The Role of Information Technology in New Product Development

In order to achieve a successful new product, and certainly the successful implementation of a new product into a company, it is necessary to have a structured and documented approach to New Product Development (NPD), therefore providing a clear roadmap for the development of new products. This review highlights the NPD process, from concept to consumer, in order for a company to succeed and use new products as a source for competitive advantage. Despite various sophisticated methods and high investments, new products still face notoriously high failure rates. A very critical stage in new product development is product concept testing for the go/no-go/kill decision in further product development. Since there is a high number of a different product concept to test, there obviously is a need for a reliable, valid and efficient method, which can benefit from the scalability and interactivity of Internet-based technologies. Internet-based information markets are a new method to support new product development, based on the market efficiency hypothesis. In today's technology-fueled business environment, the always-important speed to market factor has become perhaps the most critical factor in new product development. Today, however, speed to market is perhaps the most crucial part of product development. Improved communication (especially the Internet), increased globalization, and rapid changes in technology have put tremendous pressure on companies to get their product to market first. To improve speed to market, a company should first make sure that it is making the best possible use of available technology. If it is, then there are other steps that can be taken to speed product development through efficient, market-oriented product planning that takes the customer into account. We further, compare the results of the information markets with traditional research methods. This paper describes the nature and application of internet to an important marketing process. It offers the potential of improving the success of new products in the market place reducing significant waste.