There are three major areas of risk in the product development process when it comes to developing new hi-tech products:
- Technology risk
- Management risk
- Market risk
We tend to dwell on the first two because that is what you’re aware of on a day-to-day basis.
Will the technology work? Do you have good development and communication processes? Do you have the right people? is the project on track? and so on… All best practices in the Stage-Gate Process.
But by far the biggest area of risk is the third one – market risk. Think about it, you only really know if you’ve got a flop on your hand when you launch the new product into the market. By that stage, you’ve already spent all of the development budgets.
New Product Development Process
The market risk in the new product development process falls into two areas: product specification and competitor activities.
Imagine being able to figure out exactly what your market wants to buy, the competitive definition of your offering, and the exact sales pitch they want to hear!
… and if there’s a technology hitch that requires some kind of trade-off, then can you quickly validate your trade-offs with the market?
Building an online innovation launch community in your market allows you to quickly confirm your development path at every stage of development. It allows you to:
- Get a good handle on the market priorities
- Bounce ideas off the market
- Confirm your trade-offs
- Benchmark customer reactions to competitor offerings
- Change path should the market dictate
And most importantly, the market has already bought into your offering when it comes to product launch. Now don’t get me wrong, not everything is shared with the market. You still need to keep control of the commercial process.
All communications should be screened for patents and sensitive commercial information. Liabilities need to be managed and market freedom retained.
If you would like to develop your own innovation launch community through the integration of social media, a blog, and email auto-responders, either fill out the form below or call this number to discuss your requirements.