NetComm Wireless Limited - New Product Development - Case Study Example

NETCOMM’S NTC-140W NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT [Student Name] [School] [Course/Number] 16/03/2016 [Instructor’s Name] I. Executive summary The growth of telecommunications technology has seen major internet service providers (ISPs) deploy fast internet connectivity in cities of most countries through the implementation of the fourth generation of mobile telecommunications technology, 4G. This has led to increased demand of internet usage in organizations and individual customers. However, connectivity remains a challenge since network coverage provided by ISPs is not adequate. In order to provide extended connection to fast internet connectivity, NetComm seized the opportunity to introduce the NTC-140W, a router that has advanced features such as GPS system, simcard support, and the ability to operate over long distances that any other router available in the market. Prior to the launch of the NTC-140W, NetComm conducted an extensive research and development program that required the new product development team to look full-scale into features that the market needed but lacked from the currently available products. Thus, the NTC-140W was developed and has now becomes a favorite device for WiF- connectivity for customers linked to over 300 4G networks around the globe. II. Introduction Wireless internet connectivity (WiFi) has enabled the invention of various connectivity solutions to the market ranging from cell phone devices to television sets. However, the challenge remained on the provision of the right hardware to provide consistent internet connectivity between wireless devices. This aspect created a window of opportunity for NetComm to leverage on and develop a robust product that would provide a way for machines and devices to connect to the internet using the fast fourth generation of mobile telecommunications (4G) to provide a “fail-proof” connection to all its potential customers. Through innovative and research and development initiatives, NetComm has been able to develop the NetComm NTC-140W 4G WiFi machine to machine (M2M) router for the delivery of fast 4G Long-term Evolution (LTE) connectivity. III. Company description NetComm Wireless Limited is a company that leads in the manufacture of innovative wireless products that are sold globally to enterprise customers such as internet service providers, telecommunication carriers, and system integrators (NetComm 2016). For over three decades, NetComm has consistently remained an industry leader in the development of Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) and other broadband solutions for homes, and wireless network carriers around the world. The company was founded in 1982, and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. NetComm also has a global presence with offices in Japan, New Zealand, Canada, and the Middle East. Currently, the company’s innovative technologies has seen it nurture a deeper market presence in the development and manufacture of M2M devices for use in urban and rural markets across industries such as transportation, mining, agriculture, healthcare, advertising and remote assets management. The NetComm NTC-140W is the company’s new addition to the market to provide seamless M2M connectivity across 2G, 3G, and 4G networks around the world. IV. Product description The NTC-140W is a 4G LTE wireless router that provides high speed internet connectivity to M2M applications such as security surveillance video, and corporate WiFi internet. By being developed using innovative technologies, NetComm has been able to incorporate high frequency WiFi and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports alongside voltage support for vehicles (NetComm 2016). The NTC-140W is also fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide accurate location services to all the connected devices (NetComm 2016). Even though the product is designed to work with 4G LTE networks, NetComm has included fallback capabilities that enable the router to connect to 3G, EDGE, and GPRS on areas that have poor or lack 4G LTE connectivity (NetComm 2016). Accordingly, the NTC-140W is designed with precision to provide “real-time” M2M data connectivity even in harsh environments. This is achieved through the provision of point-to-point (P2P) and point-to-multi-point (P2MP) Wide Area Network connectivity to support critical applications (NetComm 2016). V. Market opportunities for the NTC-140W The NTC-140W is designed to provide high speed performance and response whenever it comes to the connection of crucial equipment and devices over a wide range of M2M applications (NetComm 2016). With the incorporation of 4G and support to over three hundred 4G networks across the world, the router is capable of providing ‘fail-proof” connectivity to digital signage displays, closed circuit television security surveillance systems, tele-health services, and disaster management services. The device is also designed to support remote ignition for various vehicular services (NetComm 2016). As earlier mentioned, the device is designed to provide WiFi solutions to M2M applications and can be utilized by organizations that rely on remote internet connectivity run their services. Illustration of NTC-140W application (NetComm 2015) a) Digital signage displays Digital signage displays incorporate different technologies for the provision of advertisements that deliver timely and targeted content to various people (Technology Watch 2011). The delivery of digital content is a cost saving measure that enables marketers to save on time required to change content on static billboards by applying different technologies to update the adverts in real-time (Technology Watch 