For Vendor Strategy Professionals

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	April 22, 2008 Customer-Focused Innovation Networks Emerge Vendors Can Maximize IT Ecosystem Value By Engaging Clients As Co-Innovators by Navi Radjou with Pascal Matzke, Janine Liu

This is an excerpt

Executive Summary

With the rise of a new global IT ecosystem that places a huge premium on partnerships, tech vendors are rushing to form Innovation Networks — multiplying R&D and go-to-market alliances with academics, startups, venture capital firms, developer communities, and other IT purveyors worldwide. Yet, vendors are struggling to effectively engage their enterprise customers in their burgeoning ecosystems and to actively co-create innovation value with them. The solution? A new client-centric business model that Forrester calls customer-focused Innovation Networks (CFINs). CFINs let corporate clients' input and active participation shape and optimize the collaborative innovation activities that take place within global IT ecosystems. To bolster client engagement, tech vendors should classify their CFIN initiatives based on the level of impact on clients' business performance and must better articulate their CFIN business value to targeted client stakeholders. Winners among IT providers will continually recalibrate a dynamic portfolio of CFIN projects.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Vendors Fail To Engage Customers In Their Ecosystems As Innovation Partners
• A New Business Model For Success: Customer-Focused Innovation Networks
• IT Providers Must Match CFIN Efforts To Their Business Model And Client Value

WHAT IT MEANS

• Empathetic CEO Leadership Will Determine CFIN Winners Among Tech Vendors
• Supplemental Material
• Related Research Documents

This is an excerpt