July 31, 2012It is usually quite easy to observe an industry retrospectively and identify the successful applications, and marginally more difficult to identify the principle characteristics that drove those successes from a high-level application, product or business perspective. An analysis of the more detailed aspects can sometimes be quite difficult. However, this type of market and application analysis is often used with the intent of deriving those core success factors so they may be reapplied to new application initiatives and, in turn, result in new success. While it would be nice if the equation for success were that straightforward, the reality is considerably more difficult. In technology industries in particular, a layered market or application analysis can go quite deep into difficult technological issues that require highly specialized knowledge and are far removed from business and market concerns. As a result, a conceptual gap can develop in the formulation of core success factors between the details of technology and the application/business issues - i.e., the classical engineering-marketing disparity. This can often result in new technology products that do not meet the application or business expectations and ultimately result in product failure.
