June 26, 2019

3Pillar Global, Forrester Research Finds Businesses Over-prioritize Customer Needs

Survey of product development leaders examines leading priorities in digital development

Fairfax, VA – 3Pillar Global, a leading developer of innovative digital products, has released new research conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of 3Pillar. The report, titled “Rapidly Changing Digital Landscape Puts Product Development At Risk,” details results from a survey of product development decision makers across a variety of industries, which found that customer-centricity is far outpacing other crucial characteristics of successful product development: agility and business objectives.

“Without a doubt, the needs of the customer should be a primary driver of product development, but that has to be balanced by dedication to agility and furthering business goals as well,” said David DeWolf, CEO of 3Pillar Global. “What we’re seeing in this research is a skewed emphasis on the customer, leaving companies with a potentially crippling handicap on their ability to innovate and grow.”

Forrester’s team surveyed more than 150 leaders at U.S. companies worth at least $500 million in annual revenue across the technology, media and telecom industries. The results of the research highlighted a significant gap between companies’ focus on customer needs and their ability to quickly adapt to market shifts and generate value from their digital products.

Seventy-four percent of respondents said customer data informs how they design digital solutions, and 53 percent ranked customer needs as most important to their process of product development. But when asked about their ability to keep up with market trends in technology and minimize time to revenue generation, 94 percent of survey participants expressed challenges. Just 26 percent are confident in their firm’s ability to adapt with market trends over the next five years, and only 27 percent said they were able to provide value quickly through their products.

“Being all about the user and never focusing on monetization and driving business outcomes undermines innovation,” Jessica Hall, Vice President of Product Strategy and Design at 3Pillar Global said. “We see that digital products play a huge role in driving business goals, what we’ve seen at 3Pillar is that a mindset that prioritizes furthering business outcomes and solving customer needs through digital products equips companies to thrive in the volatile market.”

For more information and to view the full results of 3Pillar’s research in partnership with Forrester, visit www.productmindset.com/research.

About 3Pillar Global

3Pillar Global builds breakthrough software products that power digital businesses. 3Pillar is an innovative product development partner whose solutions drive rapid revenue, market share, and customer growth for industry leaders like CARFAX, Fortune, and PBS. Leveraging a lean and agile approach driven by its unique Product Mindset, 3Pillar delivers value-generating, digital solutions with specialized product strategy and management, user experience design, as well as software and data engineering expertise across mobile, cloud, and disruptive technologies. Visit www.3pillarglobal.com/ for more information and career opportunities. To learn more about the Product Mindset, visit www.productmindset.com and pick up a copy of “The Product Mindset: Succeed in the Digital Economy by Changing the Way Your Organization Thinks,” by 3Pillar CEO David DeWolf and VP of Product Strategy & Design Jessica Hall