The document discusses the challenges of adopting new technologies and crossing the "chasm" between early adopters and the early mainstream market. It notes there is a gap between these user groups that causes many innovations to fail. To successfully cross this chasm, the document recommends focusing on a niche market to prove demand, understanding customer needs over pushing technology, and demonstrating applications that solve business problems rather than just platforms. Crossing the chasm through a focused niche strategy is key to the survival of new technologies.

1. “Convergence & Innovation Excellence Driving Positive Change”
Bridging the Gap Between
Customer Needs and Technology Innovation
Crossing the Chasm!
Presented by:
Mahesh Punia
CEO, LiveBean Consulting
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

2. References sources:
Crossing The Chasm… Geoffrey A Moore
A Summary of Crossing The Chasm… Jonathan S Linowes
Theory of Diffusion of Innovation… Everett Rogers
Technology Adoption Lifecycle… George M Beal, Joe M Bohlen and Everett Rogers
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

3. Bridging the Gap Between
Customer Needs and Technology Innovation
Crossing the Chasm!
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

4. Which Gap?
• Gap between a ‘great product’ and its Adoption
by targeted end-users
• Gap between Investment & Return on Investment
• Gap between a product / technology that was great but
could not be really successful
• Gap between a great product and a support mechanism
• Gap in the number of new start-ups and those which
survive
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

5. Understanding the ‘Gap’:
A market is defined as:
a set of actual or potential customers
for a given set of products or services
who have a common set of needs or wants, and
who reference each other when making a buying
decision
Least intuitive, but is the key to successful high-tech marketing-
- the tendency of the members of this group to reference each
other when making buying decisions
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

6. Is it a Smooth Bell Curve?
Business Planning Gap:
is the assumption that adoption of all new products / technology will follow a
smooth bell curve and the way to build a market is to work the curve from
from left to right, progressively winning each group users
BUT……….
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

7. Understanding the ‘Gap’:
Many ventures
Fail trying to make
it across this
chasm
There are gaps in the curve, between each phase of the cycle
This represents a disassociation between any two groups – the difficulty
any group will have in accepting a new product if it is presented
the same way as it was to the group on its immediate left
The largest crack is between the Early adopters and Early majority – this
is referred to as the CHASM
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

8. Early Adopters:
Early Adopters
-You can succeed with the visionaries
- visionaries and get a reputation of a hig flyer
- match an emerging technology with a hot product
to a strategic opportunity - But this is not where the dollars are.
- driven by business goal, not a
technology goal - The real funds / profits are in the
- often fund new technologies hands of more prudent souls who do
- start out with a pilot project not want to be pioneers – the
pragmatists
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

9. Early Majority – the pragmatists:
Early Majority
- On the other hand if you can sell to
- Care about who they are the pragmatists within a niche
buying from vertical, they tend to be loyal and
- Quality of the product refer you.
- tend to be ‘vertically’ oriented - This reduces cost of sales
as compared to the technology - This increases the leverage on
enthusiasts and early adopters incremental R&D support
- Not easy to break in to a new
market selling to pragmatists –
they need references
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

10. Visionary vs. Pragmatist:
quot;Pragmatists are NOT anxious to reference visionaries in
their buying decisions”
Four fundamental characteristics of visionaries that alienate
pragmatists:
1. Lack of respect for colleagues' experiences.
2. Taking greater interest in technology than in their
industry.
3. Failing to recognize the importance of existing product
infrastructure.
4. Overall disruptiveness.
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

11. Crossing the Chasm:
Crossing the Chasm requires the following steps:
1. Capture real needs of the customers
• Is it something that will add value to customers at large?
• Do they want it or is it that you think that they want it?
• Are they willing to pay for it?
What counts is not what they SAY, but WHAT they PAY
• Being customer centric rather than product centric – take an outside in
approach
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

12. Crossing the Chasm:
2. Focused / niche / segmented marketing
• Focus in a single market, create a beachhead
• Win domination over a small specific markets to establish market
leadership and use it as a springboard for adjacent extended markets
• Pragmatists like to buy from market leaders.
• But, if you are yet to cross the chasm then by definition you are not a
market leader
• The only right strategy is then to take a ‘big fish, small pond’ approach
• Have discipline to be market driven rather sales driven – helps to
establish a strong word-of-mouth reputation
To create a pragmatist customer base, we must ensure
that our first set of customers completely satisfy their
buying objectives
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

13. Crossing the Chasm:
1. Capture real needs of the customers
2. Focused / niche / segmented marketing
3. Application vs. Platforms
• Most innovations are more likely to be championed by end users rather
than the technology professionals that operate the current technology
• If end user see that the application fixes a mission-critical business
process, they then insist in its deployment in spite of IT department’s
reluctance
To accelerate adoption of new innovative platforms,
then, the innovators / vendors must clothe them in
applications clothing
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

14. Crossing the Chasm is critical for the survivability
of new technology / products
and
A focused planned niche segment strategy is the
solution
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net

15. Thank You
maheshpunia@livebean.net www.livebean.net