The radical market changes of the last decade have influenced customers and their needs. If customers change,  then the offerings towards these and other customers also need to change in order for an organization to stay competitive. If the organization isn’t experiencing business growth and it hasn’t changed a considerable percentage of its offerings in the last years, then there is the chance that the organization is missing new market opportunities and is loosing competitiveness day by day.

Future success is not automatically based on past success. So, are you ready to discover new grounds?

This blog post gives you a good example of how a company has constantly adapted its offerings for the digital Economy and provides you a process on how to develop new products and services for the new reality.

What can we learn from an European toy company? 

Fischertechnik (*) has been one or the most well known technical toys around the world. It was originally created by Arthur Fischer (famous German inventor with more patents than Edison) as a Christmas gift to the children of his partners and had such a good acceptance that it became a standard product for a new market (technical education). Today it is produced by fischertechnik Gmbh, a company based in the Black Forest in Southern Germany. Fischertechnik building blocks motivated kids to learn and practice technical abilities and become future engineers. These building blocks have evolved from having mechanical, to electromechanical, to electronic, to computing, and to robotic components. As a child I used to build cranes and bridges and now my nephew uses it to build and program robots. The company did not only constantly transform their offerings in sync with the technological evolution but has also expanded their traditional education market on a worldwide level. Today it is used in schools for technical education in many countries such as Germany, Brazil, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, China and others. Additionally it is also used by the industry to build models.

For more positive examples from various industries, please click here.

Changes are driven by Actions in a receptive Environment

New products and offerings don’t just appear. Companies need to formally express the will to find them and set up the necessary actions to develop these new offerings. So, in the same way as indicated in the past blog post about “Accepting the new reality in the Digital Economy”, an organization needs to take time and bring people together to adapt its offering according to the needs of the Digital Economy to stay ahead of the competition.

But before doing this exercise it is important to get rid of all paradigms and ballast, which are keeping an organization or a person from reaching to the next level.

Here are some typical human reactions to change and how to respond to them:

• We never did this - Of course, we want to try new things

• We don’t have the skills - No problem, acquiring external skills is easy

• It is not our business - We might want to expand or redirect your business

• We are afraid of the risk - Good, than let’s evaluate the risk and minimize it

• It is too costly - Then let’s analyze the costs and see if we can reduce them

• We are not sure if customers want this - No problem, call them and ask them

Step 1

Understanding of the digital needs of the market

These key facts of the new reality may be a good starting point for developing new products and services:

Based on these simple facts you may ask yourself some key questions, which can drive the conversation in your team to discover new offerings for your organization:

1. If you are in the B2C market, how can you adapt your products or services responding to the Consumer profile described above?

2. If you are in the B2B market, how can you contribute even more to the Company’s needs described above?
    

3. Taking one by one each of the technological advances note above, how can these improve or transform your offering for the benefit of the customer?
    

4. If somebody would create a company to take out your business, which of your weak points would it attack?

Step 2

Creating new offerings based on the digital market needs

Here you will find some examples of how some companies came up with new products or services for the Digital Economy:

After adapting your offering for the Digital Economy you may experience higher business growth and be better prepared to protect and expand your market.

In case you need an external view in the development of new products and services, or your need the technology to manage your business in the new economy, feel free to contact us at info@calvisystems.com.

Osvaldo Ostermann
Director Research & Development
Calvi Systems SL - c/ Tramontana 39-3C - 28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) - Spain
www.exxpertapps.com - www.calvisystems.com - Tel. +34 91 512 3344 - info@calvisystems.com

Related Articles about "Success in the Digital Economy"

• Accepting the New Reality