2011). Previously, marketers used to physically employ the use flash drives and other non-networked approaches to deliver content to the targeted audience. By incorporating wireless and networking applications, marketers are able to have complete control of content displayed on the signage without the need to be physically present on location (Technology Watch 2011). Accordingly, the NTC-140W is able to provide wireless connectivity to the digital signage and the content delivery system used by the marketers to control the display of advertisements. b) Closed circuit television surveillance systems Traditional CCTV systems features wired cables and even though the technology has evolved to offer wireless solutions (Midwich Limited 2014), there are currently no devices that are offering “fail-proof” solutions (NetComm 2016). In this regard, the NTC-140 would offer consistent connections to even moving objects such as CCTV systems for public transport systems and freight services (Midwich Limited 2014). c) Disaster recovery and management During times of disasters, a network disaster recovery system is essential to provide adequate support in terms of internet, VoIP, and data connectivity to the teams that are responding to an emergency (Bellini et al. 2014). The NTC-140W is designed to work in the most hostile environment with a featured fall back system to employ different GSM networks. Additionally, the NTC-140W’s extensive range would provide support to the emergency teams without the need of the router being near the vicinity of the disaster (Bellini et al. 2014). d) Tele-health services Telemedicine is an aspect of medicine that does not require a doctor to be near a patient in order for health care services to be delivered (Paschou et al. 2013). The program relies on the internet connectivity to connect the doctors and patients who are distant apart. In this case, the NTC-140W’s capability to support tele-health services such as providing support for billing and enabling distant medical practitioners to offer their services by incorporating the router within a hospital setting (Paschou et al. 2013). e) Remote ignition vehicular services The NTC-140W has the capability of linking a vehicle to the owner or organization for purposes of added security and controlling vehicles remotely (Mason, 2012). The router can be ideal for heavy commercial vehicles and controlling machinery in industrial environments reducing the danger exposed to personnel working in such sites. I. Product development and management process New product development (NPD) entails the process of developing and nurturing a new product up to the process that the product is introduced the market (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). This aspect entails on leverages on the opportunities available to the market so as to introduce a product that seizes the opportunity and covers the gap that exists in the market. Normally, NPD entails bringing a new product that targets particular market segments whereby manufacturers have determined that there is a deficit of certain features from tangible products or intangible services (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). In other words, it is a commitment to fulfill the desired consumer needs through providing high-quality but low cost products or services in a fashion that posits them against other products as desirable for purchase (Cooper and Edgett 2005). a) The steps of product development i. The generation of an idea The generation of a new idea begins with the development of the product concept. Once the product concept is determined, the development process manager provides a roadmap of how the feasibility of the new product will be determined and tested (Cooper and Edgett 2005). Once the ideas are obtainable from all the relevant people handling the NPD, a SWOT analysis is carried out for the purposes of putting the current market trends into consideration. This aspect is important especially in determining the position of the company and the direction in which the idea will be implemented alongside the corporation’s business strategy (Cooper and Edgett 2005). Some of the activities to be considered at this stage are the undertaking of a market research, collecting feedback regarding the existing products, and looking for shortcomings and successes of competitor products if any. ii. Screening the idea Prescreening product ideas requires that an organization takes into account the competitor products that are available into the market, and compares them against their own ideas. During this process, the product development process manager has to ensure the NPD team examines some of the competitor innovations and seek what the company can leverage on in order to produce a competing product. Also, other aspects such as the affordability of the product and a return in investment (ROI) are determined at this stage (Cooper and Edgett 2005). iii. Development of the concept and testing Once the idea has passed the screening stage, the NPD team needs to perform a market analysis that will help to determine other legalities that are involved in the product development. This analysis can include seeking the opinion of the company’s ideas by using a small customer base so as to evaluate their reactions (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). The feedback obtained can be used to further develop the product or reorganize the market strategy as well as determining the selling points. iv. Analysis of the product idea Analyzing the product idea entails taking into perspective the remaining aspects of the product development such that the organizations determines on the profitability of the product before commencing into mass production (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). For