All the companies active in the MedTech industry, especially the big ones, launch new products regularly. Every year, millions are invested in R&D in this industry worldwide to support the creation of new products.
Often, we see these new products marketed as game changers or disruptive innovations; however, the reality is that most of these new products belong to a different category of innovation, which is the ugly truth.
Knowing that the success (or failure) of the new medical devices will significantly impact a company’s financial results, let’s examine the characteristics of a new medical device and its classification.
Product innovation classification
If you follow me, you should know that creating a new medical product involves meeting the customer’s needs, bearing in mind that customer needs are always evolving, and customer expectations change according to the context.
How a company specifically executes product innovation is an internal decision and can take different forms. But first, several strategic decisions must be taken at the beginning of the new product’s development to determine the product strategy.
The product strategy consists among other elements, of the degree of innovation, the technology, the time to market, the scope of the project, the value proposition, etc.
A medical device company can therefore implement product innovation in various forms, from the less creative and incremental innovation to the more radical.
Various forms of product innovation
Cost reductions: most of the time the results of cost reduction projects are not visible to the customers. In reality, these projects produce products that manage to meet the customer’s expectations to reduce the cost. Cost reduction can be obtained by applying several techniques, e.g., by replacing expensive materials and components, rationalising the supply chain, and redesigning the production process.
Repositioning: it consists of changing or expanding the target market, modifying the value proposition, and developing new clinical claims or applications of an existing product to meet customer needs better or the needs of new customers.
Line extensions: this involves introducing new variants, new versions, and new additions of existing products to increase the appeal of the product line to the current customer segment or new customer segments.
Product enhancement: it focuses on improving existing products or services to increase functionality, quality, performance, usability, durability, or aesthetics. These improvements are the base of the development of the new generation of a product.
Real new product development: In this case, the company creates an entirely new product or service that meets unmet needs. Often these products require the application of a completely new technology. It can also be because the current solutions on the market do not serve the customer according to the expectations, or the customer doesn’t even realize they have some needs because these needs are latent and often difficult to articulate.
Conclusion
Product innovation can have different forms; a new product can be simply a repositioning of an already available product, a line extension, a new generation of a current product, or a completely new product changing radically the current practice.
Although companies will always try to market the new product as a completely new, game changer, breakthrough innovation, and radical innovation, most of the time, new medical devices belong to product enhancement, line extension, and repositioning.
The first step to establishing a proper product management strategy is the correct classification of your new product and its communication inside the company.
How do you categorize your new products? Share your thoughts in the section below, and if you like the content of this blog, subscribe or connect with me on LinkedIn.