fostering ad-hoc collaboration between marketing and r&d departments (concurrency corporation)
TRANSCRIPT
Fostering Ad-Hoc Collaboration Between Marketing and R&D
Departments
(Concurrency Corporation)
ContentsExecutive SummaryCurrent State AnalysisFuture State AnalysisAdoption & Implementation PlanningNext Steps
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BackgroundA consumer product development company, faces a number of challenges related to interdepartmental collaboration between the Marketing and R&D departments, including:
Inefficient communication and collaboration between departmentsLong cycle times to address critical issues along the product development lifecycleLack of cross-visibility between the departments, leading to divergent directions in product development that must be laboriously reconciled laterLabor intensive preparation for weekly sync meetings between R&D and Marketing stakeholders to address trivial problemsCritical issues are often not identified until late in the product development process
The net result of these challenges is increased time to market, increased product development cost, and lower product profitability
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BackgroundDue to lack of frequent collaboration between marketing and R&D teams, teams working on the same project often diverge and require time consuming and costly realignment during the product development process:
Project Kickoff Product Launch
Marketing Path
R&D Path
Mid-courseRealignment
Meeting
Converge
Converge
Engagement ParticipantsParticipant Name Department Role
(name) (department) (title)
(name) (department) (title)
(name) (department) (title)
(name) (department) (title)
(name) (department) (title)
(name) (department) (title)
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Executive SummaryConcurrency proposes expanding upon your current Office System deployment to incorporate Ad-Hoc Collaboration capabilitiesImplementing the proposed Ad-Hoc Collaboration solution will provide you with:
Real-time collaboration between product development stakeholders within the departments25% decrease in time to market, from 8 months to 6 months25% increase in sales due to better, more feature rich products30% reduction in product development labor time and cost
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Marketing Path
R&D Path
Executive SummaryBy promoting constant Ad-Hoc Collaboration between the Marketing and R&D teams, you can ensure proper alignment between the efforts of the two teamsThe teams function more as one unit, rather than two separate unitsMore marketing and engineering data is available earlier in the design process, which ensures better, more marketable productsUltimately, this alignment reduces the time, effort, and cost to get products to market, and increases product revenues:
Project Kickoff
Product Launch
Ad-Hoc Collaboration
Executive Summary
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Executive Summary
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ContentsExecutive SummaryCurrent State AnalysisFuture State AnalysisAdoption & Implementation PlanningNext Steps
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Process Phase Description
• Marketing identifies new product development opportunity
• R&D and Marketing assess development strategies & product features through email and structured face-to-face meetings
• If product is technically feasible and marketable, both groups begin product development effort
• Marketing and R&D stakeholders conduct monthly sync meetings to assess progress, realign objectives, and solve problems
• R&D designs the product• Marketing develops marketing plans
and campaign materials based on the product design
• R&D finalizes design and turns designs over to manufacturing
• Marketing researches final designs, works with R&D SMEs to finalize marketing materials
Key Stakeholders• R&D Managers• Marketing Managers
• R&D Managers• Marketing Managers• R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
• R&D Managers• Marketing Managers• R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
High-Level Problems Identified
• Long cycle time during conceptual design phase, as R&D and Marketing assess cost, technical feasibility, and marketability of product features
• Long cycle time to develop product specifications
• Laborious process to plan initial kick-off, technical assessments, and planning meetings
• Inconsistent communication and collaboration leads to problems with both the features included in the product design, and the marketing emphasis for the product
• Problems are resolved on a monthly, rather than continuous basis, adding cycle time to the design process
• Laborious process to plan weekly sync meetings
• Critical issues are often only identified in the last design phase, delaying product launch
• No easy way to disseminate product knowledge, leads to repetition of errors
• Laborious and time consuming process for marketing team to research final product specifications and create marketing material
