Category: Technology News

Across the world, it’s the best tech products that are quickly becoming huge businesses, going from teams of 20 to 2,000, or becoming Unicorns in extra-quick time. Tech products have the ability to garner wide appeal and positive reviews and to be used the world over in game-changing successes. But to really hit the ground running with your new tech product, you need to plan it from ideation to finished product. In this article, you’ll learn how that plan should take shape.

Making a Map

A product map, or roadmap, is important to help you sketch in some key dates and milestones to attempt to work towards in the future. When you have an idea of the stages through which your product will go before it’s ready to hit the market, you’ll be able to place these into the best product roadmap tools in the software market, so that everyone involved in this new product will know what they’re expected to deliver, and at what time. Remember that this is just a blueprint; you can always change the dates and the order of the tasks later, should you need to.

Staff Organization

Producing a tech tool is largely in the hands of your developers and their teams of software and app experts, but that’s not the only type of personnel that you’ll have involved in your product launch plan. In fact, your product will fare best if you’re able to get all of your business pulling in the same direction for your new product launch. For instance, you should be able to:

• Get your sales teams pushing this new product for its release date
• Ask marketing to draw up long-term materials to help promote the product
• Host conversations with your creative teams around branding and product name
• Update your website and communications channels with details of launch day
• Get staff focused on working the new product into their communications with customers

All these tasks require good organization, driven by tasks on your roadmap, in order for you to hit the ground running on the launch day itself.

Launch Day

Launching a new product or service is always thrilling. You’ve worked hard as a team to pull off your new product, and it’s ready to be shared with the public. Now, you need to mark the occasion as well as you can in order for you to reward your hard-working staff, and to share the buzz in your company with the wider community.

If possible, you should invite all interested stakeholders to a gathering to celebrate your launch. This will enable your team to network with the other businesses that have helped you along the way, and it’ll give local press and other beneficial contacts the chance to really take a look at your product before they share it with their friends and communities. A launch party is also just letting off steam after a period of hard work and is vital to get your team onside after their long journey.

Use the tips above to help you get your product planned and launched in to the tech scene this year.

One of the biggest challenges facing businesses is staff retention. This impacts not only the individual teams who are always getting new people but also the HR professionals who are responsible for maintaining the requisite workforce and talent levels for the productivity output needed. High staff turnover can be an expensive issue as training investments are lost while key skills need to be re-sourced or developed anew; the impact on your business’s bottom line can be significant. In this article, we look at a few of the ways you can minimize staff turnover and retain the kind of long-haul loyalty you’d expect from the core team members in your business.

Start as you mean to go

Prevention is always better than relying on a costly cure. When it comes to staff retention, one of the most effective methods exists at the very start of the journey with your hiring process. Always ensure that the role is clearly defined and understood by you as much as by your prospective employee. If expectations are apparent right from the get-go, then you are more likely to find your staff investing in their new role and the culture of your company for the long term.

Maintain fair remuneration

If an employee feels strongly that they are not being paid in alignment with current average rates for their role in your industry, then they might start to look elsewhere. As they develop, improving their worth and their value to your business ensure that their wage and the benefits are adequate with their output. Hence, set personal expectations that staff would eventually question their salary grade so you need to allocate time for a discussion. Undervaluing your staff is a sure way to risk their perception that the grass is greener elsewhere.

Make your engagement strategies consistent

Most companies restrict their staff engagement policies and efforts to the bare minimum, perhaps ticking a box with an annual survey. To invest in your team and ensure maximum retention, you need to make your engagement consistent and create a complete plan that focuses on engagement all year long, and this will ensure that everyone feels like their voices are being heard. There are experts and software platforms out there to help support you in this; inpulse.com is a great example. Invest in employee engagement to significantly boost staff retention.

Treat and reward your staff

Alongside a fair pay and staff benefits structure, you should additionally look to positively reward your employees in recognition of their continued efforts, successes, and loyalty. Do not just make annual or Christmas bonus schemes, but also regularly throughout the year. This is as motivating as it is loyalty supporting, and if you aim to make your rewards targeted to the recipients a social experience, it will amplify the effect.

Support flexible working conditions

Too often today, the work-life balance presents a challenge to both employers and their workforce. Creating a flexible working environment for staff sends a strong signal that you are investing in the whole of their wellbeing. Studies have shown that remote working does not equate to a drop in productivity, and, very often, your flexibility will be rewarded with improved productivity, staff positivity, and retention.