No matter what you call it – innovation, reinvention, or next generation – bringing new products to market or introducing new business models is a critical part of the overall value creation process. What sets companies apart – the ones that really excel and grow – is a deep understanding of market needs, translating those needs into desirable product features, and the ability to articulate the key product benefits to their customers.
Every company has a process for market research, new product development, and commercialization. Linking these activities across different functions and along the product development and launch phases is complex. Considering that revenue growth powers 75% of total shareholder return over the long term for S&P 500 companies in the upper-quartile, the process of designing and launching products is too important to neglect.
We help companies by connecting the front end of the innovation pipeline to the back end go-to-market strategy by working with them on the the Voice of the Customer (VOC), new product development, portfolio optimization, and customer acquisition.
WHAT WE OFFER
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Voice Of the Customer (VOC): The VOC has important outputs and benefits for product developers. The discovery process provides a detailed understanding of the customer’s requirements, a common language for all stakeholders (R&D, Marketing, Sales), key input for the setting of appropriate design specifications for the new product or service, and a highly useful springboard for product innovation.
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Rapid Innovation: We deploy a variety of concepts to accelerate the product innovation cycle, including lean development, agile management, and minimal viable product. Engaging key customers during rapid prototyping, experimentation, and market testing is central to this process. Throughout the process, we leverage various quantitative and qualitative methods to inform our thinking and direction.
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Value Proposition: Understanding the points of parity and points of differentiation for a new product – in relation to a company’s existing portfolio as well as the competitive landscape - is critical to drafting a compelling value proposition. We work with companies to articulate the key problems their product solves, show the performance benefits and quantify the economic value added, and demonstrate how their products stand out from market players and incumbent technologies.
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Go-to-Market: Finally, we leverage our extensive hands-on experience and important lessons we’ve learned over the years in both the B2C and B2B markets with business development and customer acquisition. While strategy is important for the overall process, tactics are arguably more critical in the go-to-market phase. We engage with clients in developing the “buyer’s” profile including characterizing the ideal customer, identifying decision makers, understanding the decision process and sales cycle, and defining the problem/pain point.
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Performance Analytics: The smartest organizations are embedding analytics to transform information into insight and then action. A recent showed that leaders in big data generate an average of 12% more revenue than those that do not maximize their use of analytics. We help clients use technology, big data and advanced analytics, and digital capabilities to assess product and business performance.