Impact• Delays during early design allow
competition to beat Concurrency to market
• Important design features which affect product marketability are removed
• Marketing cannot adequately articulate the benefits of product features
• Impacts time to market and product profitability
Current State Process AnalysisProduct Development Process – Analysis Summary
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Assess Product Opportunity Design Product Launch Product
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Current State Process Diagram
Current State Process Diagram
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Current State Process Diagram
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ContentsExecutive SummaryCurrent State AnalysisFuture State AnalysisAdoption & Implementation PlanningNext Steps
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Future State Process AnalysisProduct Development Process – Analysis Summary
– Analysis Summary
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New Process Phase Description
• Marketing identifies new product opportunities
• Marketing communicates with R&D SMEs through IM and SharePoint 2010 collaboration spaces to quickly assess product feature alternatives
• R&D Engineers collaborate with Marketing SMEs on an ad-hoc basis via IM and SharePoint sites
• Managers conduct ad-hoc reviews via Live Meeting
• As product designs and marketing emphasis are solidified, both teams update a common Wiki
• Information is continuously passed between the departments, ensuring alignment in development efforts
• R&D and Marketing staff use Wikis IMs with SMEs, Live Meetings, and SharePoint Expertise Search to more easily locate and disseminate vital product information
• Marketing and R&D staff routinely update product Wikis and blogs to keep each team up-to-date on current product features
• Marketing team finalizes marketing material based on Wiki and blog data
Key Stakeholders• R&D Managers• Marketing Managers
• R&D Managers• Marketing Managers• R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
• R&D Managers• Marketing Managers• R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
High-Level Improvements
• Marketing and R&D teams can quickly assess new technologies and develop product specifications
• Better alignment of efforts reduces downstream labor and cycle time
• Better distribution of product knowledge during the process reduces product finalization and launch efforts
• Better distribution of product knowledge leads to better, more marketable products
• Critical issues are identified earlier• Product launch efforts are reduced
Impact / Benefit • Reduction in cost and time to market• Reduction in cost and time to market• Increase in product sales
• Reduction in cost and time to market• Increase in product sales
Assess Product Opportunity Design Product Launch Product
LevelOfComplexity
Low
High
High
Low
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3
3 5
1
Value to Business
Prioritized Process Solutions
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1
Deploy SharePoint Server 2010(SharePoint Server 2010 )
Deploy Office CommunicationServer 2007 R2
(Office Communication Server 2007 R2 )
Enable advanced SharePoint Features:
Blogs, Wikis, Expertise Search, Presence
(Office Communication Server 2007 R2,SharePoint Server 2010 )
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Future State Process Diagram
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Future State Process Diagram
Anticipated Benefits - ProcessID Process Phase
Improvement Description Benefits Technology Leveraged
KPI Impact(s) Affected Stakeholders
1Assess Product Opportunity
• Marketing identifies new product opportunities
• Marketing communicates with R&D SMEs through IM and SharePoint 2010 collaboration spaces to quickly assess product feature alternatives
• Marketing and R&D teams can quickly assess new technologies and develop product specifications
• Project Server 2010
• SharePoint Server 2010 with Excel Services
• 50% reduction in phase cycle time
• 50% reduction in phase labor cost
• Marketing Staff• R&D Staff
2Design Product
• R&D Engineers collaborate with Marketing SMEs on an ad-hoc basis via IM and SharePoint sites
• Managers conduct ad-hoc reviews via Live Meeting
• As product designs and marketing emphasis are solidified, both teams update a common Wiki
• Information is continuously passed between the departments, ensuring alignment in development efforts
• Better alignment of efforts
• Better distribution of product knowledge
• Exchange Server 2010
• Project Server 2010
• 25% reduction in phase cycle time
• 25% reduction in phase labor cost
• Marketing Staff• R&D Staff
3Launch Product
• R&D and Marketing staff use Wikis IMs with SMEs, Live Meetings, and SharePoint Expertise Search to more easily locate and disseminate vital product information
• Marketing and R&D staff routinely update product Wikis and blogs to keep each team up-to-date on current product features
• Marketing team finalizes marketing material based on Wiki and blog data
