Product & Technology Roadmap
The Contact Center Systems business unit of a major technology infrastructure company had, over time, developed three platforms (and dozens of individual applications) serving very different market segments. To remain competitive in each segment, the company needed to continually develop new functionality. Marketing and engineering resources were constantly stretched too thin, and execution suffered on all fronts. In addition, an emerging web services framework would impact all products, requiring major changes in each platform.
The company commissioned SDG to create a valuation framework spanning the company’s market and product opportunities. Questions to be answered: Did the company want to compete in all its current markets? Did it need one, two, or three platforms to serve the target markets? What technology was best for its platform(s)? Which applications should be continued or added and which should be discontinued or removed from roadmap?
Our investigation showed that the company’s most complex market segment to serve added little value to the business. In consequence, the company discontinued one of the platforms and a variety of applications. We also looked at what functionality was core to the remaining two platforms and at the capabilities of new technologies, developing a roadmap for how to migrate, longer-term, to a single next-generation platform. The result was a clear direction and roadmap for future development efforts that was well received by customers, who welcomed the clarified approach.
