• Step 1b of Improving Your Speed-to-Market Is:
    • Determine what specific benefits are you seeking?
  • There are many potential benefits from managing time-to-market or improving Speed-to-Market. They include both financial and nonfinancial benefits. The financial benefits are often directly measurable and vastly exceed the up-front costs of introducing Speed-to-Market approaches to the organization. Some examples of the benefits of speed are:
    • Faster Innovation. Companies that are built for speed often realize first-mover advantages; they are able to react more quickly to competitors’ moves or market shifts with their own product innovations.
    • Lower Development Costs. Streamlined processes, limited iterations, and reduced slack release financial and operating resources for other value-adding activities.
    • Larger Market Share. A product that gets to market early is less likely to face initial competition. A quick introduction also gives a product more time to build market share before it declines into a commodity.
    • Greater Forecasting Accuracy. Because the time between product design and product release is shorter, executives may be more willing to green-light trendy products that would otherwise be denied.
  • Check for benefits by assessing the positioning of your product or service in the intended market.
    • The quadrant your products/services fall in indicates the specific benefits  Speed-to-Market offers.
  • Some additional specific benefits are:
    • Revenue gains and/or increased profitability
    • Gaining a reputation as a market and/or technology leader
    • Improved information flows
    • Speedier learning
    • Improved effectiveness and efficiency, including lower costs and improved management of resources, doing more projects with the same resources, etc.
  • Note that you may not be able to realize all these benefits, so you must decide what specific advantages/benefits are you seeking.   Be sure to take a longer-term, whole-of-business perspective.