When I first started in product management, I was amazed by how our roadmaps aligned with neither our company strategy nor the market needs. Instead, the product roadmap was a bottom up view of what support, sales, clients, and partners wanted with some executive pet projects sprinkled in. What I have learned is that even with a strong product team, this disjointed approach to product management is actually quite common.

Where many companies go wrong is running out of time to listen to the market. According to Harvard Business Review, CEOs only spend an average of 3% of their time talking with clients. Why? We are all too busy getting our tasks done that we run out of time to talk to and really listen to the market.

The Importance of Market Research in Healthcare Technology

Market research is the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, including information about the target audience, competitors, and industry trends. Most importantly, market research is about listening to what the market pain points are, what challenges buyers face, and what solutions they wished they had. For healthcare technology companies, market research is essential for several reasons:

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER NEEDS: Market research helps companies gain a deep understanding of their customers’ needs, preferences, and pain points. This information is critical for developing products that provide real value and address specific healthcare challenges.

IDENTIFYING MARKET TRENDS: By analyzing market trends, companies can identify emerging opportunities and potential threats. This foresight allows them to adjust their product roadmap to stay ahead of the competition and meet future market demands.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: Market research provides insights into competitors’ strate gies, strengths, and weaknesses. This information helps companies differentiate their products and develop unique value propositions.

VALIDATING PRODUCT CONCEPTS: Before investing significant resources in product development, companies can use market research to validate their product concepts. This ensures that the proposed solutions are viable and have a strong market potential.

Aligning Product Roadmaps to Market Needs

A product roadmap is a strategic plan that outlines the vision, direction, and development of a product over time. Aligning the product roadmap with market needs involves several steps.

1) DISCOVERY: What is currently on the roadmap? What is the development pipeline? Who decides if a project moves forward? Does the organization tend to build first rather than assess third party solutions that might be cheaper and faster to implement?

2) STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT: Does 50% or more of the projects on the roadmap align to the corporate strategy? There is definitely a component of your roadmap that needs to be dedicated to technical debt, optimization, support, or integration of solutions, but if very little of the roadmap aligns with the strategy, the organization will never deliver on its strategy.

3) MARKET RESEARCH: While the organization’s strategy should be in line with market needs, the devil is in the details. While providers and payers may struggle with managing the prior authorization process, knowing which aspects of this problem a healthcare buyer would pay for is critical to building the right solutions. Additionally, what is the market willing to pay for a prior authorization solution? If the solution is mispriced in the market, it will never sell.

4) PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: Healthcare technology companies need to have a disciplined approach to saying no to projects that are not the optimal solutions for the organization. Business case development and executive sign off on projects with a stage gate process is key to ensure only the right solutions are built.