There are many opinions over the globe regarding what should be called a technology company, and whether is it even appropriate to give the term a special status ( like a special company because almost every company is more or less tech based in some respects). While there may be varied notions, when I say ‘Tech Company’ here, I mean a company which sells technology as a product. This technology may be hardware, like Apple’s innovative iPads and iPhones and ‘iAlmost Everything Revolutionary’, or it may be software like Microsoft’s dominant Windows Operating systems. Now one can imagine that because these companies are run by some of the top quality minds, both in management and in the neo super cool nerd stuff, they would rarely make mistakes. But the reality is quite opposite. As a part of an old age adage goes ‘To Err is Human’. Here is a list of 10 mistakes which tech companies are known to make.
1. Rapidly Changing What’s Latest
The technology they are selling may be excellent and the new things they bring about may be more brilliant, but people need time to digest stuff. While I don’t oppose the fact that changes are necessary, but the pace with which they happen must be properly monitored, especially when it comes to hardware. Software guys can still get away with it. But in hardware business, you simple cannot launch a product one month and bring out another with just a couple of new added features in the next one. This way you will make the consumers of the previous product furious and also the value of your products ethically decreases. Rather, you should allow your current product to settle down and gather praise and criticism so that you know exactly what to improve. And after some time, improving on the previous drawbacks, you can bundle them with your innovations into one brand new product. This will hike your market rapport.
2. Falling Short on Product Support
Your product may be great. With all new super cool features and affordable price range, you may expect it to swarm all over the market. But the issue is, consumers view technology very differently than those who create or sell them. Just to feel safe about the amount of money they spend consumers like to have a good, and ‘courteous’ (mind it) product support service. Unless you have an established reputation of providing ingenious products which have effectively no chance of failing, you must consider well to strengthen your consumer support services.
3. Focusing More on Features Than quality
You may provide users with remarkable features in your brand new product. But if it is likely to get broken or go haywire with its functionality soon, you will end up losing your market. It’s simple; all that glitters is not gold. It may attract more than a few moths in the beginning, but as soon as people realize that your product is not going to last, why will they go for it in the first place?
4. Not Segmenting Products
There must be proper segmentation and differentiation among the products you are trying to sell. Based upon some key factors such us price, utility-both time based and place based, features and common notion about them. Specific products must efficiently target specific group of consumer. The best example that comes here is that of cellphones. In a country where people are not so affluent, trying to sell and iPhone is a drastic mistake. That is why apple does not do that and that’s one of the reasons it is so successful. Moreover, in a higher than normal price range, if the quality of additional features like camera and web browsing is not excellent, well, your cellphone might not get popular with the masses.
5. Going Against Darwin
Now, Darwin was a real clever guy. His theory of evolution applies to almost every field. If you cannot adapt to change, you will perish. Sometimes, companies, in confidence or whatever, are so involved and unaware of what the market needs, that they end up changing their products and services in the required pace and the required pace. And when it happens, all they are likely to sell are their name, which won’t help in the long run.
6. Expecting Prices to Drive the Market
If you as a tech company believe that market fundamentally runs on money, you might want to get away with that theory. While people do consider prices while buying products, they also take into account product reliability, they services the product can render, and even luxury features that might be added onto it. So while low price products is a decently good thing, but it’s made great only when it is combined with user expectations and demands. That is why many Chinese products are not finding many pockets these days.
7. Creepy Marketing
While marketing needs to be creative, it should not be creepy. Today, most of the technology is youth centered. A miscalculated marketing move will find its place in PJs and ridicules on facebook and twitter. End result- not so sweet.
8. Not Managing Distribution Channels
Your product’s popularity is not limited to your product. It starts right from the way it gets distributed and delivered. People consider your delivery systems and if it’s not satisfactory, sub-consciously they will have a bad feeling about your product. And as a popular movie’s dialogue means, ‘Ideas are like viruses, resilient and contagious.’ Your consumers have their own networks, so upsetting one network might cost you multiple networks.
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