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New Year, New Ideas – UNVC and Triple Jump Technology Event
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First I wish a Happy New Year to all.
And now to business; during 2009 we are facing growing challenges with the economical downturn that require a new way of thinking for the short to medium term.
We at Triple Jump Technologies have been posting regularly on sales and marketing focus aligned with and to product readiness. We also have been hammering on about partnerships to bring forward the positive opportunities being created by the new economical order. So together with UNVC we strongly believe we have an interesting vehicle to provide a different view point for Start-ups wishing to hear and discuss about business planning, sales and marketing path and planning with a view to expand to the UK and South Africa.
If you are a start-up and you are interested in joining this unique opportunity please contact us on sarit@triplejumptech.com
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2009 credit crunch - implications on the product lifecycle
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My last post dealt with the impact of the credit crunch on our organizations and specifically the Sales organization.
A short recap – we need to adapt a focused sales strategy to fewer markets which poses higher potential returns. More than that, I believe that more and more we will rely on channels and local agents to minimize the financial exposure of delivering sales in these markets.
On the other hand, the impact on the product team is to have the methodology and tools to quickly adapt the product to new requirements that may arise from shifts in the sales strategies. These product changes may or may not be needed but we need to be ready. I feel also that we may need to “compress” our product development lifecycle and roadmap to shorter timelines in order to achieve more robust products in a quicker time. So developing product agility and ability to be adapted quickly is a big a milestone to hit in your organization. More than that the product organization needs to be agile and have the processes to adapt to the changing technology and business landscapes.
As always an example – We were selling a consumer electronic product which had a keyboard in it. Historically the biggest customer was a German one and in Germany the keyboard is QWERTZ and not QWERTY (Y and Z change places). Sales in Germany slowed and we needed to convert the product to an English version, both software and hardware due to a sales opportunity in an English speaking country. The software part was easy as we had an English version but obtaining the QWERTY keyboards and retrofitting existing stock was a lengthy process which resulted in a big contract lost due to this delay. Product and mainly logistic agility were neglected over time which impacted the ability to change quickly.
I know that shortening production time usually equates to higher costs, but if an organization is saving money on a more efficient sales organization (our previous blog post) then funds can be diverted to meet needs in product development. So if we do things right we will retain the same if not smaller budgets while advancing our competitive capabilities a few strides forward.
So what is needed - Bottom line:
Sales – refocus and get efficient otherwise we’ll drain the cash from the piggy bank.
Product – we need to prepare for rapid adaptation in the product (design, logistics and implementation)
We all know these things – now it is time to execute them ‘cause 2009 will be challenging, so let’s get ready for it.
Tal