A key component of digital transformation is the production of customer facing digital products. A key word in that description is “products.”
As an IT leader your end user focus has been employees who work in your organization and not current or potential customers. So when you’re tasked with creating a digital product for customers your focus needs to shift from an internal support mindset to an external product marketing mindset.
It’s a big jump. The good thing is that your technical savvy will bring a lot of value to the product development and marketing process. As a technology expert you have the “design and engineering” knowledge necessary to build the product.
But can you answer the following questions posed by CIO.com?
“Are you developing the right experiences for the right markets, customer segments and user personas?
Do you understand user values and needs that will drive initial adoption of your application and facilitate ongoing utilization?
Have you developed engagements that will enable early adopters to share their experiences and aid in getting mainstream users on board?”
Your first reaction after reading these questions might be that you’re not a marketing professional. Though that’s understandable, at the core of digital transformation is the idea that in the future all business is digital business, all products will have digital components and therefore IT teams must lead their organizations to market success.
Start learning about product development concepts from a market perspective.
When new ideas are discussed ask these questions:
- How will you produce the product? Internally or with partners?
- Do you have the resources to produce the product at the scale required?
- How will you manage quality control?
- If there is a hardware component, how will it be tested, acquired, stocked and distributed?
- How will you coordinate product updates and upgrades to ensure user satisfaction and product quality are not affected.
These are only a few of the items you will have to consider but they represent how your perspective will need to shift to external customer requirements.
As we continue to move into the digital future, technology leaders like you have a unique opportunity to play a starring role. What will you do to seize it?
