Anthony W. Ulwick

FORMULATE THE PRODUCT STRATEGY

An effective product portfolio strategy will guide a company in (i) improving its products to better serve the unmet needs of customers in each targeted outcome-based segment, and

2. 
   will offer a solution that eventually gets the entire job done on a single platform.
   

Once the underserved outcome-based segments are uncovered and prioritized, the company can take the seven courses of action shown in the figure below for each segment:

1. 
   Borrow features from other company offerings.
   
2. 
   Accelerate offerings in the pipeline and R&D.
   
3. 
   Partner with or license from other firms.
   
4. 
   Acquire another firm to fill a gap.
   
5. 
   Devise a new feature set.
   
6. 
   Devise new subsystems and/or ancillary services.
   
7. 
   Conceptualize the ultimate solution.
   

Borrow features from other company offerings
Partner with or license from other firms
Devise a new feature set

Define the value proposition
Conceptualize the ultimate solution

Accelerate offerings in the pipeline
and R&D
Acquire another firm to fill the gap
Devise new subsystems and/or ancillary services

Let’s look at how each activity is enhanced when it is informed by outcome-based market research.


Borrow features from other company offerings Why reinvent the wheel? Innovation does not necessarily require invention. Innovation is the ability to use technology (existing or new) to address an unmet customer need.
Knowing exactly what outcomes are underserved in a target segment, a company can analyze its product portfolio to see if any of its current products or services possesses a feature that addresses one or more of those outcomes. This can save significant development time and effort.

When we helped Microsoft discover opportunities to improve its software assurance offering, it turned out that many of those opportunities could be addressed with tools the company used internally to get the job done. Instead of starting from scratch, the assurance teams were able to package internal products for commercial use.

A catalog of product features and the desired outcomes they address could be a valuable asset for any company, but especially for big company with hundreds or even thousands of offerings. Such a tool makes it possible for product teams across the company to leverage what the company has already invented.