Case Story: Comcast Business

"Discovering the right product to design and bring to market requires discovering what is most valuable to the customer," says John Guillaume, chief design officer for product design and innovation for Comcast Business, which provides internet, phone, and cable television services to commercial enterprises. "Value is often derived from solving a big problem, a frustration, saving time or money, or streamlining or automating a user-contrived solution. There is too much at stake to not confidently understand the problem to be solved before designing and developing a product or service."

Guillaume points out that innovation is less likely where there is no friction or problem to solve. He advocates for customer engagement as crucial for revealing value stream insights, emphasizing the necessity of listening to customers, asking the right questions, and mapping the results to identify key themes. These themes, typically expressed as customer needs or frustrations, form the basis for value stream creation and effective product design. 

Comcast Business believes that a clear value stream with a well-defined customer experience problem, understood in terms of people, personas, context, and constraints, is essential for a team to develop the best solutions. Clearly defined objectives and key results enable teams to identify the most suitable solutions.

Delivering on customers' baseline expectations is crucial for good product solution design. Enterprise and B2B customers now have higher expectations, influenced by positive consumer experiences with companies like Uber, Instagram, and Amazon. Products and services that fail to meet these basic needs are unlikely to delight customers. 

Once the core product and experience are delivered as promised, new value streams can be created, pushing new enhancements. These are often called "delighters" or "excitement generators." Guillaume says, "The challenge is to grow the baseline set of expectations along with product extensions that go beyond to surprise and delight — and this is where the value stream can start to differentiate. Hot water, room service, delightful employees, modern televisions, fast Wi-Fi, and so forth are the baseline expectations now; they were "delighters" at some point."

Comcast Business also warns against the "feature factory" trap, where organizations add more and more features to a product that doesn't meet basic customer expectations. They argue that additional features cannot compensate for unmet baseline expectations.

Once the core product and experience meet customer expectations, Comcast Business suggests creating new value streams focused on enhancements, often called "delighters" or "excitement generators." Guillaume explains that the challenge lies in expanding the baseline set of expectations while also introducing product extensions that surprise and delight customers.

Comcast Business also highlights the importance of connected and orchestrated customer experiences throughout the customer journey. They recommend journey mapping to identify friction points that can negatively impact products and services. Guillaume notes that while many organizations create "happy path" journey maps, they often neglect to address less-than-ideal scenarios where things don't go as planned. He emphasizes that how customers are treated and supported during these negative events can significantly influence customer satisfaction.  

Comcast Business views value creation as encompassing not only product features and capabilities but also the entire customer experience, including purchase, delivery, and support. They believe that delivering sustainable, long-term value streams and business results depends on the customer experience value delivered and realized.