Excellence in integrating care into the product development process: A case study of Nokia

Excellence in product development results from integrating various stakeholders' requirements into a winning offering. Customer care has become increasingly important, as digitalization enables new business models and revenue streams for companies. The integration of care requirements must be enabled in the product development (PD) process beginning in the early concepting and development phases in order to ensure an excellent care experience. The traditional elements of care-spare parts, service tools, and support-must be coupled with advanced software update capabilities. Future cutting-edge products demand new self-support and repair capabilities that are enabled by the digitalization of care assets and low-cost distribution platforms. This study examines a case company's attempt (Nokia)to integrate the care dimension into its PD process-a topic that has not been widely addressed thus far. The findings show that a company can seamlessly integrate care requirements into a PD process already in the product concepting phase.