Improving product portfolio through situational awareness

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Vice CEO of a prominent communications technology firm held the crucial responsibility of overseeing the development and competitiveness of the company's products. Despite a unique competitive advantage built on profound knowledge of specific components in a heavily regulated industry, the company had been unable to translate this edge into solid profitability.

The burden of guiding the company back towards profitability and growth rested with the COO and the executive management team. A key aspect of this responsibility involved delivering products and solutions aimed at driving growth—a goal that had remained elusive for more than five years. The COO attributed the company's stagnant profitability and growth to a lack of customer focus and a repetitive pattern of reinventing the wheel. Despite allocating a considerable portion of revenue to R&D, the organization had not secured any major contracts for their new products.

Numerous efforts were made to steer the focus of the management, development, and sales teams towards customers, but to no avail. The highly regulated nature of the industry posed challenges to customer engagement—an excuse often used by the organization to justify their lack of progress. A technology-first approach was typically taken for every project, reflecting in management's struggle to address the underlying issues with their products and value propositions, and confront the root causes of stagnant growth.

During an engagement, it was discovered that one of their product lines, which had been under development for five years, had not secured a single customer for testing. This slow progress was not only hindering product development but also impacting the organization's ability to attract the necessary talent. With an impending significant churn of existing clients, immediate action was necessary. A transformation seed approach was suggested to encourage a customer-centric focus within the team, make better use of their substantial knowledge, and speed up the time-to-market for their new products.

The company aimed to:

• Cultivate a stronger customer focus and move away from a "technology first" approach

• Prevent constant reinvention and repetition

• Encourage valuable leadership discussions around product strategy and value propositions

In response to these objectives, an engagement was initiated to evaluate the company's product portfolio, which consisted of four product families spanning both hardware and software. Historically, the company's technical capabilities had propelled growth through government contracts, establishing them as a high-performance provider in their regulated industry.

However, at the onset of the engagement, the company had been witnessing a decline in profitability and growth for several years. The products they developed were failing to attract a substantial user base.

Workshops were conducted using Wardley mapping to delve into the different product categories and understand the product issues more comprehensively. This process involved a detailed examination of the four product groups, with product stakeholders participating in the discussions. The Wardley mapping approach enabled cross-functional teams to understand how the product families delivered value to the end customers.

This exercise significantly influenced product-related decisions. New development projects were identified that could better cater to customer value. In several cases, the exercise also enlightened non-technical team members about the operation of the product and the core strengths of each product family. The improved situational awareness allowed the leadership teams to engage in strategic product discussions they had been longing for. Conversations began focusing on concrete plans for progression, rather than arguing about solution implementation methods. The management team finally felt a sense of forward momentum after a prolonged period of stagnation. At last, customer focus had taken its rightful place at the forefront of the company's strategy.