PdM in enterprise
business development
November 2018

Client Partner
Head of Financial Services Lab,
SoftServe
MSTM LvBS alumni
MS in Finance
MS in Law
linkedin.com/in/antoninaskrypnyk

WHERE PDM MIGHT FIND HIMSELF TO BE
- We pitch about us, our skills and expertise - We pitch about product advantages and impact to
client’s business
- Client owns product’s idea and business context - We own the initial idea and product business context
- We might advice but not finger point directly - We configure and customize our product to align with
clients business ‘as is’
- We have to show value of our work and us being on-
boarded
- We have to show value of the product and its
capabilities
WE DEVELOP PRODUCT FOR ENTERPRISE CLIENT: WE SELL OUR PRODUCT TO ENTERPRISE CLIENT:

PAIN POINTS AND CHALLENGES
• Low trust to outsourcers
• Tend to ‘lock’ business ownership ‘in da house’
• Competition between in house PdM and vendor PdM
• We have PdM in here, we need yours just to track requirements/write user stories etc.
• Low or no access to up to date context and changes in strategic information
• Limited access to ‘proper’ stakeholders
• Low eagerness (or unobvious security issues) in sharing business related or sensitive information
• No internal alignment at the client side on product strategic vision or critical items
DEVELOP PRODUCT FOR ENTERPRISE CLIENT

PAIN POINTS AND CHALLENGES
• Long sales cycle and decision making reiterations
• Unpredicted stakeholders changes
• Severe procurement and IT&S infrastructure integration requirements
• Each enterprise is a unique ecosystem, requiring even ideally matching product to be ‘mapped’ on it
• Clear product value articulation to business stakeholders – advantages, impact, outcomes, threats, - in different
types of pitches
• ‘We talked to X/Y/Z competitor, they have this, and you don’t’
• ‘What if your product does this? – Do you need that? – Not really, but still does it?’
SELL PRODUCT TO ENTERPRISE CLIENT

ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION PITFALLS
• Transparency with all stakeholders involved
(no politics playing, cause you will definitely lose, you will leave and they will stay)
• Only official communicational channels for stakeholders alignment
(all is good until is good, ‘…I have no clue of that, show me where it is in the meeting minutes’)
• Italian strike from unaligned or conflicting stakeholders
(Yes I will, … and nothing happens after for weeks/months, indirect ignorance)

BLACK SWAN EVENTS
• C-level decision maker to join the remote demo call unexpectedly (Always use and check the camera)
• Stakeholders conflict (‘…the Program owner is just escorted out of the building…’)
• Merges & Acquisitions/ Org transformation/ Strategic Partnership/ Executive Sponsorship
• The competitor re-bided with product zero price for Client’s Logo Reference (Possible internal deep connection)
• Congratulations, business made a full ‘buy in’. Say hello to our Malaysian Procurement third party.

PDM ‘TO DO’ LIST
• Be engaged, proactive and initiative in problem solving/issue approaching/risk detecting etc.
• Be committed to clients’ success with you. Not to just doing for the sake of doing
• Build informal relationships and do maximum networking/radiance inside
• Ask. Receive answer. Clarify and revalidate. Repeat
• You are there to ease their pain and living
• Be flexible. They might really don’t know what they want
• Be politics agnostic. You are there to bring value to all of them
• Be stress resistant
• Be ready for context change even at the strategic level. Все так не буде

THANK YOU!
Q&A