Technology Adoption – You are the challenge

I have written about multiple challenges in the adoption of a technology product or service from the marketplace.

However in a lot of cases its product management team who are the challenge. This happens when they are so much in love with the product that they don’t see the signals that the market is sending.

Or a lot of times we get blinded by our ego and don’t see the changes that the market is undergoing. This is very critical in the technology space because there so many changes happening simultaneously in different layers of the fabric.

A typical case is that the cloud is bringing even high end computing in a consumption model and driving costs low.

Now someone with a unique idea can test a high end application at almost no cost from his home and release it in the market while your company has spent so many man-months.

If you think that no one will look at the application from the individual only because your company has a big money or brand, then you are letting your ego come in the way.

If you don’t have the humility to accept that the market decides what it likes then you are going to be shocked a lot.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Technology Adoption- Part 2

Product Management, Value, value proposition

In my last post I spoke about the different kinds of resistance when you take a new technology product or service you take to the market.

Today I will talk about how the product management person will have to keep the “value” issues related to adoption.

If your company is seen to be a price leader in the market then you cannot come out and position a product under your company’s brand as a premium product.

Never create a confusion in the market. Your product or service may have the best features and benefits, but if it’s perceived as expensive and you are the price leader then it will not get any traction.

There are two ways I have found companies solve this issue. They create a new company or create a completely new brand. To create a new brand is a very expensive affair and companies have to ensure a long branding strategy for this.

The other value position in the technology world is related to product innovation. If you’re seen as a innovation leader then you have to ensure that each new product you come out with has a WoW factor with it.

On the other hand if you’re products are seen as unreliable then you have a major challenge to be able to show value.

So we need to keep the customer value perception always in mind if you have to get your product successful.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Technology Adaption – the next challenge

Habits, Human Brain, mindset, Product Management, Technology

For product management in a technology company, the big challenge after identifying a single niche then targeting it, is the adaption of the technology.

Most technology based products are integration of existing resources. Very rarely are they designed from scratch for every component.

If by chance your product is designed from scratch then this problem is even more acute for you.

If the end user of your technology is not able to adapt your product easily as in 2-3 steps then even the most technologically superior product will be sent the grave. The human brain does not like change and therefore people resist any kind of new products. This is the biggest blockage for new technologies.

Look at Instagram or WhatsApp, such easy to use apps, therefore the adoption is in millions. It does not mean that the product is simple. I am sure the complexity is enormous, but they have kept it hidden from the customer. The user experience is very elegant and easy to use

Similarly the Iridium satellite phones, with the best pedigree and the ability to connect you from wherever you are in the world, bombed.

When doing product management of technology based products, you need to keep in mind if the existing infrastructure willsupport your technology. How much will the user have to unlearn to use your technology. What can be the simple things you can do to increase adoption.

This is a very complex subject so we will cover over multiple posts.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Product Management in technology markets

differentiation, Marketing, Positioning, Product Management, segmentation

I have written and emphasized so much on segmentation and nicking. On starting with a single market only.

The very nature of the technology industry is very dynamic. Which means when you have built a product using some components, you have a use case which you think is where it can be utilized. However when you take it to your existing customers for their feedback – these are also called beta sites – you realize massive adoption problems.

However the same product in a different segment gets adopted very fast. This is where segmenting by usage becomes very useful.

If you can list the possible usage in different industries then take one, do a survey and then if you find resistance move to the next, till you find the industry where your services can go into production.

Then target to dominate that industry as you continue to identify the next industry where you can utilize the same service.

For a product management person this is a critical factor in the technology sector. In the consumer segment adaptation of the same product may or may not happen. But for the technology segment, where a lot of investment goes in building new products and the window of opportunity is very small, the product management person has to really push for various use cases fast

With small changes you can make the product or service specific to a given industry and then capture it.

But you always have to start small, fail fast, learn fast, adapt and move to the next segment.

Since marketing is more applied psychology, the faster you learn, the higher is the possibility of success in technology marketing.

Till next time.

Carpe Diem!!!