• Critical issues are identified earlier
• R&D staff use Wikis and IMs with SMEs to more easily disseminate vital product information
• SharePoint Server 2010
• Office Communication Server 2007 R2
• 25% reduction in phase cycle time
• 75% reduction in phase labor cost
• Marketing Staff• R&D Staff
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ContentsExecutive SummaryCurrent State AnalysisFuture State AnalysisAdoption & Implementation PlanningNext Steps
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Adoption & Implementation Planning Summary
ID Improvement Description Resources Required Implementatio
n OwnerAdditional Stakeholders Notes
1 Deploy SharePoint Server 2010
• IT department resources for solution development and/or project management
• Marketing and R&D volunteers for pilot testing
• Director of IT • R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
2Deploy Office CommunicationServer 2007 R2
• IT department resources for solution development and/or project management
• Marketing and R&D volunteers for pilot testing
• Director of IT • R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
3
Enable advanced SharePoint Features:Blogs, Wikis, Expertise Search, Presence
• IT department resources for solution development and/or project management
• Marketing and R&D volunteers for pilot testing
• Director of IT • R&D Staff• Marketing Staff
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Potential Adoption Roadblocks
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Stakeholder Group
Anticipated Resistance to Change Degree to which Resistance will Limit Initiative Success
Mitigation actions
Technical
IT Department N/A N/A N/A
Departmental Analysts
Some reluctance to use new tools Mid•Develop brief training document and FAQ
LOB Managers Some reluctance to use new tools Mid•Develop brief training document and FAQ
Departmental Manager
Some reluctance to use new tools Low•Develop brief training document and FAQ
Cultural
IT DepartmentStrong ownership of multiple process phases; feels that current process is “good enough”
Mid•Reward involvement in deployment and participation
Departmental Analysts
Staff may be reluctant to change current business practices
Low•Highlight time saving benefits of solution
LOB Managers
Departments have realized limited value from analytics and reporting solutions to date; concern that new solution will repeat problems of previous solutions
Mid•Highlight short-term and long-term process and information benefits
Departmental Manager
Interested in bottom line; show me the money Mid•Monitor and report on ongoing performance
Adoption Roadblock Mitigation Actions by StakeholderAdoption
Category IT Department Departmental Analysts LOB Managers Departmental Manager
Awareness
Awareness generating communications via email, newsletters, manager meetings, etc., targeted to stakeholder group and concerns
Awareness generating communications via email, newsletters, manager meetings, etc., targeted to stakeholder group and concerns
Awareness generating communications via email, newsletters, manager meetings, etc., targeted to stakeholder group and concerns
Awareness generating communications via email, newsletters, manager meetings, etc., targeted to stakeholder group and concerns
Value Demonstration
Emphasize performance process and productivity improvements to department as well as economic cost and implementation timeline.
Demonstrate improvement in productivity through quick hits and quick wins; also show overall process improvements and reduced impact on staff. Provide useful tactical training to support roll-out.
Demonstrate improvement in productivity through quick hits and quick wins; also show overall process improvements and reduced impact on staff. Provide useful tactical training to support roll-out.
Demonstrate both improvement in productivity through quick hits and quick wins; also show overall process improvements. Provide useful tactical training to support roll-out.
Integration & Alignment
Ensure proposed solutions/ initiatives are aligned with both with business and IT strategy and direction
Ensure proposed solutions/ initiatives are aligned with both with business and IT strategy and direction
Ensure proposed solutions/ initiatives are aligned with both with business and IT strategy and direction
Ensure proposed solutions/ initiatives are aligned with both with business and IT strategy and direction
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ContentsExecutive SummaryCurrent State AnalysisFuture State AnalysisAdoption & Implementation PlanningNext Steps
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Next StepsReview presentation and proposal with decision maker(s) and stakeholders for approvalConsider a SharePoint Deployment Planning Services (SDPS) follow-up engagementExecute work order for projectSchedule kick off meeting for week of _____ and weekly status meetingsPropose schedule:
A) Deadlines for initial milestones, orB) Date to finalize initial milestones
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