Reinventing the Product summary
Book Summary & Synopsis
What's it about?
This book explains why businesses must reinvent traditional products for the digital age by creating digitally connected, smart products that deliver ongoing customer experiences. It explores digital transformation, customer experience, products as services, platforms, artificial intelligence, agile operating models, and the digitization of core business operations.
Who is it for?
- Business leaders and teams preparing to shift from traditional product sales toward connected products and ongoing customer relationships.
- Readers interested in practical approaches to digital transformation, product-as-a-service models, platforms, AI, agility, and organizational change.
Meet the authors
Eric Schaeffer and David Sovie present a business strategy focused on helping companies transition from traditional product making toward digitally connected products, services, and customer experiences.
From the Introduction & First Chapter
Introduction
Reinventing the Product by Eric Schaeffer and David Sovie Businesses must embrace digital transformation to thrive in the modern economy. Many businesses still operate with a 20th-century mindset. They want to sell products from 50 years ago and operate like they did two generations ago. But traditional product making is no more.
For 200 years, making and selling was straightforward. Businesses sourced raw materials, managed labor, manufactured products, then sold them. Today, the point of sale is just the beginning. It marks the start of an ongoing relationship with customers.
Authors Eric Schaeffer and David Sovie see the future differently. Businesses need Products X. 0. These are digitally connected, smart products that deliver valuable customer experiences.
Over these chapters, you will learn what that means and why it matters. You will also learn what businesses must do to make the transition.
digital imperatives
Digital Imperatives. Any business eager to grow must heed the digital imperatives. Imagine hanging art in your living room. You could buy a drill and the necessary materials yourself.
If you are handy, this might work. But it could be time-consuming and expensive. A better alternative is hiring a company that already has the materials. It can hang the art quickly and perfectly.
These companies represent the future. They sell outcomes, not just products. This move from selling hammers to selling outcomes is hard. Legacy businesses are used to old ways of working.
To grow, they need to embrace several digital imperatives. The first is transforming your company's core to match the digital era. From engineering to sales and support, every facet of your company needs digital connection. Customer feedback should flow into every step.
This includes creating a digital-ready workforce. It must be fast and flexible. Prototypes can be quickly tested with software. Problems can be identified before they happen.
Getting a product to market is quicker than ever. Once a product reaches customers, software updates can go out the next day. Your workforce must be able to work within this evolving ecosystem. Your company also needs to align with the outcome economy.
Move away from being point-of-sale minded. Your business model should focus on experiences and nurture long-term customer relationships. The point of sale is not the end goal. It is the beginning of the relationship.
This also means your company must be managed flexibly. Multiple pivots may be required to stay afloat. When changes are needed, your company must make them quickly and smoothly.
Table of Contents
- 1 Introduction 1:09
- 2 digital imperatives 2:00
- 3 Customer Experience 1:49
- 4 products as services 2:27
- 5 Artificial Intelligence and Agility 1:56
- 6 Digitizing the Core 2:19
- 7 Faurecia's digital pivot 3:47
