Why is my Product Launch Slow?

Product launches are a critical milestone in the journey of your product. It is also a critical moment that determines the success or failure of a product in the competitive market.  However, despite meticulous planning and preparation, product launches can often be slow and face unexpected challenges and delays.

These delays can range from internal challenges all the way to external factors, such as the current economic climate. This post is going to outline 3 reasons why your product launch is slow. 

Lack of Clear Vision

During the development process, there will be multiple different teams and contractors working on your product. It is important that with all these different people working on the same product, the vision and strategy are aligned. 

The vision acts as a guiding light for the entire product launch and provides a roadmap and sets the overall direction of the team. Without a vision, team members have different interpretations of the purpose of the product. 

Another challenge is the risk of feature creep where you are adding more features that are needed which adds complexity. Feature creep is common with a lack of vision. 

Wrong Partner

Choosing the right partner is a critical aspect of a successful product launch and selecting the wrong partner can significantly impact the speed and effectiveness of the launch. Having a partner who is not aligned with your goals, values, or capabilities can result in delays and introduce additional challenges. 

Communication and collaboration are crucial in any product launch, and the wrong partner can hinder these efforts. If a partner has a slow response time then it will result in delays. If a partner does not provide valuable feedback then you can have product-related issues that need to be re-engineered. 

The size of your partner can also have a negative impact on your launch. If your partner is too small then they might not be able to support you. However, if the partner is very large and you are just a small fish in the pond then you might receive support from a young team that lacks experience. A partner that is the right size and who shares your vision will be able to provide the best support. 

External Factors 

While you can’t really affect them, external factors play a significant role in influencing the speed of your product launch. No matter how accurate your planning is, things out of your control can have a negative effect on the timeline of your launch. 

The one every product developer was affected by was COVID. If your contract manufacturer was supporting you during design for manufacturing (DFM) the common practice was to fly to visit them. You’ll get better support and faster feedback when you are visiting your supplier. COVID stopped that completely and made companies work in different ways. 

Another external factor that can affect your product launch is market conditions. If we are in the middle of a recession then money might be tight. This will put a squeeze on your development budget. It can also affect funding if you are looking for investors. 

The market type is also a factor. If you are in a market segment that is highly competitive and saturated, it may take longer to gain market share and customer attention. Similarly, if the demand for the product is low, it may require additional effort and time to generate awareness, interest, and sales. 

There is a long list of other external factors that can affect your product launches, such as supply chain disruptions, cultural shifts, regulatory changes, and more. The best is to develop a contingency plan for these factors. 

What can you do today?

Developing a product is always going to be challenging. There will be hurdles and challenges to overcome. However, there are a few things you can do to ensure your product launch goes smoothly. 

First, communicate properly with all of your stakeholders. Make sure there is a roadmap and that everyone is on the same page. Secondly, make sure you choose the right partners. You can only be as successful as your partners.

It is also helpful to have tools to support you through the development process. 

Digital transformation will help you to transform your processes to use digital technologies to keep all of your product data together, manage your revisions, and manage an ECR/ECO process. To have a centralized platform that connects your team with your contractors is extremely important to set up modern digital processes to save time and money. 

OpenBOM is a cloud-based PDM & PLM platform to manage your engineering and manufacturing data. Companies from startups to Fortune 500s use OpenBOM to create a centralized database to bring in, store, and manage their manufacturing data. With this infrastructure, users also use OpenBOM to streamline both their change management and PO processes.

If you need to improve the way you manage your data and processes, share data instantly, or collaborate with contractors and suppliers. contact us today for a free consultation. 

Regards,

Jared Haw