Technology vs. Consumer Benefits in NPD

Submitted by Chris Hawkes on Fri, 12/28/2007 - 8:30pm

Good product development requires a dose of technological magic and an understanding of how those innovations clearly translate into meaningful customer benefits.

In most businesses, owing to their organizational structure if nothing else, there is often a power struggle between the developers of technologies and the marketing group, to see which group is going to lead and which is going to follow in product development. This issue is often determined by the legacy of what brought the company into existence initially (the founder of the company was often an engineer or an inventor, and that legacy often seems to be perpetuated through the company’s evolutions.)

It’s generally not difficult to identify which perspective dominates a company’s product development activities (technological innovation or customer benefits) – in many cases you can look at the messaging, the sales literature and the website and you can easily discern whether their perspective is demonstrating the importance of their technological accomplishments (often quite impressive in their own right), or if their intention is to explain the customer benefits of their product’s features, and mention the technology when it’s necessary to make a believable or understandable point.

My personal belief is that is easy for the technology side of the business to flex their muscle and push through capabilities or customer benefit perspectives that highlight the technology aspects of a product at the expense of making it clear to customers just why they should value these innovations and improvements.

The reality is that it truly requires both sides of the organization to deliver high quality products to customers, that meet, and possibly even exceed their expectations. In most cases there are technical innovations that produce an opportunity to improve the way things are currently done, however it also takes the understanding of customer’s needs and preferences that marketing, and often market research brings to make the product attractive enough to purchase.

How is the balance in your company?

Chris Hawkes - www.MarketResearch101.com <!--EndFragment-->

Comments

by Byron Workman - 01/02/2008 - 12:07pm

I wonder if we could have a

I wonder if we could have a few posts about the process of making the transition from a company that is used to focusing on there technology to one that is more customer focused or vice versa, which ever one makes more sense for the industry and market you're in.

You didn't mention whether you thought that one or the other was a better focus to have. My gut reaction is that a focus on customer benefits would lead to more success. For example they should have an easier time introducing there product into new markets. However, most of my experience comes from software vendors, and I would like to get more peoples incite, especially from companies that are focused more on technology.

I work as a consultant at a product management software company right now. Over the last year I have witnessed a transformation from a company that has historically been focused on developing technology to one that is focused more on customer benefits. So I know that you can change your focus if you want to.