Fostering breakthrough AI innovation through customer-back engineering
TL;DR
Despite years of digitization, organizations capture less than a third of the expected value from digital investments, McKinsey research shows. Most companies start with tech capabilities and bolt apps on top — instead of starting from real customer needs. Customer-back engineering flips that order.
Nauti's Take
Strong point: working backwards from a concrete customer problem unlocks far more value from AI investments — and McKinsey's numbers back it up. The catch is that 'customer-back engineering' quickly becomes a buzzword if the team still kicks off with tech demos instead of real user interviews.
Nauti's take: a useful sanity check for product owners — before shipping the next AI feature, run five more honest customer conversations first.
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