MONTHLY

vol. I , issue #1
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innovation & enterprise performance

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!! COOL !!

We think TiVO is cool. A great example of an innovative product, TiVo is one of the early entrants in the market for digital video recorders (DVRs). TiVo is well-designed with an excellent support system behind it. The user interface is intuitive, the installation process is easy - and the total experience is a delight. It even has a cute name, a happy logo, and funny sound effects! Our only complaint is the klugey connection between the recorder and the cable box (when are those things gonna be combined anyway?)
Bravo! 2 thumbs up for TivO. Click to read more.

PREDICTION:

We predict that Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) will change the way we consume television - and change the economics of TV. DVR's are about to "cross the chasm" into the mainstream, and anyone who has used one knows that it quickly changes the habits we grew up with. DVRs replace "broadcast on demand." Think of them as "personal video servers." We also predict that TV networks will be slow to accept these changes. But this cat's already out of the bag. Our advice to the networks and advertisers: "start figuring out how to take advantage of the DVR."

If nobody's angry,
it probably isn't
worth doing.
Passion matters.

PRESCRIPTION
There are no crystal balls

You cannot predict the future and you should not trust anyone who says they can. The best you can do is to be prepared and ready to deal with reality.

Remember – success is the intersection of opportunity and preparation. Half of that is serendipity; the other half is up to you. To be prepared is to know and understand the details.

Sorry – no silver bullets here.

PRODUCT MAP INCREASES LEVERAGE First of a six-part series on using Product Mapping as a process for bolstering enterprise performance

Over the past 18 months, financial markets have declined almost daily and revenues from traditional products and services have stagnated or eroded. At the same time, many industries are teetering on the cusp of change. The rapid pace of technology advances has affected customers' expectations on how business is

conducted while at the same time the US
economy and current world affairs have returned us all to a conservative stance.

The "state of the state" presents a fundamental risk to the current way of doing business: the risk of failing to keep pace with a demanding marketplace in a time of limited expectations for growth. Companies have been forced to closely examine their operating, distribution, service and delivery models in search of opportunities for cost reduction, greater efficiencies and leverage. This environment is very much the result of the boom and subsequent bust of the dot com fad combined with turmoil in global financial markets. But companies that focus strictly on execution and improving efficiency risk missing the next wave of economic expansion. The future winners will be those companies that can both optimize their existing assets and evolve quickly enough to take advantage of a rapidly changing landscape.

For established companies, the goal is to maintain margin, market share and earnings growth

while at the same time rethinking, retooling, and often relinquishing many of the traditional

activities that were the cornerstone of past performance. Management must build competency in the optimization of product and service portfolios. This means becoming more effective at innovation through the development and delivery of new products and services - but also becoming effective at rationalizing and streamlining the complete portfolio by making the hard decisions about simultaneously eliminating products and services.

During the recent high growth years, businesses were better able to tolerate the overlap between old and new generations of products. In today's environment - there is no room for overlap;

investments in new opportunities will come at the expense of abandoning old initiatives. Throughout our client base we recommend these business imperatives:

  1. Increase the pace and success rate of new products and services (more new introductions with a higher yield)
  2. Achieve greater efficiency from existing products and services (eliminate waste from overlapping offerings, take advantage of opportunities to gain efficiencies in delivery of the current offerings)
  3. Increase the impact and ROI of internal projects through better alignment with the future rather than in response to the past (reduce the cost of underlying infrastructure needed to deliver points 1 and 2)
Success will require a new approach that challenges convention. It will depend on innovative management, rethinking the product development process and resource allocation, complemented by a program to "thin out" existing platforms, products and services. For larger companies, there will also be significant cultural obstacles to overcome in order to have traction and produce results.

In next month's newsletter, we will look at an actionable, achievable plan consisting of five steps, starting with the development of a product/service map and ending with the definition of metrics that can be used to measure business impact and support decisions about new investment.
  1. Create a product map
  2. Build product management discipline & create organization
  3. Business skills development
  4. Create & execute internal communications plan
  5. Establish & track success metrics
Thank you for reading all the way to the end and we look forward to seeing you next month. In the interim, if you have any comments or opinions you'd like to share, please click here.