Understanding the Needs of International Customers: Applying the Contextual Inquiry Method in Asia
As product markets become more global, companies need to understand their customers around the world. Asia is a growing market, but little information exists that describes how people use their office equipment. We conducted a study to look at how our Asian customers work with paper documents so we would have information to help us make product design decisions. We used the Contextual Inquiry method to collect data during visits with customers in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea. In preparation for our trip, we learned as much as possible about each culture. Following each visit, we modeled the data, and after returning to the United States, we consolidated all the models by country. We collected feedback from team members who represented a number of product development disciplines, and we conducted brainstorming sessions to determine how we might improve our products to meet the needs of our customers. Throughout this paper we describe lessons we learned for conducting contextual inquiry visits in Asia and make some recommendations on how to improve the process. In conclusion, we found the Contextual Inquiry method a useful tool for collecting information about our Asian customers and helping us identify ways to improve our products.