Enhancing product transparency in an age of social responsibility
Technology startups that offer revolutionary solutions, designed to make our lives easier, have been gaining momentum for quite some time now. Investors see huge profit potential in them, and customers are thrilled with the promised benefits of new gadgets – but both usually look for more than just a great idea. As explained by Lindsay Maizland at The Council on Foreign Relations, where it laid out the stakes: it mainly revolves around the issue of climate change. Looking ahead - achieving product transparency is another issue that will logically follow from any agreed deals.
Not all that glitters is gold, and according to statistics, roughly 50% of startups shut down before they have achieved enough growth to operate independently. Among the common factors responsible for that outcome are scarce market need, funding struggles, lack of solid business modelling and launching a product that is overcomplicated.
Collective choices and universal impact
To address these issues, technology experts do everything in their power to customize solutions that will help startups to stay afloat, while at the same time boosting the operations of pre-existing, stable enterprises. An example of such an expert is Indian-born entrepreneur and startup product manager Bhaskar Ahuja, who launched his own company, Originscale. This is a technology startup that uses cloud-based SaaS solutions, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology in order to simplify overcomplicated processes that hinder business development and growth. The target audiences are small and medium enterprises that constitute the backbone of the American economy. In addition to launching a technology consulting company, aimed at helping new-age non-tech founders to bring their ideas to life, Bhaskar also created a company in the CPG eCommerce space. He specializes in product management for technology startups where he has led multi-million dollar transformations from start to finish.
A sustainable solution
Business sustainability has become a value driver for product innovation and revenue growth. Measuring the success of your sustainability initiatives requires collaboration and the proper technology solutions to reduce the burden of collecting data. From creating and tracking sustainability objectives and targets to collecting data from across the entire organization, Cority sustainability software makes it easy for managers and their teams to break down silos and work collaboratively.
Cority Product Inc.'s CEO, Mark Wallace, writes that their software allows clients to standardize the data collection process and simplify the reporting process with their fully integrated business intelligence platform. Unlike other companies, their integrated sustainability solution is designed, developed, and supported by industry experts, who have been doing so for more than 30 years. Their unique operations are a direct reflection of their hard-won experiences. Organizations can use Cority's Environmental, Health, Safety, and Quality (EHSQ) software solutions to help them progress on their path to sustainability and operational excellence.
Although transparency and simplification have been goals in the business market for many years, the technology and understanding were previously lacking. It is important to note that large organizations are, of course, complex by nature, but years of chasing modernization resulted in building layer upon layer of complexity in regards to how businesses are structured and managed. What is more, challenges such as globalization, evolving technologies and newly identified threats, including cyber attacks and data leaks, have added to the problem. Companies have become chaotic, distant, ungovernable and – as a result – underperforming. The magnitude of data and information flow has become overwhelming and managers, let alone employees, find it difficult to determine how to draw conclusions or how to prioritize processes and tasks.
Working towards simplification and transparency in business, especially when it comes to products and processes, has endless potential and proves to be beneficial for all parties involved. On the managerial level, it saves time, improves efficiency, highlights positive company culture and removes toxicity deriving from misunderstandings and frustrations. Companies that choose simplification are less likely to commit costly errors, suffer from delays, miss deadlines and experience chronic, unhealthy pressure.
The transparencies, both related to the business and to particular stages of product development, are crucial in shaping a positive image of the company and making it credible in the eyes of its customers. Without these assets, the future of any company is destined to go downhill. It was the case for ConAgra Foods, one of the largest packaged food companies in North America. An incredibly successful growth strategy, that they launched in the 1970s, led to acquiring multiple brands and, as a result, losing a single face of the company that the customers could relate to. Organizational chaos and employee frustration, caused by poor communication, took over and what was initially perceived as a success, turned out to be the company's failure. At that point, CEO Gary Rodkin prioritized simplicity as one of the core business values to be implemented. His actions led to creating a bunch of initiatives to fight complexity, which turned out to be a game-changer for both employees and customers – saving the company millions of dollars.
The story of ConAgra Foods highlights the ideal that modern product managers, including Bhaskar Ahuja, are fighting for. Nowadays, companies talk more about reducing complexity, and are willing to address areas where simplification can be the most effective. Even though it may seem odd, making an organization simple and keeping it on that trajectory requires a great deal of dedication and explicit strategizing. The outcome, however, is worth it, as there is nothing more compelling than satisfied customers who keep coming back for more.
