“Difficult to see; always in motion is the future”
Star Wars- The Empire Strikes Back

“Difficult to see; always in motion is the future”

I was recently asked by way of preparation for an executive presentation to think about a “product vision” for Vocus. My immediate response was “difficult to see; always in motion is the future”, but that did not cut it …

Without too much guidance in terms of scope, my immediate thoughts went to what a vision is, and, at a very basic level, how I might communicate it

In terms of what vision is, I landed on it being something you want to get to, with a roadmap outlining how you intend to get there (i.e, for me at least, a roadmap is not a vision). In respect of how to communicate my enormously insightful vision, although only asked for some bullet points in Slack, I thought about the seemingly obligatory PPT with swishy graphics (who does not adore Harvey Balls … ) but eventually I landed on an old favourite, the one page narrative

So, how did I go/what did I write? Let me know what you think:

“At Vocus, precision is key. We cannot be everything to everyone but equally, if not more importantly, our customers do not necessarily want us to be everything to them

We need to do the things that matter to our customers and do them well. We need to invest where it makes sense to do so, bringing something new and different to the market that is genuinely needed

Our product vision is:

  1. To embrace our customers need for speed, with accuracy. Fast to qualify, quote, order, activate, assure and bill, all with absolute precision. The need to retype, resubmit or reload must be avoided. Think about a recent bad online retail experience you had recently, did you ever go back to that store?
  2. To support our customers desire to engage with us via whatever means they want, when they want to. A great digital experience for our customers is now “table stakes” but making sure the Vocus person that a customer calls for assistance can provide a “rockstar” experience is equally important. Our people will continue to be a difference at Vocus
  3. To introduce new products and capabilities where clearly desirable, viable and feasible. Developing and launching new products, features, capabilities etc is a deliberate third priority in our vision as existing foundational connectivity products such as Internet, executed well, will deliver business results for Vocus of more immediate value than “new widgets”. We cannot however be left behind as new markets emerge and we will introduce new products founded on emerging technologies that challenge the status quo introducing and promoting market competition where it is needed  

Our vision remains anchored to the opening premise around customer desire and the relevance of Vocus to those desires. What this means practically in terms of product enhancements and new products is the subject of constant evolution as the market and our customers business requirements continually change

We will:

  1. Execute Future State as an initiative that launches a revitalised customer experience in terms of how our customers, partners and staff, engage with our products
  2. Launch new products and capabilities that embrace our customer needs to improve application experience, manage costs/risk and keep pace with the changes needed within their own business to succeed
  3. Embrace the opportunity to disrupt complacent or underserved markets with new technologies but also innovative commercial propositions   

If this narrative reveals to you something intuitive, sensible and logical, this is fundamentally what our product vision and strategy represents. It is in essence, “brilliantly simple”

The right balance between the reality of what we provide today and aspiration?. I am gunning for a least a couple of Freddo Frogs for at least having a go at drafting a vision. In my next post, I might expand into specific product/technology domains adding a bit more “meat” to the vision bone if you like.

Want to be part of our vision for better products and/or discuss specific opportunities?. Call your Rockstar Vocus Account Manager 😊

Note/Disclaimer: No tech acronyms, eg AI/ML, SASE, MEC, SASE, SD-WAN etc were used and therefore harmed in the drafting of this article

Scott Jackson

Service Provider Executive (ANZ) - SASE at VMware

2y

No tech acronym acrobatics. Did this almost give u an aneurysm trying to write it? After reading it I think I have developed a nervous twitch from the withdrawal. Looking for a tech white paper now to relieve my symptoms.

Brad McGinn

Technology services leader and manager passionate about enabling and developing high performing teams to achieve goals

2y

Point on, ever as, you are I see

Sam Jordan

Conversational Ai Specialist @ RingCentral | Improving CX, Solving Problems

2y

"Fast to qualify, quote, order, activate, assure and bill, all with absolute precision" this would be revolutionary in Australia, respect for the vision, it is possible because you can imagine it and so can I.

Great way to articulate a vision Craig!

Would we expect anything less than this insight Mr Mulhearn! Craig Mulhearn looks like you’re back in your element. Hope you and the whole gang are well Michael Riad Ellie Sweeney MJ

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