Workshops validate investment

A large generator manufacturer was designing and building field-service mobile applications for its distribution and service network. The customers in this case were distributors and service companies. The manufacturer realized that by enabling their distributor network with mobile applications, it could remove the paper trail and accelerate product installation and configuration, as well as revenue collection (from digital signatures, payment collection, etc.). While the requirements were understood inside the company, the real user and customer was the distributor.

A separate workshop was hosted for select distributors who represented both the highest-volume customer and the edge-case customer. A total of thirty distributors participated, voicing their opinions, needs, and pains to the cross-functional product team across multiple workshops.

The results were compared to the Lean Requirements produced by SMEs and company stakeholders, and the release roadmap was established according to the value that could be delivered to market quickest based on customer feedback. This dual approach to requirements resulted in 90 percent of all distributors entering into a paid licensing agreement with the manufacturer as soon as the prototype was designed for preview. Effectively, the manufacturer funded an investment into technology by showing a prototype to its customers. To call this a success is an understatement.