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Get Your Product to Market Now through a
Proven Product Development & Commercialization Process
Practical, step-by-step roadmap will launch your product from concept to commercialization and knock down barriers to market success!
From: Marlon McClinton, President & CEO, Utilivate Technologies, LLC
Dear Prospective Client,
Up to 80% of new products fail in the market place. Only about 40% of new products successfully introduced five years ago are around today. What is the cause of this dismal new product performance record? Given the critical role of new products in a company’s growth strategies, how can management improve the probability of commercial success?
Top performing companies that emphasize product innovation put in place formal processes to improve the effectiveness of their internal product development efforts.
Utilivate staff has mastered a step-by-step process to insure success in developing new products and services, securing funding, and increasing market impact and success for your new product or service - ADOPT™ Innovation Management Process.
A SOLID RECORD OF PERFORMANCE
Example #1
I leverage over twenty years of experience and leadership in R&D performance, management, and commercialization for the energy/utility industry, most recently as Vice President at Gas Research Institute (now GTI). During much of this period, I was the primary interface to all levels of management, including top executives at energy corporations. My leadership led to the delivery of 10 – 20 hardware and software products annually to the energy/utility industry over each of the past several years. In addition, I formed several new companies to commercialize the successfully developed technologies.
Example #2
Corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST) was discovered in Japan and proven to have great potential to reduce the cost of distributing natural gas in most building types compared to the conventional “black iron” pipe methodology. Using the product development process, critical cross functional business criteria were established. Achieving code and market acceptance of the product required directly involving code officials, plumbers, and other building professionals in developing product performance specifications, laboratory testing and certification, and full-scale demonstrations throughout the United States. These technical and outreach activities required extensive interactions and coordination with essentially all of the national building code organizations, energy utilities, and building plumbing trade. By identifying hurdles to product development and market acceptance early in the product development process we were able to overcome obstacles to allow successful commercialization. CSST, introduced around 1990, grew to over 33 million feet by 1999; arguably the fastest growing product segment in the building construction industry today.
The Solution
Research has revealed a clear pattern of strategic processes that lead to higher rates of success in bringing new products to market and achieving sustainable impact in the market place. Though, the specific stages in the new product development process vary from company to company, they generally consist of similar steps. I have adopted a modified version of the stages in new product development based on cutting edge research and my own experience: Idea Generation, Concept Definition, Proof of Concept (Mock-Up Evaluation), Development (Lab/Field Prototypes), Testing & Validation, Full Production/Market Launch (Commercialization), and Customer Adoption. Below, I briefly describe the new product development process based on these stages.
Establish the Current Stage of Your Product
Each stage in the product development process has the twin goal of revealing promising concepts for further development (“winners”) and concepts which should be terminated (“losers”) or redirected to avoid the increasingly higher costs associated with later stages in the product development process.
The goal of the Idea Generation stage is to cast a wide, global net on new product ideas consistent with business strategy and to rapidly identify the best ideas for concept refinement, proofing, development, and ultimately, commercialization. It is critical, in this stage, to develop a process to systematically capture new product ideas, whether from internal (employees) or external (customers, suppliers, etc.) sources. Management must create an environment to capture new product ideas without criticism or other negative feedback which can stifle the contribution of radical ideas. It is my experience that ideas with the greatest potential for high market impact are often received negatively in undisciplined idea generation forums. Safe, highly recognizable concepts often result in only incremental market impact.
Ideas produced during idea generation, however, are critically screened during the Concept Definition stage. A preliminary check of the technical and market feasibility of ideas is conducted to identify “winners”. The most promising concepts are compared to other active projects or those on hold. Readily available and inexpensive resources are used at this stage.
Concepts which pass this stage of screening are submitted to a rather detailed Proof of Concept investigation of the product before the heavy spending associated with later stages. A suitable “mock up” of the product is produced to allow technical evaluation and realistic, credible market feedback. A rather rigorous business case is developed at this stage before further development.
Full implementation of a formal development plan and Product Development follows proof of concept. The main deliverable at the end of this stage is a prototype product ready for rigorous full scale field-testing and evaluation in full cooperation with the customer. Formal bench or laboratory scale testing and limited field experiments with the customer are expected to define the characteristics of the field prototype.
The product is submitted to Testing and Validation in test markets or customer-based field trials to confirm commercial viability of the product, production process, customer acceptance, and financial outlook. Successful test marketing and field trials lead to Full Production and Market Launch. It is critical at this stage to monitor early launch efforts and capture learning from the launch.
