Note: Interested in learning more? Make sure to attend the SiriusDecisions 2014 Summit on May 21-23 in Orlando, FL. I will be presenting The SiriusDecisions Innovation Strategy Framework: One Year Later − where I’ll discuss the results of research on innovation strategy, lessons learned from organizations that have used the Innovation Strategy Framework framework for strategic planning, as well as implications for your product roadmaps, marketing and sales planning.
Think about your monthly household budget. You need to determine how to allocate your income to different areas – housing, food, utilities, transportation, entertainment, clothing, etc. Some of these are things you absolutely need, some are very important, and some are luxuries. Some expenses are consistent from month to month, and some fluctuate.
Organizations go through a similar process to divide their product investments. There is often a fixed pool of money to invest into the existing product portfolio and into new products, and companies must figure out how to divide this money among many choices. As with a household budget, the number of things the company can spend money on often exceeds the funds available. During this process, companies often struggle with questions like:
Investment choices are often made on an ad hoc basis without objective criteria, or simply based on the HiPPO (highest paid person's opinion). As budgets are scrutinized and investments come under pressure, organizations must use limited resources as effectively as possible to maximize ROI.
We're conducting ongoing research into how best-in-class b-to-b organizations optimize their investment decisionmaking, including how to allocate investments appropriately, pick the right initiatives to pursue and ensure those investments succeed.
We’ll be sharing some of our findings in this blog, in our online publications and at our events. We invite you to take part in this survey. [Note: The original survey is now closed.]
Some participants have reported that the exercise of filling out the survey has prompted them to think about how their organizations approach new product investment and portfolio investment, and to consider some areas of evaluation they previously hadn't considered.
The information we've gathered so far includes:
I’ll be blogging about additional research results in the coming months.
Jeff Lash is Vice President and Group Director of Go-to-Market at SiriusDecisions, where he leads the Product Management and Portfolio Marketing Research and Advisory Services. A recognized thought leader in product management, he has over 15 years of experience in product management, product development, product marketing, and user experience design. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @jefflash.