NPD Process Implementation
By implementing a NPD process with stages, you will:
- Apply rational prioritization to maximize your return on investment in new products
- Get revenue more quickly (as much as 30% more quickly)
- Reduce the risk of failure and under-performance
- Avoid wasting development time and money on the wrong projects
We guide you in setting up a customized NPD process, coach you on how to apply it and mentor you while you start using it. Our philosophy is to teach you in the most effective way: you learn from experienced professionals while doing.
This service is for you if New Product Development (NPD) involves only the technical team or if you are new at NPD. We have observed that companies get the highest return when Innovation and New Product Development are incorporated in the core activities and processes of the company, instead of being the prerogative of one department.
Scope
First, we review your goals and expectations and what you have already set up. Then, we help you set up processes, criteria, communication and training that fit your organization. Our attention to the human element and continued coaching take you from abstract process to successful self-reliance.
Process
Developing commercially successful products requires participation of all functions of an organization. We set up a customized NPD process with stages, in collaboration with your team, to tie together the activities of everyone involved. We design these processes to mesh with your existing processes so they can be adopted with a minimum of friction. We show you how to track progress on each project and trigger the next phase of activity. All this is done within the confines of your existing systems and tools. There is no expensive software to purchase, no time-consuming training for everyone involved.
Criteria
Clear criteria to prioritize projects and to proceed with development are necessary to focus on the right projects. This speeds up development and leads to revenue more quickly. We guide you in the development of criteria that are in keeping with your goals, expectations and resources.
The Human Element
We identify with you which persons need to be involved in selecting and approving projects at each stage. We get you to consider how their new product responsibility mesh or compete with their other responsibilities and whether this will hinder or foster success. We highlight which skills are missing from your team and recommend how to obtain them.
Coaching
Our involvement spans a full year during which we give guidance, facilitate meetings, coach members of the team and answer questions. We believe this light touch involvement is key to getting the organization in the habit of successfully using an innovation/new product development process on its own.
Communications and Training
Like any change, this approach will likely meet some resistance or doubt. Insuring that what you are trying to do is properly understood will get everyone to pull in the same direction. We will help you develop an internal communication leveraging your existing practices to do just that. This will also serve as the basis for the training you use to introduce new hires or new participants to the process.