the case of the NTC-140W the target market has already been identified under the market opportunities for the device once it is launched. It is important to note that, the device brings onboard fail-safe and fall back features that serve as the main selling point, something that is missing in other competitor products. At this stage also, the selling price of the product is set in relation to what competitor products are offering (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). v. Beta and marketing stage During this stage, the company has to develop some of the samples for a beta testing program and issue the products to a selected few to test the prototypes and provide the any feedback regarding the usability of the device (Kahn et al. 2013). Also, the marketing team uses this opportunity to craft messages that are going to be used to popularize the product prior to its launch. vi. Commercialization Once the final decisions have been made, the marketing team decides on the way forward on how the new product will be launched to the market and the pricing determined. A sales team is set up in place to promote and distribute the product (Kahn et al. 2013). vii. launching the product Launching the product is the final stage of the product development process. At this step, the company determines the number of products to be manufactured based on market demand as determined during the testing period. Also, it is important that, the company conducts re-evaluation of the product development so that areas of weaknesses and other facets relating to performance can be determined (Kahn et al. 2013). VI. Final concept selection Final concept selection entails the aspect that pertains to the choosing of ideas that best suit the specifications of the designed product under the product design specification model (PDS) (Kahn et al. 2013). During this stage, the NPD is required to evaluate customer needs and generate innovative concepts to address the customer’s requirements (Kahn et al. 2013). During concept selection, the NPD team is supposed to modify or come up with new concepts based on the ideas that they have collected from the customers. VII. The Pugh concept selection The development of a feature-rich product requires NPD team to utilize the Pugh matrix as the main method of determining which features make it to the end product. The Pugh matrix provides multi-dimensional approach of weighing out datum against each other (Kahn et al. 2013). It offers up to three levels of comparison whereby a feature that is found to be very important is given a positive (+), a feature that is of less importance given a zero (0) and an irrelevant feature given a negative (-) (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). The features with the highest overall sums of positives (+’s) are considered for further development and those with the highest numbers of negatives (-‘s) are dropped by the NPD. Concept Comparison Selection criteria 4G GPS Simcard Display Android Cost  +  +  +  0  + Functionality  +  -  +  0  0 Complexity  +  +  -  +  0 Controllability  -  +  +  -  0     Total +'s  3  3  3  1  1 Total 0's  0  0  1  2  3 Sum -'s  1  1  2  1  0 Net score  2  2  2  0  1 Continue?  Yes  Yes  Yes  No  No Sample Pugh matrix The Pugh matrix offers an easier means for the NPD team to include more datum as possible and be able to weigh out against other features. As earlier mentioned, the features that have the highest score are given the highest consideration over features with the lowest score. In relation to the NTC-140W, the NPD team can encounter a host of features that most users would want to see implemented on the final product in order to come up with a robust product. For instance, the selection process can weigh out a feature such as including Android operating system into the device against, enabling 4G features. Whereas including 4G might require a networking chip to be included, installation of Android calls for the inclusion of other components that might drive the overall cost of the device beyond affordability levels. Given that there are many features to be considered into the overall design concept, the Pugh matrix shall offer a means of comparing all the proposed concepts without cluttering the datum. In other words, Pugh matrix compares each concept against “the best in class” datum based on the customer preferences and other practicality elements of functionality (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). VIII. Concept testing Concept testing is the most critical stage in the NPD process. During concept testing, the developed product seeks to gain support from the internal level of the organization prior to being launched to the market. Basically, concept testing entails the identification of the effectiveness and practicality of a developed product (Crawford and Di Benedetto 2014). NetComm had to adhere to the following procedure when it came to concept testing below; a) Internal support – before the launch of the product, the NTC-140W had to undergo criticism especially from the NPD and the quality assurance team. The criticism is based on how the product can be made to be more affordable and NPD had to settle for a low cost but a powerful 720 MHz ARM8 processor that is capable of supporting all the functions of the processor. b) Development focus – the NPD concentrated on features that had highest ratings since they reveal what the customer needs. The ones with the lowest features had to be dropped. c) Market reception – the marketing team availed the product through the expansive distribution network throughout the Australian market. This aspect enabled NetComm to increase product awareness and lessen the time required to provide the product to the market and prevent any hitches on the first