Clearing The Air: 3 Roles Indian IT Providers See as Product Management

The Indian IT industry is over $100bn, but still struggles in creating global IT products.  While there has been the occasional Tally, Ramco, or Finacle, there is not much else.  One critical reason I attribute this to is that Indian IT companies do not really understand how Product Management can create long term customer value and business sustainability.  While one can argue that there have been more of these companies in the last 5 years (Livemint: Tech Startups), the next 5 years will determine whether India has actually created global products.

Most Indian companies view product management as either of these: Product development, delivery (or project) management, and marketing (or marketing communications).

Role 1: Product Development:  Great at problem solving, developers are expected to provide insights on what they believe the customer wants, and create products based on their understanding.  Let's admit, very few engineers are comfortable socializing with customers (aka Raj Koothrapalli - awkwardness multiplied a few times).  I have often encountered developers spending hours defining products, with limited idea on how the customer environments actually are (a few minutes meeting customers would have saved those hours).  The smarter ones are able to engage with customers, but put them in front of a business strategy plan, and things slow down again.  BTW, this may work for startups, where the founder often has a clear intuition about the idea, but when they have to scale revenues up (to new customers or increased wallet share of existing customers), most struggle.

Role 2: Delivery (or Project) Management: They engage with customers and internal teams, to co-ordinate schedules and resources.  However, expecting them to gather requirements because they are engaged with customers, based on which products are created, is better suited for an IT services delivery, not for sustainable product IP creation.  Today, most Indian SI companies are struggling as they attempt to create product IP and value, because of this belief and expectation from delivery managers to "productize" based on customer specific projects.

Delivery and Services Approach

Role 3: Marketing (or Marketing Communications): Marketing teams are definitely engaged with the market, but most are focused on lead generation and marketing communications, and the execution of those plans, rather than gather actual feedback.  Thus, what we get are customer leads, with very little investment in market research aligned with direct customer engagement.  Recall the last time you attended an IT vendor's event, and exchanged business cards with their marketing person - I can't!

As long as Indian IT companies continue to depend solely on one of the above to help create long term products, they are going to struggle in creating global products, and building the valuations that Apple / Microsoft / Google / Salesforce (and many others) have.  

I end with my definition of Product Management - engagement with the market and customers, through multiple channels, to understand stated and unstated needs, analyze the potential opportunities, align with corporate strategy, and work with sales, marketing,  and development teams, to translate the needs into a multi year product roadmap, eventually creating products that customers desire (read Apple, though the approach may have been slightly different :) )

If your current teams are geared and empowered to do this effectively, time and again, then you may be in the right direction to be hailed as an Indian product company (if not already) soon.  

Cloud GTM - Bringing in the Rain

Cloud as a technology and a business model is a disruptor, and this applies to all aspects that touch it - including the GTM models.  Common sense indicates that traditional GTM models which have worked for recurring services should work with some modifications, but that has not really been the case.  Some thoughts on what could result in a successful GTM are captured.

- Customer segmentation
Identify the target segments that are best suited for the planned offerings, and invest in time and effort to identify the need(s) that exist within each target segment.  This identification may actually be an on going activity.  In markets like India, technology adoption is still maturing, and therefore needs are not always that clear.  Thus, it turns out the latent reasons (financial challenges) for buying cloud services may be very different from the stated reasons (faster time to market).

- Positioning
While there are some standard positioning statements, it is necessary to ensure that the benefits conveyed are in line with the needs of the target segments; in addition, steer away from anything that conveys that the offering functionality has been stripped down.  The larger market segments (BFSI, Manufacturing, Telecom) in India are typically more conservative in adopting Cloud. Getting the first few lighthouse customers on board and ensuring that they are delighted with their decision, and then creating the right form of communications (case studies, testimonials, presentations in events, referrals).  Please note: expectation setting is critical for continued positive customer referral.

- Product
Often, because of the varied nature of the business and regulatory environment, a product that works well in more developed markets may only be suited with some modifications.  This is a bigger challenge for Cloud providers.  The short term option is to augment the offering with a limited set of SI partners who can deliver local value through additional services.  In the long term, it does require a lot of effort from the engineering / architecture teams to ensure that there is enough flexibility to configure the offering for the market, but building that flexibility can result in breakthrough adoption, not only in India, but other emerging markets as well.

- Pricing
My belief is that Indian customers are not really as price sensitive as they are made out to be. Instead, they expect more value for every buck that they spend, and that is something that needs to be factored.  I like the Big Mac Index that the Economist publishes, which shows that the Big Mac is priced about half of the US / Europe in India.  Norms to a somewhat similar extent may need to be applied for building up scale.  Additional value can also be delivered by creating the earlier mentioned local SI partner system, who can provide local services and support.

- Sales channels
This is where the biggest differentiator comes in - India is not (yet) a low touch, self service market.  The customer wants to see a visiting card and a face with that visiting card, more for reasons of personal comfort than anything else.  In addition, because of the relative lower maturity levels of technology adoption, most sales teams and sales channels have been more used to addressing the basic needs, which means speaking the product language.  In addition, sales compensation is also geared to drive upfront revenue success, rather than customer acquisition.  Creating the right structures and the incentive schemes for the direct and indirect sales channels is critical - and the ability to be flexible as required.

These are some high level thoughts, and finally the thing that always works best is constantly listening to what customers are saying, and how they are using the Cloud services.