“How do I determine whether or not my product meets customer needs?” and “how can our company improve its product development process?” The answer to these questions is vital in identifying your company’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of its product development performance. In this blog, we focus on HealthTech companies and how evaluating PDP plays a role in bringing new and innovative products to the healthcare market to solve complex healthcare challenges.
Systematic tracking and evaluation of key performance indicators is a great way to analyze product development performance. KPI’s provide in-depth information to help you make decisions such as whether or not the current process you are using is efficient. HealthTech companies can utilize KPIs from two different categories: strategic or tactical. Strategic metrics measure the overall development of products over a long period of time, whereas tactical metrics focus on short term productivity or individual output.
Examples of strategic metrics for a HealthTech product, for example, focus on patient and business values, such as patient retention rates, service satisfaction rates, research and development cost allocations, and more, whereas tactical metrics focus on measuring product quality, time to market, performance against specification, etc.
In addition to KPIs, another way to evaluate product development performance is to ask questions like those below. In this case, we use questions created by Deloitte LLP’s Global Benchmarking Center as an example of things you should evaluate:
1. How well is your product development function performing in delivering new and profitable revenue streams?
2. Are you getting the desired ROI in new products and technologies?
3. Are your efforts generating customer satisfaction?
4. Are you meeting market windows with competitive features and performance?
5. How effective are you in meeting your cost targets and developing a higher gross margin from new products?
6. How efficient are your product development projects in delivering to your targeted budget?
7. Are you investing in capability improvements that will drive performance improvements?
By answering the questions above, you can see how your company is performing and determine whether improvements need to be made. For example, “negative answers to the first two questions can suggest that your company might need to focus on incorporating financial performance metrics into its product development practices,” according to the center. “Whereas “No” answers to questions 3 and 4 may indicate the need to focus on customer impact.” The last four questions address operational excellence and continuous improvement from a process, organization, and technology enablement perspective.
While these answers might not be able to identify specific solutions or provide answers to every issue regarding product development, “it can provide insight into a company’s relative strengths and weaknesses compared to other organizations, and it can change the way an organization views its own performance,” the center said.
The speed of digital transformation is reshaping the way companies approach product development. By incorporating design thinking concepts such as ‘learning by doing’ into PDP, you can rapidly and frequently deliver working products inspired by real consumer needs, develop innovative delivery methods and value propositions, and adapt to changing requirements.
For more information about product engineering and SaaS (Software as a service) product development services, check out our blog post “What Is The Life Cycle of Product Engineering?” and our case study “Glucose Advisors’ Engine 1 – Support Type 1 Diabetics via their mobile device,” to learn more.
Click here to contact us and find out more information about how we can take your company to the next level through digital transformation initiatives to improve your business’s overall operation processes.
Comments