Unlike the TV show "The Office," where additions to the HR suggestion box are never forwarded to corporate, a new era of customer input is shaping up.

Recent news coverage reveals a break from traditional marketing methods. Companies like Starbucks and Dell are utilizing social network methodologies to get fast feedback from their customers regarding how to improve products and services.

Ever since a renewed focus on their corporate strategy was announced at this year's annual meeting, Starbucks has been actively soliciting input from their customers via this website. Something about my recent visit to Starbucks caught my attention – a pair of workers made sure that I paid for my order and received my coffee almost simultaneously.

Dell’s site allows customers to "post, promote, discuss and see." They can "promote or demote" suggestions made by their peers and find out the production status of other ideas.

You have to give a lot of credit to these large companies for providing these public forums and taking note of their customers’ suggestions. More importantly, the opportunity exists to speed improvements into production by sidestepping traditional methods of assessment and testing. With all of this, there’s great potential for faster and larger increases in customer satisfaction.