaging (Scrum Guides 2020). The development process takes place through an iterative and incremental approach through “Sprints”, in which the team turns the selection of work into an increment of value (Figure 2). After a Sprint, the team and its stakeholders assess the results and make adjustments in preparation for the next Sprint.

21 Beck K, et al. Manifesto for Agile software development. http://www.Agilemanifesto.org 22 Verdiesen B (2014) Agile user experience. MSc dissertation, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen 23 Human–Computer Interaction Series ISBN 978-3-319-32163-9

Figure 2. Schematic of the Scrum Framework process (Mitchell 2015; licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionShare Alike 4.0 International license).

❖ Kanban

Kanban is a workflow management method defining, managing and improving services. The objective of this method is to help visualize operations, maximize efficiency, and improve continuously. Kanban in Japanese can be translated as billboard or signboard. This approach, originally used in manufacturing, is nowadays claimed by Agile software development teams.

Kanban can be implemented into an organization without changing the whole development process; compared with Scrum which specifies a process including a set of meetings, roles and rules. Kanban lean methodology starts with making a workflow visible and proceeds with continuous improvement of the existing process model.

The application of Kanban in IT was mainly influenced by Anderson between 2004-2010 (Anderson, 2004; Anderson, 2010). Five core practices in Kanban can be identified (Anderson and Roock, 2011):

 Visualize the workflow (e.g. using a Kanban board)  Limit work in progress (WIP)  Manage continuous flow  Make process policies explicit  Improve collaboratively (using models and scientific methods)

Integrating human-centred development activities into the development process is necessary to improve human related factors (e.g. usability and UX). Certifications such as ISO 9241-210 (ISO 9241-210: 2010) entails a process model for HCD related to interactive systems. First, the HCD process must be planned. Then, the context of use should be understood and specified. Consequently, users, tasks, hard- and software and physical and social surroundings need to be analysed. According to gathered data, the user requirements can

be specified. Then, possible design solutions can be produced. Finally, designs are evaluated against user requirements and if necessary iterated until the solution meets the user requirements24 .

Kanban method can be applied by using the Kanban board25 and its three basic columns:

1. “Requested” 2. “In Progress” 3. “Done”

It serves as a real-time information repository, highlighting bottlenecks within the system and anything else that might interrupt smooth working practices.

David J. Anderson, pioneer in the field of Lean/ Kanban for knowledge work, has formulated the Kanban method as an approach to incremental, evolutionary process and systems change for knowledge work organizations. The method is result oriented and can be divided into four basic principles and six practices26:

Principle 1: Start With What You Do Now, in order to highlight issues that need to be addressed and help assess and plan changes for a non-disruptive implementation

Principle 2: Agree to Pursue Incremental, Evolutionary Change, to encourage continuous incremental and evolutionary changes to the current process

Principle 3: Respect the Current Process, Roles & Responsibilities to promote and encourage logical changes without triggering fear of change itself

Principle 4: Encourage Acts of Leadership at All Levels, as everyone must foster a continuous improvement mind-set (Kaizen) to reach optimal performance

The 6 Practices of Kanban:

1. Visualize the Workflow 2. Limit Work in Progress 3. Manage Flow 4. Make Process Policies Explicit 5. Feedback Loops 6. Improve Collaboratively (using models & the scientific method)

2.4.3 Customer centricity and user experience (UX) research

User-centred design is an umbrella term which stands for a set of techniques, methods, procedures and processes that places the user at the centre of an iterative design process27 .

User experience, commonly referred to as UX, can be defined as a person’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use and/or anticipated use of a product, system or service28. Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila et

24 Enterprise Experience into the Integration of Human-Centered Design and Kanban, E-M Schön, D. Winter, J. Uhlenbrok, M.J. Escalona and J. Thomaschewski, 2016, DOI: 10.5220/0005942601330140 25 https://kanbanize.com/kanban-resources/getting-started/what-is-kanban-board 26 https://kanbanize.com/kanban-resources/getting-started/what-is-kanban 27 Rogers Y, Sharp H, Preece J (2011) Interaction design: beyond human-computer interaction. Wiley, Chichester 28 ISO 9241 (1998) Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) – part 11: guidance on usability. International Organization for Standardisation, Genève

al. (2008) discuss the differences in the conception of UX between academic UX research and industrial UX development. They conclude that while the research concentrates mostly on hedonic aspects and emotions, companies concentrate more on functionality and usability issues29 .

While customer experience focuses on what the customer gets, customer centricity concentrates on why and the motivation for the company to provide such service/product.

In the book “Smart Customers, Stupid Companies”, the authors (M. Henshaw and B. Kasanoff) propose to break down the customer experience into three phases: static, human, and digital.

 "Static" experiences relate to how the customer encounters, uses, and gets benefit from the products, retail outlets, newsletters and advertisements, packaging, pricing and coupons, etc.  "Human experiences" result from interactions with employees and other representatives of the brand, via meetings with sales reps, phone conversations, interactive chat sessions, etc.  "Digital" experiences derive from digital interaction with the company’s website, phone or computer apps, social media, sensors, and other electronic channels.

It is very resourceful for a company to ensure that these phases are well connected with the customer in a personal and value-creating way. In order to provide a good customer experience (CX), the company must first be customer centric, and therefore put a high priority on delivering a quality customer experience.

It is the customers themselves who evaluate the quality of the connection. The more customer-centric the company is across the organisation, within all departments, involving all staff, the more likely the customer experience will be above and beyond the simple transaction. The relation between customer centric and customer experience is based on trust. Trust can be defined under competence (providing a good experience), good intentions (doing things right), transparency and proactivity.

2.4.4 Co-creation in entrepreneurial context

As mentioned in section 1.3, the users of a product/service/solution can be involved as active actors in the development process through co-creation. Entrepreneurial cases where the active input of users have had a potentially significant effect on the end product are numerous and include open-source software that can be edited and improved by the users collaboratively.

As an example, Lego Ideas line of products are based on ideas and designs from the user community.

A further example is provided by IKEA which launched in 2018 an initiative called “Co-Create IKEA”. The company asked its customers for product idea suggestions by organising IKEA Bootcamps working with entrepreneurs, collaboration with university students on products, and linking with other innovation laboratories (source: Braineet.com).

Furthermore, Unilever operates an open innovation initiative where the group invites individuals such as suppliers/startups/academics/designers who have new designs or technologies that could help Unilever to grow their business or solutions. It also launched challenges published to work collaboratively30 .

29 Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila K, Roto V, Hassenzahl M (2008) Towards practical user experience evaluation methods. In: Law ELC, Bevan N, Christou G, Springett M, Lárusdóttir M (eds) Meaningful measures: Valid Useful User Experience Measurement (VUUM) (2008), pp 19–22 30 Unilever.com/brands/innovation/open-innovation