EXPERIENCED HANDS IN FAST-CHANGING TECH INDUSTRIES
The concepts of “disruptive innovation” and “Jobs to be Done” first took root in the technology industry. Our founder, Steve Wunker, led development of one of the first smartphones back in the 1990s, prior to working with Clayton Christensen for six years to build out his consulting firm, Innosight. Over the course of many years and many technology strategy consulting engagements, we have worked with a wide range of companies to hone product roadmaps, assess markets, change business models, and build innovation capabilities. New Markets’ IT strategy consulting clients include Fortune 10 companies, as well as rapidly-growing challengers and new start-ups. We believe that working with a span of tech companies makes us savvier consultants and realistic advisors about how markets are likely to evolve. And since we’ve established several tech companies ourselves, we truly understand how companies need rapidly-actionable recommendations, not just slides and insights.
CAPABILITIES IN TECHNOLOGY
Our technology strategy consulting approach is distinguished in several ways:
We think laterally– Our processes push us to look expansively at growth opportunities and asymmetric threats, and we often find new options that others miss.
We get our hands dirty – Fine details can matter hugely in tech industries, and we enthusiastically delve into the specifics of markets to understand the full context.
We are customer led– While we realize that products sometimes cannot evolve to meet all customer needs, we appreciate the importance of deeply understanding your customers and their latent needs.
We do not push the crux of the work into the hands of junior analysts– Our senior people substantively lead all of our work, and they get deeply involved in the content of projects. This is essential if the challenge is ambiguous, multi-dimensional, and teeming with details, as projects for tech clients often are.
We are practical– We have been on our client’s side of the table, founding and working for tech companies. We realize that they need practical, actionable steps to take coming out of our projects.
We build consensus– In industries where there are a great many options and where ambiguity abounds, it is often essential that clients’ teams buy in to the research and analytical process so that recommendations get implemented. Our collaborative ways of working are designed to build the consensus required.
TECHNOLOGY CASE STUDY
iRise was one of the first visualization software programs to come to market, but as the demand for visualization services grew, so did the number of iRise’s low-end competitors. iRise ruled the top-end of the industry but needed a way to ensure it could continue to grow successfully.
Using Jobs to be Done as our framework, New Markets Advisors found that while there were ways iRise could improve its visualization software, focusing just on that wouldn’t solve the core disruption the low-end players were creating. Instead, iRise could fight its disruptors by broadening the playing field and addressing an adjacent area where users were struggling: in requirements management, the step before visualization in which business and technical stakeholders hash out the project vision.
iRise subsequently released a new version of its premier software that also facilitates requirements management and positions the company in a new space in that field. By addressing core jobs to be done and holistically considering pain points, iRise has distinguished itself from its competitors in a dramatic way, and it is the only visualization package to offer requirements management tools.