New Sopheon Solution Synchronizes Strategic Product Planning and Innovation Process Execution

Industry First Includes Enhanced Version of Product Planning and Roadmapping Software

Sopheon, the international software and services company, announced today the introduction of a Sopheon software solution that enables companies to synchronize strategic product planning and innovation process execution.  The offering is the first in the history of product life cycle management to tie product, market and technology roadmapping directly to the operational aspects of product development.  The solution was created by integrating Sopheon’s Accolade® product portfolio and process management software with a recently completed new version of the company’s strategic product planning software, Vision Strategist^tm.

Strategic Product Planning and Execution
An estimated 65 percent of companies struggle to keep product portfolios and developmental activity aligned with corporate strategic plans.  A principal reason is that in most organizations, product planning and product development execution are independent, complex processes.  What’s more, they are typically carried out by multiple, geographically dispersed teams and functions, with little emphasis on making sure that innovation projects fit the business’ long-term product strategies.  The new Sopheon offering addresses these issues by creating a seamless, automated process and decision framework that continually reconciles strategic product planning and operational execution.  The software captures and manages detailed project data while simultaneously modeling short- and long-term scenarios around market factors.  Gate decisions improve because they include consideration of strategic plans and operational and external issues.  At the same time, roadmapping decisions are made more dynamically and with greater confidence because they leverage accurate, up-to-date details on current projects.  The result is stronger synchronization between product plans and innovation process execution, enabling companies to: 

• Increase the visibility of innovation strategies, allowing individuals at all levels—from executives to team members—to clearly see the role they play in supporting innovation initiatives and do a better job of making decisions that ensure objectives are met;   
• Minimize the risk that external factors such as competitor initiatives, regulatory changes or disruptive technologies will negatively impact the return on near- or long-term product innovation investments;
• Identify market “white spaces” or growth opportunities outside core businesses where product development can lead to significant, profitable new revenue; and
• Make certain that the generation of new products matches existing and future market demand by creating a continuous innovation stream that predictably and reliably supports achievement of corporate goals. 

“Today’s top innovators know that in order to be effective, strategic product planning needs to be more than a once-a-year event,” said Bryan Seyfarth, solutions marketing director for Sopheon. “They treat planning as an ongoing process, and make sure throughout the year that it is linked  tightly to the execution of operational initiatives.  The strength of the integration between Accolade and Vision Strategist is that it provides an automated structure that improves both planning and execution.  The flow of data within the system facilitates regular monitoring of project activities, and helps to ensure that the activities are aligned with strategic plans and goals.  As a result, there is a much higher probability that those plans will translate into business-generating realities.”   

Product, Market and Technology Roadmapping
Today’s announcement also marks the introduction of a new version of Sopheon’s Vision Strategist (VS) product planning and roadmapping solution.  Referred to as Version 4.0, the software was completed in December 2007, just six months after Sopheon acquired the offering as part of its purchase of Alignent Software, the California-based company that developed VS and established it as the market standard for strategic roadmapping support.  Earlier versions of the software have been deployed by a broad range of companies, including leading manufacturers such as BAE Systems, Corning, Honeywell, Medtronic, Motorola and Northrop Grumman, and government entities such as the U.S. Navy and Air Force.  

The use of road maps as a central aspect of product planning is growing rapidly in popularity. Recent studies determined that approximately 30 percent of companies now use them.  The same research showed that twice as many top performers in product innovation employ road maps compared to poor performers.  Supported by such findings, roadmapping is increasingly acknowledged as a best practice in effective strategic planning and an important contributor to successful stage- or phase-gate process implementation.     

Sopheon’s Vision Strategist solution structures and automates the client’s strategic planning process.  The software helps companies reduce the uncertainty and risks associated with making complex product portfolio decisions by allowing them to visualize the likely impact of external developments over extended periods of time.  Road maps created by the VS system can be used to project and analyze the future of everything from products, markets and technologies to the competitive landscape. 

“Our success as a developer of weapons systems depends upon being able to anticipate the direction of technologies and make the right investment decisions,” said Suresh Verma, lead science & technology strategic planner for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).  “We’re rolling out Sopheon’s Vision Strategist within our PMA 209 Common Avionics organization, one of NAVAIR’s key programs.  The solution allows us to chart and analyze the impact that forecasted events and trends will have on the technologies that we expect to be core to the Navy’s capabilities in the future.  That is an enormous performance advantage.” 

Vision Strategist Version 4.0 offers a variety of new features that improve the visual clarity of road maps, reduce the time required to create and manage them, and make it easier to communicate them.  A new portfolio management accelerator allows the user to see road map data in the context of current product, project and funding commitments, and make informed decisions about whether and how priorities need to be adjusted to take maximum advantage of both near- and long-term opportunities.  The software is pre-populated with best-practice charts and reports that allow users to generate presentations and other deliverables with ease.

Dr. Robert Cooper, president of the Product Development Institute and creator of the Stage-Gate® product development methodology, has counseled Sopheon on the development of its software solutions and observed the evolution of the company’s offerings over time.  In reacting to today’s announcement, Cooper said:  “Sopheon continues in its excellent tradition of developing software to meet the needs of the new product development space.  My colleagues and I have been involved with Sopheon since they first introduced the original Accolade to automate new product development (NPD), and indeed we were on the external advisory committee for the design of Accolade.  Accolade has proven to be an excellent product over the years for managing NPD and supporting the Stage-Gate process.  If you are in the market for Stage-Gate or NPD software, I strongly recommend that you have a close look at the latest version of Accolade, which now integrates strategic product planning and process execution in a single application.”

Sopheon’s new, integrated strategic product planning and process management solution, as well as Vision Strategist Version 4.0, are available immediately for purchase and implementation. 

Accolade® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc. 
Vision Strategist^tm is a trademark of Sopheon plc.
Stage-Gate®  is a registered trademark of the Product Development Institute, Inc.