Services
Professional Approach
Business Research
Case Studies
Typical Projects
Selected Clients
About Us
Contact Us
Subscribe to Newsletter
Industries
Articles
and Publications
|
|
A
Viable Product or Another Clever Idea?
(Marketing Memo, February, 2002)
How do
you know which product concepts will succeed? Currently, researchers
at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) are working to develop a novel
biometric security system that recognizes an individual's unique way
of walking or gait. The proposed system will identify people by using
markers, such as the length of an individual's torso, legs, and arms,
plus data on the individual's shoulder position and arm and head motions,
according to Matthew French in Mass High Tech (01/14/2002). Is the biometric
system merely a product concept, or is it a viable product?
Under the
direction of David E. Krebs, a physical therapist at MGH, the team has
several technical challenges to meet before they are ready to introduce
a biomotion product. Plus, the team in the biomotion lab must find answers
to a number of significant business questions. These questions are the
same questions that all companies with new product concepts must answer
satisfactorily before launching their products:
-- |
|
Does
the concept actually work, and does it work as well as or better
than competing approaches? (Is each person's walk unique and
unchanging? Will a biomotion system identify people as reliably
as fingerprinting?) |
|
|
Does
a market exist for this category of product? (Who would consider
and use a relatively untested biomotion security system and why?)
|
|
|
Can
you reach this market? (Is the market limited to airports and
large public facilities? Who are the decision makers at these types
of public facilities, and how do you reach them?) |
|
|
How
can you convince people that the system works and that it is user
friendly? (How should you promote the biomotion system to your
target market?) |
|
|
What
is the competition, and where are they vulnerable? (Are you
competing against facial recognition and retinal scanning systems?
Security personnel, guard dogs, and other lower-tech identification
systems? What are the weaknesses inherent to these approaches? How
can you get people to switch approaches?) |
|
|
Can
you produce an affordable system in sufficient quantity to satisfy
the presumed market? (How many systems will you need every year
for the next three to five years? Can you produce that many? Is
this a product that lends itself to large production runs? If each
biomotion system were to require an expensive training or installation
process, the systems might not be suitable for quantity sales.) |
|
|
Are
margins likely to be big enough so that the venture is profitable?
(What are the expected manufacturing and distribution costs
for the biomotion system? What do similar systems cost, and what
can you charge for a biomotion system?) |
Winett
Associates can help you explore new product opportunities or write white
papers and case studies that highlight new products.
|