Patty Seybold and Chester Bateman discuss a case study that isn’t in her latest book (Outside Innovation) but embodies the principles of customer-led innovation as practiced by a non-government, not for profit, secular educational institution in Africa. The story unfolds in rural Uganda and wonderful efforts underway with the African Rural Development and Training Program and Uganda Rural University for Women -- the first university in Uganda to offer educational opportunities in integrated rural development. It’s a story of hope, progress, and grassroots empowerment. It’s also a great example of how an innovative ecosystem evolves over time.

With 28 years of experience consulting to customer-centric executives in technology-aggressive businesses across many industries, Seybold is a visionary thought leader with the unique ability to spot the impact that technology enablement and customer behavior will have on business trends very early. She assesses and predicts how new and evolving technologies will impact customers.

Her first book, Customers.com, published in 1998, used 16 case studies of still-vibrant companies to distill the secret ingredient for a successful Internet strategy: Make it easy for customers to do business with you. Her second book, The Customer Revolution, published in 2001, described how 13 world class companies run in front of customer trends to wrap a compelling brand experience around the issues that matter most to customers. These companies monitor the quality of customer experience in near real time and measure their success by linking customers’ successful outcomes to their profitability and growth. Her third book, Outside Innovation, How Your Customers will Co-Design your Company’s Future, was published in 2006. Patty uses concrete examples from 2 dozen different companies to describe the roles that customers will play in shaping your business models, your business processes and your products, whether you want them to or not!

Uganda Rural Development and Training Program