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Pension funds have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of assets that they control. This increase has been the result of an ever-increasing workforce that has been diligently contributing to their financial future. The funds being managed by pension funds have increased both in developed as well as developing nations. Many developing nations are […]
Toxic Workplaces, the Harm they do, and how Organizations can Avoid Becoming One
What are Toxic Workplaces and what Characterizes Them? Workplace culture is very important for organizations to bring the best out of their employees. Workplace culture is also important for employee engagement and employee productivity. Indeed, without an enabling workplace culture, employees would be demoralized and demotivated to work and this results in organizational atrophy and […]
Social Networks – A Key Element of the Social Web
Any Company marketing its products and services cannot afford to ignore or keep away from the Social Networks and Social Web. The fact that people on the social networks are talking and sharing information about products and services makes it imperative for Companies to participate. Social Networks are great platforms for individuals to participate and […]
Organizations and Relationship Marketing
Traditionally with Organizations the customers belonged to and were the responsibility of the Marketing Department alone. Organizations probably had too many constraints on meeting the demands and were saddled with limited product range that did not require them to look out and reach out to the Customer. However with evolution of technology, mass production processes […]
Components of a Financial Plan
Financial planning is often confused with investment planning. Although investment planning is a major part of financial planning, it does not encompass the entire concept. There are several more components to financial planning as well. In this article, we will have a closer look at the various components of a financial plan. Budgeting: A lot […]
More often than not, organizations spend a fortune on marketing and product development separately. This is the case with many companies that have different departments dealing with marketing and product development without any coordination.
It is left to each of the departments to try and understand what the others are saying to form a cohesive and a coherent strategy.
In the corporate world, it is common for the delivery teams to say that marketing is exerting pressure on them to reduce the time to market times and it is also common for the marketing department to say that the delivery teams do not understand what it takes to drive a product into the market. This leads to a general sense of dysfunction within the organization with teams at loggerheads with each other.
The solution in such cases is often a pragmatic look at what is causing the friction and have someone to liaise with the different departments. This means that there is a need for a product management team that tracks the entire product lifecycle starting from the conception and incubation to the marketing and after sales phases.
The need for such a product management team is often felt more in technology companies that have a laissez faire culture and there is no holistic and integrated approach to the need to develop and market products. This has resulted in spectacular failures in the mobile technology market with leading players like Nokia and Blackberry getting dethroned from their preeminent positions because they did not sense what the market wanted from them and at the same time did not intuit what makes for a great idea.
The two terms introduced above, market sensing and market intuition have entered the lexicon of management in recent years. Thanks to the profusion of companies and products in the business landscape, it is no longer enough to have a great idea or a great sales strategy.
The important thing is to “sense” the market signals and “intuit” the market mood in such a way that brilliant ideas are turned into workable and marketable products. This brings to the fore the need for a product management team that can rely the information from the marketing department to the product development team and ensure that the end-end product management is done in a professional and organized manner.
Companies that fail to read market signals and at the same time discard innovative ideas because they do not see the market potential often fail to achieve success in the marketplace.
The point here is that great ideas should be translated into products and great products must be marketed appropriately. Since it is the responsibility of the research and design and the delivery teams to come up with great ideas and make products respectively and it is the responsibility of the marketing team to market this great product in a befitting manner, the question arises as to who is going to make them talk to each other and understand each other. Of course, even in companies that do not have product management teams, marketing and research and delivery teams do communicate.
But, what if there was a coordinating team that sees the potential in new ideas from the perspective of the marketing team and at the same time intuits and senses what the market wants from the perspective of the research and delivery teams. So, this is where the product management team with its coordinating and liaising responsibilities comes into the picture.
Hence, there is an acute need for a product management team in any organization that wishes to conquer the rapidly changing marketplace.
In conclusion, there is a need to reduce the dysfunction within organizations and make them adopt a comprehensive strategy towards products and product management bridges this role perfectly.
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