Do you think you’re a visionary who wants to change the world by coming up with new ways to solve long-standing problems? Then, do you work as a project manager? You have to make big ideas happen. Wherever you fit in these two categories, you will surely agree that product and service development is both an exciting and daunting undertaking. Let’s walk through the general steps of product/service development – from ideation of the “secret sauce” to putting together everything for your customers. You’ll learn why it’s not easy to come up with and implement great ideas on your own, and why virtual assistants can help you speed up your work.

Ideation

Product or service development starts with a brainstorming session in which you talk about the problems your target audience is having and how you might solve them. All possible angles must be examined because customer welfare and experience are the utmost priority in ideation. Although brainstorming is a creative process, the idea for a product or service must be data-driven.

Ideation should not be done alone. Team ideation should nip knee-jerk decisions in the bud and flag any idea that is not feasible. In order to come up with a viable but unique product or service, you need to look at things from a lot of different angles.

Concept Testing

After you’ve thought about the idea, it’s time to try it out. At this point, you will need people from different fields to torture test your idea and see if it will work in the market. This should be a more thorough process because risk analysis is already done when you test your ideas. A market research tool like a focus group discussion is usually used here to make sure that the target audience is really interested in the product. This is also when prices, marketing strategies, and value propositions are thought up.

Virtual assistants or data entry specialists should be hired to do the data gathering if there is a short deadline. This way, the core team can work on the product or service itself.

Developing a product

Once all the conceptual loose ends have been tied, the product development can start, as well. Having good project management skills will help make sure that the concept is well-translated into reality and meets the set timetable. This is hard because there will be a lot of back-and-forth coordination when you run tests and make changes.

Going Live

A product or service is ready to be sold to the public when it meets the needs of the brand, the customer, and the law. The last step may not be the last. Customers will tell you if you should improve, keep, or get rid of the product or service.

The picture: Where do virtual assistants come into play?

Many things happen between the four main steps. Some people find it difficult to set up a focus group discussion. A lot of problems can happen if intellectual property isn’t taken into account With so many moving parts in the development of a product or service, having a plan and assigning tasks to each member of the team helps you reach your business goal. There is a BPO company in the Philippines called VA FLIX. They have a team of virtual assistants who can help you with everything from data collection to coming up with new ideas, depending on the level of experience you need. Virtual assistants can be hired at any point in the development of a new product or service. Make a call to VA FLIX right now if you want to find out which virtual assistants are best for your needs.