Technology is a “non”-sense

There has always been a big hype about technology as if it would be a consumer value. It is even more strange that this believe continues to reach the headlines, when reality shows that so called “superior technology products” get beaten.  It is difficult for me to understand how technology could be a consumer value on its own.

On the contrary of what one tends to believe, technology was not made to create consumer value but to solve a technical problem. That’s the basic (and there is no other) scope of its value. If you want to go beyond this technical view in order to meet customer value, there often will be a  long way to go to create a successful product. Let me give you an example.

Ferrari is believed to produce one of  the best technologies in the automobile industry. Now imagine I come to visit you and bring you a Ferrari motor to put it in your living room. The chance is big you will throw it away because what would you do with it? If I bring you the same motor with a red car built around it, you bet this car will be in your garage for the next 10 years or more because you surely know what do to with that car.

But, where is the difference? It’s simple, in the first case a Ferrari motor in your living room does not make sense. But a Ferrari car in your garage does make sense . It is so simple as that, customers are looking for a meaning, something that makes sense and it is surely not technology as such.

Many technology companies tend to make the mistake assuming their technology = a product and thus a customer value. Some go that far to think the customer has to invent the value that goes with it… “the customer creates the product” kind of product management.