Product Management is about targeting a specific market or customer segment with the right product and service proposition. A key element is developing innovations that keep the offering competitive and ideally differentiate positively against competitors. Product Management represents the lifeblood of future success, but also requires an assessment of commercial risks involved in any product or service change. For example, moving into a new market with a new product or service offering is a high-risk activity, and success is rare. Equally rare is successful development of a product offering that fundamentally changes the value proposition within an industry (e.g., Internet banking). Such new innovations require deep financial commitment.
Three significant barriers often prevent banks from delivering the product changes necessary for better profitability including:
- Lack of information to determine strategy requirements.
- New product and service initiatives lack the integrated business process information needed to develop targeted, comprehensive product offerings.
- The inability to measure and analyze the drivers of success.
Information sweet spots covered in our new Performance Manager for Banking book include:
- Product and service assessment: What is our value proposition, and does our product and service portfolio meet customer and market requirements?
- Product and strategic innovation: Which strategic initiatives and product/service gaps are addressable with the available resources, and what are the associated risks?
- Product management milestones: How do we manage priorities, goals and timing, and monitor risks as they change?
