A services vision for a consumer technology company’s devices

The question

A consumer technology company wanted its hardware, software and services to work as one, organized by a single philosophy across its device portfolio.

The services vision behind that had to say what people would want in the years ahead, give the company a direction for what to build next, and stay relevant long after today’s devices had been replaced.

Our approach

We grounded the vision in basic life needs, because a vision meant to last can’t start from the devices on sale today.

Each need was weighed on how strongly people feel it, how ripe it is for a new approach and how close it is to crisis, so the vision pointed to the needs where a new service could matter most in people’s lives.

Industry analysis, secondary research and interviews with experts tested each service area against what the market already offered, and against what a business built around it would need, from partners to revenue.

What the team came away with

The company had a services vision for its whole device portfolio, organized into service areas, each broken down into the services within it.

Each area came with a roadmap, a value proposition for users, partners and the company itself, and a revenue model, all set within a vision for the business model as a whole, so each idea could be judged as a business as well as a service.

The vision also came in a workshop version, so the strategy team could work it through with colleagues and weigh new service ideas against the same needs and tests.