phase of the product launch. Concept testing normally costs less to implement conduct and it helps an organization to polish a product prior to commercialization (Kahn et al. 2013). Normally, concept tests helps the identify flaws, unusable features, determine the potential of the market, polish the initial concept, and establish corrective strategies to ensure the launch of the product is received positively (Kahn et al. 2013). Accordingly, the best method to test the concept involved the preparation of documentation that covers technical specifications and functioning of the device to accompany a survey. IX. Concept testing technique The concept of the NTC-140W was presented on sheets of paper containing three dimensional view of the device from various angles. Also provided is the specification sheet of the features and capabilities of the router. An animated video was prepared to accompany the presentation of the NTC-140W and the language used was factual as opposed to promotional language. a) The selection of the sample This aspect depended on selecting some of the loyal customers that largely depend on NetComm’s wireless solutions. It is essential to note that, the sample size has to be low as a result of budgetary constraints. As a result of this, the sample size included fifty customers drawn from a list of top forty companies that purchase NetComm’s products in bulk for their direct consumers. An additional ten were randomly picked from tech-savvy individuals that have established themselves as information technology consultants. b) The Methodology According to Kahn et al. (2013) interviews provide the most effective means for conducting surveys on personal level. In this product testing concept, telephone and emails can serve as an alternative to conducting personal interviews. As such, the persons selected to sit for the interview are required to be informed early through both email and telephone once the preferred date of the interview is determined. Those who confirm their absence are quickly replaced by other persons early enough prior to the date of the interview. c) The interview process It will be assumed that all the attendants will have already gone through the documentations provided that contains the features of the product as well as specifications. Importantly, the interview is to be conducted in a hall where all the participants are required to avail themselves. The interviewer will take the interviewees through the documentation and use an animated video to provide vivid description of the NTC-140W. Once the presentation is over, the participants will be issued with a questionnaire that requires them to respond to a simple set of questions. d) Questionnaire information The questionnaire used can contain questions that question the practicality for some of the features, and perceptions about the set price in relation to overall quality alongside purchase measurement features placed on a five-point scale. e) The analysis and results The analysis will be based on how the persons selected to sit for the survey have responded to the survey questions. As such, questions that receive positive answers from over 80 percent of the respondents shall act as a clear indicator for the NPD team to continue with the development of the feature. On the other hand, the features that receive negative response based on negative percentages are discontinued from the project. However, the overall purchase interest will act as the major determinant of ascertaining the feasibility of the product and its impact to the market. X. Conclusion and recommendations The NTC-140W is NetComm’s answer to the increasing demand of high speed internet connectivity with “fail-proof” features. The device offers robust solutions to accompany connectivity demands for the corporate market when it comes to WiFi connectivity. Even though NetComm has done tremendous work in developing a product that provides unrivalled performance and features, the company ought to target home users in advertising the product since much of the information provided only focuses on corporate customers. Apart from that, NTC-140W should also include power backup capabilities to enable the router work as a standalone device as oppose to being hooked on a power source in order to function. Overall, the product meets the most advanced requirements for providing wireless internet solutions to corporate users and small-scale businesses. Bibliography Bellini, P., Nesi, P., Simoncini, M. and Tibo, A. (2014). Maintenance and emergency management with an integrated indoor/outdoor navigation support. Journal of Visual Languages & Computing, 25(6), pp.637-649. Cooper, R. and Edgett, S. (2005). Lean, rapid, and profitable new product development. [Ancaster, Ont.]: Product development Institute. Crawford, C. and Di Benedetto, C. (2014). New products management. 11th ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education. Kahn, K., Kay, S., Slotegraaf, R. and Uban, S. (2013). The PDMA handbook of new product development. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Mason, S. (2012). Vehicle remote keyless entry systems and engine immobilisers: Do not believe the insurer that this technology is perfect. Computer Law & Security Review, 28(2), pp.195-200. Midwich Limited, (2014). CCTV Wi-Fi case study: Networked solution solves market town’s security issues. Norfolk: Midwich Limited. NetComm, (2016). NTC-140W - 4G WiFi M2M Router. [online] Netcommwireless.com. Available at: http://www.netcommwireless.com/product/4g/ntc-140w [Accessed 16 Mar. 2016]. Paschou, M., Sakkopoulos, E., Sourla, E. and Tsakalidis, A. (2013). Health Internet of Things: Metrics and methods for efficient data transfer. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 34, pp.186-199. Read More