Driving Customer-centric Portfolio Management
Hurskainen, Nina (2021)
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021120423716
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021120423716
Tiivistelmä
This Thesis focuses on re-thinking the case company’s portfolio management so that it would better serve the customer needs and bind together the processes between different stakeholders with a unanimous customer-oriented focus. This new shifted focus aims to tackle customer pain points and grow the revenue in a sustainable way. Therefore, the objective of this Thesis was to find a solution to Driving Customer-centric Portfolio Management.
This study used Action research methodology as it aimed to solve a problem by providing a practical solution. The data was collected with qualitative research methods through interviews, workshops, observations, and document analysis. The current state analysis of existing portfolio management practices identified both strengths and weaknesses regarding the current practices. The weaknesses included the lack of customer focus and missing KPIs for customer satisfaction, the lack of post-launch stage in the NPD process, the lack of communication of sales activation, and the lack of sales involvement in the processes.
Accordingly, the focus areas for the literature review were selected as the measuring of customer satisfaction, customer commitment and company’s commitment to the customer orientation; post-launch stage in the NPD process and finding a framework and approach to developing a yearly timetable for the sales activation. Utilizing the best practice and existing literature, the study identified the most relevant suggestions from existing knowledge that were utilized to improve customer orientation in the portfolio management process. Based on these inputs, the study moved to co-creation with the stakeholders and developed the following proposals: first, increase the sales team’s involvement in the NPD process stages with adding the customer journey map to communicate the critical deadlines and avoid project delays. Second, a post-launch stage was proposed to be introduced with a scorecard that would measure the project success and holistic customer satisfaction. Third, a Commercial Plan tool was developed, i.e., a framework after the post-launch stage to drive the collective efforts in the portfolio management and sales activation.
The proposed solutions were validated twice, first with key stakeholders defining the necessary adjustments and second, with all the relevant stakeholders in the workshop. The proposed improvements were also piloted on the examples from the ongoing project. Finally, an implementation plan was created to integrate the solutions to existing processes. By integrating the proposed solutions in the NPD process and post-launch portfolio management, the case company can improve the customer-centric actions and drive the collective efforts in shared strategic goals.
This study used Action research methodology as it aimed to solve a problem by providing a practical solution. The data was collected with qualitative research methods through interviews, workshops, observations, and document analysis. The current state analysis of existing portfolio management practices identified both strengths and weaknesses regarding the current practices. The weaknesses included the lack of customer focus and missing KPIs for customer satisfaction, the lack of post-launch stage in the NPD process, the lack of communication of sales activation, and the lack of sales involvement in the processes.
Accordingly, the focus areas for the literature review were selected as the measuring of customer satisfaction, customer commitment and company’s commitment to the customer orientation; post-launch stage in the NPD process and finding a framework and approach to developing a yearly timetable for the sales activation. Utilizing the best practice and existing literature, the study identified the most relevant suggestions from existing knowledge that were utilized to improve customer orientation in the portfolio management process. Based on these inputs, the study moved to co-creation with the stakeholders and developed the following proposals: first, increase the sales team’s involvement in the NPD process stages with adding the customer journey map to communicate the critical deadlines and avoid project delays. Second, a post-launch stage was proposed to be introduced with a scorecard that would measure the project success and holistic customer satisfaction. Third, a Commercial Plan tool was developed, i.e., a framework after the post-launch stage to drive the collective efforts in the portfolio management and sales activation.
The proposed solutions were validated twice, first with key stakeholders defining the necessary adjustments and second, with all the relevant stakeholders in the workshop. The proposed improvements were also piloted on the examples from the ongoing project. Finally, an implementation plan was created to integrate the solutions to existing processes. By integrating the proposed solutions in the NPD process and post-launch portfolio management, the case company can improve the customer-centric actions and drive the collective efforts in shared strategic goals.