The inspiration for this post comes from a Tweet courtesy of my business partner, Brendan Farr Gaynor:

I'm growing concerned about how many in my industry are becoming 'configurators' rather than 'creators.' Lack of innovation kills value.

The notion is something I've long considered but not been able to clearly describe. Until now.

To better illustrate the scenario, imagine working with a client who would like to build a miniature, plastic structure for their kids to play with. A house, let's say. The configurator recommends Lego because they've built hundreds of similar structures using Lego.

The creator asks thoughtful questions like 'does the structure need to be permanent?' or 'how do you imagine your kids will use this?' or better yet, 'can I observe your kids while they play with their existing toys?'

The client has identified that, in addition to the house, their child would like a garage, dog house, and garden shed. The configurator purchases prefab versions of each of these structures and plans to simply attach them to the house. Easy. The creator looks at the entire set of structures and thinks carefully about how they'll interact with each other and existing toys. The creator has also gone to great lengths to learn that the garage must be large enough to fit a Barbie Cadillac; that the dog house will only be used infrequently during the summer; and that the garden shed should be in the backyard and be capable of doubling as a pool house in the future.

With construction material selected the configurator presents the client with a pre-selected set of facades that 'should be just fine' and are 'better than' what the kids are playing with at the moment.

The creator, however, goes to great lengths to learn the favourite colours of each child, how the new house will be positioned alongside existing toys, and if the children have special needs or interests that could be satisfied through original, meaningful aesthetics.

I could go on, but the gist of what I'm trying to get across is likely clear enough by now.

There's room in the market for both configurators and creators (and there are clients who are better suited to the former versus the latter). As a service provider, you need to be clear on where you fit in and realize that configurators rarely add any real value beyond cost savings.