Ideas for growing high tech BtoB businesses
Welcome to my blog. I’m dedicated to creating growth in high
tech businesses through:
· Lifecycle product management discipline
· Smart new product development
· Clear customer segments and niches
· Prioritized project/product portfolios
I’m very interested in your comments and suggestions. Post a comment or give me a call: 908-647-5920.
Entries in Product Development (2)
Innovation with Services and Products
I attended a very interesting PDMA-sponsored seminar
Wednesday night: Hard Services, Soft Products – Today’s Product Development
Reality. The guys
at Group 1066
in
Adding value to products with services
A classic example is IBM. Everyone knows IBM has moved from hardware / software to services. Quicken added bank downloads and other service features to QuickBooks. Partnering with MasterCard enabled this service and potentially leveraged two brands. In a different space, GAF provides website information about roof shingles for consumers even though they sell to distributors. By linking the type of warranty to the certification level of the installer, they incent consumers to look for a highly-trained distributor. And provide the installer incentives to use GAF.
Adding value to services with products
“Make the service tangible” is a mantra we’ve all heard. Services are typically invisible, so adding “hard” deliverables adds value. My favorite example cited by Mike Megalli is Salesforce.com. Software on users’ screens can feel impersonal (as a former user, that was my impression). With “networking” sessions for users in major locations, they make the experience personal—and add value. Salesforce.com benefits from product feedback and the “free training” users provide to each other.
Do product companies know services? And visa versa?
Group discussion highlighted the execution risks associated with these good ideas. Panasonic’s Concierge service intended to differentiate their flat screens fell flat for one person when it took 20 minutes to reach a person—who wasn’t qualified to solve the problem. In my experience, product companies frequently under-estimate the effort required to deliver good service. They may not treat it like an integral part of the product. The solution: full-blown new product development attention, even though we are launching a service, not a product.
Of course, the reverse is true. Service companies aren’t
used to delivering tangible goods. The early days of the wireless business
found telco’s struggling to deliver and service cell
phones. In today’s world, telco’s and cable companies
must deliver ever-smarter devices with software downloads, accessories, etc.
These
are the technology-enabled challenges many of us face in 2007.
Thanks PDMA and Group 1066!
Trackback url for this post: http://www.b2bgrowthmarketing.com/bills-blog/2007/1/26/innovation-with-services-and-products.html
Bill Gilbert
in Marketing, Business Marketing, B2B, BtoB, Product Development, New Product Development, Brand, Innovation, Value Proposition, Business Customers
|
1 Comment
|
5 References
| 
Email
| 
Print
Product development: ready for 2007?
2007 is off to a roaring start: some people have already forgotten the holidays! Of course, our 2007 objectives are front and center. But I wonder, do we have the right targets—and metrics? Let's use new product (service) development as an example.
New Product Development Metrics
Do you have targets like: launch 1 new product and 2 enhancements in 1Q, 2 in 2Q, etc.? I can't count how many times I've had those targets (the objective usually says "launch new widget X and enhancements to Widgets A, B and C in 1Q," etc.). What's wrong with this picture?
Start with the basics: how did we do last year? How many new products were launched? What % were successful 6 months after launch? 12 months? 3 years? How many launched on time? on budget?
If we have this information, we can find better, more strategic metrics.
Product Roadmap--not
Product roadmaps-- timeline pictures showing products and features scheduled to launch each month--are great communications tools. They inform the sales force and customers what to expect and when. Those involved in product launches can use the roadmap as a planning tool.
But senior management needs more. The roadmap is a result, a tactic. It is not a strategy. If we know we launched 5 new services last year with 3 on time, 2 on budget and 4 meeting initial 6-month targets, we can do better. We want all 7 of the new services targeted for 2007 to launch on time and on budget, then meet their 6 and 12 month targets. But is this realistic, given our track record? Probably not.
Strategic Product Launch Objectives
The solution? Start with strategic priorities: e.g. launch 70% of new products on time, on budget and meeting 6 month financial goals, with the remaining 30% no more than 15% over budget, 2 months late and/or 25% off financial targets. Is this realistic? Probably--if we give these goals to our team as they are creating the roadmap.
Of course, there are other strategic factors, like cycle time (product development from official start to launch), % of revenue from new products, etc. But those can wait if all we have is a product roadmap!
Bill Gilbert
in Marketing, Business Marketing, B2B, BtoB, Product Development, New Product Development, Product Management, Innovation, Business Growth, Business Customers
|
Post a Comment
| Email
| Print
-- 908-647-5920 -- Info@B2BGrowthMarketing.com
| Sign up for my newsletter |
