Collaborating With Customers For Better Innovation

Transforming Global Capability Center into World-Class Product Development Center: The Power of Customer Empathy Building a high-performing Global Capability Center (GCC) isn’t just about hiring great talent—it’s about instilling a customer-first mindset and creating a culture of ownership, innovation, and purpose. At Intuit, we turned our GCC into a product innovation powerhouse by embedding customer awareness and empathy into everything we did. Here’s how we bridged the gap between remote teams and real users: 1. Customer Connections Every U.S. visit wasn’t just about meetings. Team members were tasked with meeting real customers, learning their challenges, and sharing their insights with the team back home. These stories ignited empathy and shaped the way we built solutions. 2. Customer Booths in the Office We brought the customer voice directly into the GCC. A customer listening booth allowed employees to hear real call center conversations, making customer challenges tangible and actionable. 3. Purpose-Driven Innovation Our hackathons focused on real customer pain points. Teams picked specific problems and designed impactful solutions, driving a culture of customer-focused creativity. These kinds of initiatives complemented with a clear OKR framework that keeps the focus on outcomes can help you transform a GCC: Objective: Build a GCC that deeply understands customers and solves real-world problems. • Key Result 1: Facilitate N+ direct customer interactions annually for GCC team members. • Key Result 2: Identify and solve 10 top customer pain points through innovation initiatives with delightful solutions. • Key Result 3: Increase customer satisfaction (CSAT) for GCC-developed solutions by 25%. The result? A GCC that doesn’t just support product development—it leads the way, creating impactful, customer-centered solutions that matter. Takeaway: A truly customer-centric GCC doesn’t just deliver—it empathizes, innovates, and takes ownership. When you empower, educate and energize remote teams with customer insights and purpose, you transform outcomes and create products that delight. How are you driving customer awareness and innovation in your GCC? Zinnov Amita Goyal Karthik Padmanabhan Mohammed Faraz Khan ieswariya k Komal Shah Hani Mukhey Sagar Kulkarni Veerendra Baligeri Namita Adavi Dipanwita Ghosh Rohit Nair Amaresh N.

I was just interrupted during our onsite innovation sprint… “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s what our customers want.” We’ve been mapping our innovation roadmap all week, and something fascinating keeps happening: Our social team (who absolutely has a seat at the table) continuously brings a critical perspective: “The conversations on social are focusing elsewhere...” “Our listening tools show this is the actual pain point...” “Here’s what customers are saying in real-time...” Their insights can shift our next steps. And they are backed by data from thousands of real customer conversations flowing through social channels every day, unfiltered and honest. So the most valuable question we kept returning to during our onsite was: → Are we building what WE think matters, or what our CUSTOMERS say matters? Your social team isn’t just executing your social strategy - they’re sitting on insights that should be shaping your entire business strategy. How are you integrating social intelligence into your product roadmap? The answers might surprise you.

I recently had a chance to clock in for a 5-hour shift making coffee at one of Deputy's customers. Those hours provided a treasure trove of valuable information: which part of our product is most beloved by workers and why, what we could do better to enable worker productivity, and a wish list for new features that will help workers and managers be more connected and in sync. I also learned about how the baristas foster teamwork, what body movements and order of operations they do to maximize the amount of customers they can serve, and how they build real connection and loyalty with their buyers. It was one of the most memorable days of last year! When it comes to developing game changing innovation, "listening" to customers is no longer enough - leaders must go deeper! They actually have to step into their customers' shoes. I shared my thoughts with Forbes on the topic of human-centered design. My take? It’s about deep market research that comes with spending time with your users and building empathy through true understanding of their pain points. Translating data is something I’m passionate about, but understanding the HUMAN challenges behind the numbers is where the magic happens. Check out the 20 strategies shared by inspiring leaders, and tell me, what would you add to the list? Link here: https://lnkd.in/gH73y-nR #ForbesExpertPanel #TechnologyForGood #EmpathyInDesign #CustomerFeedback