Core R&D groups, should they carry market awareness.
- Should they know where there product operates?
- Should they know what is their customers’ profile?
- Should they know sales cycle of their products?
- Should they think about numbers in terms of sales (or no sales)?
- Should they know the size of their market segment?
Please leave a comment on these points above.
I am planning to write an article and then a booklet on ‘Market savviness is not for field only’. Would love to see your comments before I write on the subject.
Hi Rajeev,
I personally think that market awareness is required by every stakeholder, esp. at different levels. There might be a multitude of reasons for this, but according to me, the following make it quintessential:
- Knowing the environment where exactly the product operates gives the core team (R&D) a chance to think of the requirement from a customer perspective. This consequently enables betterment of the product quality, thus allowing the possibility to increase its scope of usage in the market.
- Knowing the customer’s profile is important because it gives an idea of what kind of customer would prefer the product. Then the one in R&D may start analysing as to why an other similar customer (With almost a similar profile) is using a different product and might help in suggesting significant product enhancements. I know that this is the responsibility of the product management team, but allowing an R&D guy to think in these terms along with the product management will bring in more technicality into the picture (For e.g. an excellent resource in the development team might have a better idea based on his technical expertise) and might suggest wonderful alternatives.
- I am not sure of points 3 & 4 (As the numbers, I believe, might not be required by the “core” R&D team) but regarding 5, I personally think knowing the market segment size will create an improved thought process from the product improvement perspective and it also enables one to understand the importance of the product to the company in terms of the revenue it makes.
Surya