Accelerating Ahead
Mastering Speed, Risk, and Competitive Advantage in Product Development
In the constantly changing landscape of product development, companies must innovate fast to maintain relevance and competitive edge. As experts at the forefront of creating business value, we understand achieving success hinges on managing the delicate balance of speed, risk and securing a competitive advantage.
At CDP, our work focuses on strategic pillars that address these key needs to propel both effective and efficient product development:
Speed through collaboration
In the race to competitive advantage, speed is vital. Innovation teams must be shielded from disruption, working full time on projects, with in-house resources allocated and available at leaders’ fingertips. They also need to be connected through multiple communication channels, using tools that foster fast and effective collaboration. The result? An acceleration from strategy to pilot production, fuelled by swift decision-making. But sometimes, even the most successful organizations need additional people, experience, and capabilities to help solve their problems quickly and pragmatically.
Reduce and manage risk
Risk should be embraced as an opportunity to surface ideas that put us above the competition and deliver commercial benefits. To do this, leaders must build expert teams tailored to specific needs. However, when faced with new and complex problems, keeping core capabilities in-house isn’t always feasible. When outsourcing, ensure your chosen partner understands the overall process and can navigate regulatory landscapes – this is vital for risk mitigation. Ensure you own the knowledge, capability, and IP you’ve invested in to avoid being tethered to your partner beyond the project’s lifespan.
User first, then speed and cost
Securing a competitive advantage relies on mastering three key capabilities: focusing on your end-user, innovating fast, and maintaining cost efficiency. User focus is less about creating a product and more about identifying and defining unmet needs, then owning your competitive advantage to retain your market edge in the long term. Once you’ve mastered this, look to accelerate your time to market while exploring avenues for cost reduction without compromising quality. This means grasping the relationship between product design and manufacturing to ensure you’re preserving your competitive advantage.
Cultivating a culture of innovation
Teams can find themselves at a standstill as they hunt for solutions when faced with the complex and unprecedented challenges of developing new products. But armed with the right frameworks, methodologies, and a culture that embraces both success and failure, the journey becomes manageable and an opportunity for growth. New ideas are uncovered, explored, and tested. Diversity sparks creativity. Therefore, it’s crucial to create workstreams that enable collaboration across multi-functional teams, with access to subject matter experts, and that problem-solving includes commercial viability testing, particularly regarding manufacturability.
Access resources, rapidly and flexibly
Outsourcing can speed up your innovation cycle, but you must retain ownership of the IP and knowledge created during the process. Choose partners wisely, prioritizing cultural fit and flexibility, including the option to choose whether to extend the relationship. It’s not simply about outsourcing; it’s about forging trusted partnerships that align seamlessly with your goals and provide benefits that wouldn’t exist in-house.
Avoid endless research loops
Trust, collaboration, and flexibility
Getting stuck trying to solve the complex problems that emerge during the innovation process can fuel prolonged and repetitive research that provides a false haven from leaping into action. The five main reasons for slow progress are:
1. Lack of culture and processes that enable problem-solving
2. Need for greater team diversity
3. Hesitation in seeking external ideas or support
4. Multi-faceted projects having siloed teams working independently
5. Lack of planning, strict deadlines, decision-making, and recognition of ‘good enough to test’
Speed to success is the culmination of internal and external expertise. External support maintains a focus on the problem, brings a fresh perspective, allows for quicker decision-making, and manages risks. What’s more, ideas aren’t dampened by internal beliefs.
However, internal and external teams must work collaboratively to understand commercial requirements, operational capabilities, and prior experiences – building these strategic partnerships is what will set you apart in a crowded marketplace.
About CDP
Our mission is to improve lives through innovation.
Innovation often requires solving complex problems. Even the most successful organizations sometimes need additional people, experience and capabilities to help solve them. This is where Cambridge Design Partnership can help.
Wherever you are in your journey, we’ll help redefine and solve these problems. As a highly skilled team of strategists, scientists and engineers, we can do this quickly.
We can fit anywhere in your innovation cycle – from market research, through concept design and prototype realization, to production. We’ll help accelerate your time to market, deliver competitive advantage, and improve the lives you serve.
If you’re looking to accelerate your innovation project, contact our team today.