Enterprise vs Consumer Software Product Management

What you need to know without the jargon!

Most of the materials out there on Product Management are tilted towards the consumer product management side of the business. This is generally referred to as “Business to Consumer” (B2C) products.

Often neglected is the “Business to Business” (B2B) side of things. These are the products a business build for another business(es).

There are many similarities in managing both products but there are also some fundamental differences. Those are the focus of this chapter.

I have spent most of my product management life in the B2C business but I have also had a brief stint with B2C. I was brutally shocked at the difference between the two sides of the same coin.

At the heart of Product Management, be it consumer or enterprise, is the customer. But the customer, in this case, is fundamentally different.

Below are some things to have in mind, if you are an enterprise PM.

• The customers are Different

For the enterprise products, most times, the buyers are not the end-users. As an enterprise PM, you need to understand this fundamental truth so you satisfy both the buyer (the man or woman who signs the deal and cheque) and the user (the call center agent who is going to use the solution in his or her daily work). In conducting your research, make sure to get input from both the buyer and the end-user. Where possible, observe the end-user in action interacting with your product or that of a competitor.

In my experience, most B2B software has terrible user experience because the creators of the products focus more on pleasing the buyers and not enough on pleasing the end-user. Most of us have been forced, typically by HR and IT departments, to use internal apps with horrible user experience.

Avoid that.

Talk to both the buyer and user of your product if you are an enterprise Product Manager.

• Buyer Concerns

In purchasing new enterprise software, the buyers usually consider things like:

(i) System Compatibility- how will this solution work with our current system? This is not usually the case with B2C software

(ii) Availability of Support- what support comes with the solution? Will the support be offered onsite or offsite? With is the response time for such supports to be available?

(iii) Cost of Integration/Migration/Installation- What will it cost us (money, time, resources, service downtime, etc.) to integrate this new software with our existing system? Will there be data migration? If yes, what will be the cost & timeline? I have been involved in many projects that involved data migration. I can tell you for free, that is one very underrated difficult task!

(iv) Availability of Training- Will the new solution come with adequate training for the end-users? At what cost?

Be sure to have these figured out while building and selling your enterprise solutions.

• Modular Softwares

Typically due to size and cost, enterprise solutions usually come in modular forms as the buyer may not be interested in buying the entire solution. Factor this in if you’re building for an enterprise. As much as possible, give the buyers the option to buy in modules.

• The Trap of Customization

In a bid to land the big customer or simply to land more customers, many enterprise Product Managers make the grave mistake of agreeing to very customization requests from potential customers. This is a terrible mistake to make.

There is a place for customization and there is a place for focus. You can’t satisfy everyone, you’re not Nigerian Jollof!

With every customization, you create more work for your engineering team, more work for your support team, and more work for your customer care people. Don’t get me wrong, there is not wrong with creating more work for your team. But with many customizations, you have many codebases to support with a great chance of something breaking! You may end up just customizing and not building.

Don’t be that Enterprise PM.

• Churn Rate & Financial Loss

With consumer software, there is a faster churn rate but lower financial impact with every customer that leaves. The reverse is, typically, the case for enterprise software solutions: slower churn rate but higher financial impact with every customer that leaves.

In both cases, part of the role of the Product Manager is to delay churn while adding new users.

As earlier mentioned, at the heart of Product Management, be it B2C or B2B, is the customer. Whether you are building a product for a business or the individual consumer, put the customer first.

A Few Tips to Help You

When in doubt, ask the customer.

Build with the customer in mind.

Involve both the buyers and users in the building process.

Whether it is an internal or external piece of software, make it easy to use.

Never rely on your product being forced down on the users by the buyers as a sales strategy.

This post is from a book on Product Management that I am currently working on. You can help make it better by sharing your opinion in the comment box or by reaching me directly on nnamdi.azodo@gmail.com. Your contribution will be duly recognized.

Image Credit: Ola Dapo