Reinventing the Product summary

If you need to take your company out of the dark ages and into the modern, digital world, there are several major shifts that need to take place. One of the most important ones is to shift your focus away from products as we’ve traditionally understood them and toward the ongoing journey of the customer experience.

Let’s say you make cameras. Traditionally, camera-makers may have spent the majority of their time and effort thinking of new features they could put on the camera in order to make it stand out in the marketplace. But today that is just one step to consider.

Netflix, Tesla, Uber, Apple, and many more of today’s most successful businesses all sell products that are essentially services, and this is a trend that will only increase as more businesses look at ways to keep customers engaged in the long term.

There are a few key factors when transforming into a product-as-a-service company. The first two are identifying a clear and viable strategy for your product and shifting your operating model to fit today’s digital ecosystem. For example, companies that used to sell cars are now shifting into developing ride-share programs, and companies that sold medical testing devices are shifting to selling software that analyzes medical data.

You’ve probably heard about recent strides in the development of artificial intelligence, or AI, especially when it comes to the advanced algorithms allowing services like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa to learn the preferences and anticipate the needs of users.

But AI is about more than just digital assistants. That’s why embracing AI is also important for all businesses.

Now might be a good time to put everything together into a clear roadmap for transitioning into a successful product-as-a-service company. There are seven key action points on this roadmap.

First is to define your vision and the value you’re offering. What kind of experience is your product providing? Be clear about this and know precisely the kind of connected product you’re selling.

Theory is all well and good, but what does a company that’s successfully transitioned to producing smart connected products look like?

One such company is Faurecia. It supplies automotive companies with products such as car seats and vehicle interiors, and in 2015 it found itself in debt and in need of change. Around 2016, the company put new leadership in place and read the writing on the wall: it was time to go all-in on digital systems integration and intelligent automotive cockpits. After all, the clear trend in cars was digital systems that connected everything from the ignition to onboard entertainment.