Beyond products
Tech companies are often founded by technologists who have developed a product that contributes significantly to greater efficiency, productivity or convenience. Virtualisation, the laptop and high level programming languages come to mind.
These are typically sold as products in the form of hardware or licences.
Invariably competitors rush in and this disrupting product becomes commoditised.
The temptation is to create a better version or focus on a completely new market.
But there is much you can do to differentiate your existing product. Options include a focus on:
• Brand.
• Service.
• Experience.
• Outcome.
Brand is a challenge for tech firms that are sales driven. It’s a bigger challenge when there is a quarterly pressure to please the investors and analysts.
Service is a value multiplier, but requires a cultural change across the business, not just some cosmetic work on the help desk.
Experiences, particularly good ones, occur when the service makes an emotional impact; unlikely to happen if your people are insensitive to what buyers deeply care about.
If you are looking to get the attention of senior executives then the focus needs to be on outcomes, preferably those that support the strategic imperatives.
The perfect scenario is to start with outcomes in mind. But if you already have a set of products in the market then I suggest you map one or more of these differentiators onto your offerings to avoid commodity oblivion.