Customer Adoption is the final stage of the product development process. At this stage there is an opportunity to conduct an anthropological study of product usage in order to identify opportunities to obsolesce the product, decide whether or not a next generation product opportunity exists, and identify new product opportunities.
Identify Barriers to New Product Success Using the ADOPT™ Innovation Management Process
Ideas and concepts are screened against a set of predefined criteria developed by a cross-functional product development team which addresses the following criteria: business/strategy, market, technical, financial, legal, and political/regulatory hurdles. Criteria are based on the unique vision, mission, and value discipline of each company.
A formal and disciplined approach of evaluating new product ideas against predetermined criteria is the single most important factor leading to success or failure of new products. At each stage, management must be prepared to: 1) terminate a project, 2) send the project to a lower stage in the new product development process, 3) develop strategies to overcome obstacles, or 4) continue with product development.
It is a well-established fact that the cost at each stage increases greatly as the product proceeds through the product development process. Management must have the discipline to make tough decisions based on a critical evaluation of cross functional criteria at each stage.
These tools and methods will be used to identify barriers to product development and, ultimately, commercial success.
Develop Actionable Roadmap to Launch Product from its Current Stage to Commercialization
and Sustained Market Success
Utilivate will make specific, actionable recommendations to overcome barriers to product development and market success. Further, Utilivate will perform a detailed financial analysis to implement program recommendations and define a realistic strategy for program implementation. The strategy optimizes the parameters of priority and impact of program recommendations, cost and time for program implementation, and human resource factors. Specific and measurable performance goals will be identified to track implementation effectiveness.
Develop Funding for High-Impact Products Targeting the Energy/Utility Market
Utilivate staff has excellent relationships with strategic investors in the energy/utility industry. Products specifically targeting this market segment can be submitted for an assessment to determine suitability for strategic investment.
Implementing the Roadmap
Utilivate is prepared to work in a management consultancy and/or coaching role to help implement any or all of the program recommendations over a three-month period. Utilivate’s energy management experts will be available to your organization for up to twenty-five hours of management consulting and/or coaching after program kick-off.
Immediate, High-Impact Benefits to Your Organization
The following immediate benefits will be realized for your business or organization by working with Utilivate Technologies, LLC:
- A realistic assessment of the current stage of development of your hardware or software product
- Identification of business/strategic, market, technical, financial, legal, and political/regulatory barriers to product development and market success
- A clear, actionable roadmap to overcome all barriers to market success
- Coaching, training, program management, or outsourced management assistance to ensure product development success, commercialization, and adoption of your new product
Next Steps
Utilivate’s new product development and commercialization process – ADOPT™ Innovation Management Process – will help you and your organization achieve success in developing your new product, achieving successful commercialization, and sustaining market impact.
The twenty-five year plus business experience, training, and expertise of Marlon McClinton and other Utilivate staff are available to you to help you successfully achieve your new product development goals.
Utilivate will submit a detailed management and cost proposal to you after receiving your request for a proposal (RFP) online. Within five minutes of submitting your RFP online, you will receive a simple survey requesting a brief, overview description of your company or business, scope of the new product development effort, and location of the targeted organization(s). You will receive the full management and cost proposal within five business days.
Our proposal is guaranteed to achieve results and is essentially risk-free.
Our proposal has “go/no go” decision points at key stages throughout the project. At all times you are empowered on how and if the program will proceed based on program results and your satisfaction! In the unlikely event that you decide to “no go” you will not be responsible for any costs or expenses incurred beyond that point.
A Bonus
Because our firm is working hard to achieve our internal growth goals, those who complete a valid online Request for Proposal (RFP) will receive a FREE copy of our handbook, everydayMBA Essentials – “Ten Steps to Successful New Product Development”; a succinct summary on how to take new product ideas from concept to commercialization. The e-handbook will be available December 15, 2008.
On Track for Your Roadmap - Submit Your Request for Proposal
Simply complete the brief, online Request for Proposal form by clicking here. Within five minutes you will receive a survey requesting additional information on your company or business, scope of services, and location(s) of the organization to allow us to better target our proposal. Remember you will receive the free e-book offer after a valid survey response. You will receive a detailed management and cost proposal within five business days.
Regards,
Marlon McClinton
President & CEO
Utilivate Technologies, LLC
P.S. Remember, our low-risk, new product development program – ADOPT™ Innovation Management Process – has been proven successful in organizations of all types. Achieve success in getting your new product to market by clicking here and submitting your online RFP now!
P.P.S. Also, remember you will receive a FREE copy of our e-handbook, everydayMBA Essentials – “Ten Steps to Successful New Product Development” by submitting a valid online RFP by clicking here.
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