New product development of Applause

Abstract

[EN] In the 21st century, technology is one of the essential parts of life; the number of smartphones, smart-cars, smartwatches, and even smart homes are increasing every year. These devices help us to have a comfortable experience. Due to the high demand from the tech market, vital questions companies must consider are as follows: how to meet customers’ needs? How is technology changing? What is the nature of experience between humanity and technology? Also, when culture shifts, the industry must follow suit. Especially, the end-users are easily frustrated by apps which do not meet their expectation or do not function the way they expected them to. Crowdsourcing is known as a wonderful method for tech companies to improve their end-user experience. In about ten years in crowd testing, Applause has never missed a chance to catch up with the best solution for tech companies. The company has two tactics to approach their customers in terms of digital experience perspective. The first tactic seeks for a community of vetted quality assurance professionals and experienced to find any bugs or technical issues that may have missed. It brings trust from the clients because Applause shows them that the company is able to cover every problem. The second tactic assembles novice people, who does not have QA background. However, those people could leverage their fresh opinion. Based on fascination about technology trend and an innovative business model about testing service, the author attempts to better understand Applause’s solution and what could they do to develop their products. Working at Applause every day since September 2018 until now, the author realizes that the company can help their clients deliver excellent digital products. Applause has a big testers community with roughly 500,000 people across the globe, confirming that their clients can have deep insight internationally or on a certain location scale. This thesis illustrates the internal and external impact of Applause’s business, how the company can expand their product portfolio, and what they should improve in their internal environment. The result of this paper firmly agrees that the Asian market is the most potential market for Applause in terms of new market development. Furthermore, the company needs to utilized their resources to extend their product line and develop online courses about testing

[ES] El trabajo debe hacer una revisión de la historia de Applause, de dónde viene la idea sobre la compañía y definir cómo puede llegar a las empresas de tecnología no solo en los Estados Unidos sino también en todo el mundo. Se revisará el concepto de Crow Testing, determinando cuáles son los factores clave (éxito) para un modelo de negocio único en el servicio de pruebas de material tecnológico. Se revisará cómo gestiona Aplausse a los empleados, subcontratando en diferentes países y cómo estos intervienen en el desarrollo de nuevos productos. Se estudiará como Applause sobresale entre los competidores, cuales han sido sus mayores logros en los últimos años y cuáles van a ser los desafíos próximos. Todo ello permitirá proponer estrategias de crecimiento y desarrollo de nuevos productos para dar solución a los nuevos escenarios que se presentan.