Assessing New Product Development

Concerned about growing competition in the industry, a global telecommunications company asked Analysis Group for assistance in bringing new products to market quickly and efficiently.

To better understand the client's new product development challenges, we first examined the company's processes to determine if they were efficient, effective, and consistent across the organization. We then assessed the organization, team structure, and portfolio management capabilities. Finally, we analyzed senior management's leadership perspective as well as the metrics and indicators used by the client.

We concluded that the client needed stronger senior management participation across the business and a more proactive portfolio management process. We provided a variety of tools and recommended a number of processes, such as concurrent engineering and faster technology transfer between research and development, to help make the client's new product development efforts more efficient. In addition, we suggested that the company implement stronger cross-functional teams to ensure smoother and faster new product launches. We also advised the client to focus on key metrics, such as project cycle time, to better monitor the product development process. Finally, since product development is a way to execute business strategy, we stressed the importance of discussions and decisions where strategic positioning is concerned.

Our work helped the client identify cost savings and additional revenue opportunities in excess of $300 million. In addition, significant reductions of 25-30% in the average time to market were achieved. Furthermore, the improved project specification processes and decision-making procedures have helped the client ensure that new products are better aligned with the needs of the business, thereby adding significantly more value to operations.