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Research Analyst, Information Design, Nokia Networks
The Technology Adaptation Life Cycle looks at
products and marketing strategies from the point
of view of different users. As we have learned
during the last couple of years, it is also a good
tool for analysing what kind of information
products we should be producing for different
users.
However, there are other models that companies use
to evaluate their product portfolio and market,
and we should consider their impact on
documentation and training. One of the models is
the Growth-Share Matrix developed by the
Boston Consulting Group.
The model
looks at the market by using two dimensions: the
market share that the product has and the growth
of the market. The basic idea behind the model is
that a company needs products to bring in excess
cash that can be used to develop products that
don't yet bring in any profit.
Here is a brief introduction to the model with
some thoughts on how the model could be used when
thinking about documenting products in the
different segments of the model. As opposed to the
Technology Adaptation Life Cycle, this model suits
all products, not just hi-tech, revolutionary
products. Nonetheless, I have made some
comparisons to the Technology Adaptation Life
Cycle model because links between these models are
useful.
Cash Cows
Products that have high market share when the
market isn't growing generate much more cash than
is needed to maintain the share. The excess should
not be reinvested in those products but should be
used for other purposes. These products would most
likely fall into the late majority segment in the
Technology Adaptation Life Cycle.
From a documentation point of view, the document
sets for Cash Cows should be in maintenance mode.
There should be no new development unless required
by the customers. The company is trying to keep
the margins as high as possible, and all
development work decreases the margins. If you
change the look and feel or the general
architecture of your document sets for a special
customer, you have to evaluate carefully if it
makes sense to harmonise the document sets as well
or at least make a minimum effort.
Pets
Products that have small market share when the
market isn't growing may show some accounting
profit to a company, but all the money that comes
in must be invested to maintain the share.
Therefore, the products don't bring in any revenue
to the company and are basically worthless.
There is no sense in developing, or even
maintaining, the documentation of these products.
Question Marks
Products that have small market share when the
market is growing heavily almost always require
far more cash than they can generate. If the cash
invested cannot raise the market share of the
product, it becomes a Pet when the market growth
stops. In the Technology Adaptation Life Cycle,
these products would most likely fall into the
early adopters or early majority segments.
Because the goal of the company is to win more
market share with these products, the
documentation should support that goal. New,
innovative solutions that support the users better
and make the companies that buy the products more
effective are needed. Usually, you can get the
money to develop the documentation because the
product requires heavy investments if the company
is trying to make the product a leader.
Stars
Products that have high market share when the
market is growing heavily nearly always report
profits but may not generate all of their own
cash. If the product remains a leader until the
market growth slows down and investments for the
products diminish, it becomes a Cash Cow,
providing money for developing new Question Marks
and Stars into Cash Cows. In the Technology
Adaptation Life Cycle, these products would most
likely fall into the early majority segment going
into the late majority.
The aim of the company is to maintain their
leadership in the market and to maintain the high
quality of the documentation. You may need to
develop the document sets and training further to
meet the increasing demands of the users when the
product moves into the early majority.
Summary
Especially in an economic downturn, we need to be
business-oriented in a way that demonstrates the
importance of documentation and training for the
success of a product. We need to take a look at
the different marketing models that exist and see
how we can support the product marketing with our
skills. Demonstrating that we understand the
market and showing that we can have different
documentation strategies for different markets
makes us more than the "support group writing the
documents" and increases our perceived value to
the company.
This model also points out an interesting twist in
making Return on Investment (ROI) calculations,
because there really are products that do not make
their own cash but need other products to bring in
money for their development. So, the ROI can also
be an increase in market share, going from a
Question Mark to a Star.
This article is the personal opinion of the author
and does not necessarily reflect the opinion or
practice of Nokia Networks.
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