Launching new companies

Background - insurance: When I joined a new health insurance company, they were three months from launch.  

Online sign-up was a key differentiator for them, but they were looking at delaying their launch because the website wouldn't be ready. They had spent time with Thoughtworks to scope an exceptional online user experience, but the estimates for delivery were pushing out their launch date. And each round of re-scoping and re-estimating was taking time they didn't have.

Approach: I joined the online team and we worked with the key decision-makers to quickly sketch the essentials of the product offering and the customer experience for launch.  We agreed a customer website experience that was simple, easy to use, met the business need and could be delivered in the timeframe.  

Outcome: This approach meant that the website was no longer on the critical path for launch. And we even had enough time to deal with some performance risks before launch to ensure we never lost a policy. After launch, they continued to layer on additional product features and expand the range.

Background - mobile telco: 2degrees launched in 2009 with a prepay offering that halved the costs of mobile calls in NZ. I had led the team who stitched together the customer experiences across marketing, product, sales, customer care and technology. After launch, I joined the Senior Leadership Team and we were tasked with launching an on account offering and establishing a retail presence in the first year of operation.

Approach: Initial estimates for the on account offering were coming in at around 12 months, and experience tells us that IT projects too often 'cost twice as much and take twice as long'. So we needed a different approach. We boiled the offering down and focused on launching an on-account product for one person, at one price point, with online sign-up only (using drivers licence ID verification which was a first for telcos in NZ) and PDF bills. (No paper bills meant we didn't have to get involved in printing and postal logistics). But the uniqueness came in the Carryover Data offering. This was the important piece to get to market.

Our retail stores started with a pop-up store in Sylvia Park, staffed by temps using a stand-alone POS system with phones ferried back and forth to Head Office each day along with the cashbox.

Outcome: Well, it is 10 years later and 2degrees is still going strong. But what the approach meant at the time, was that we could get into market fast with the new offerings. We needed to find out how kiwis would respond to the new offers and to a physical retail presence. There is a large difference between what people say they will do, and what they actually do. We needed to get the rubber to meet the road. As you'll no doubt know, 2degrees has gone on to launch broadband offerings, 4G, business customer services, and now has 57 of its own stores as well as over 280 partner stores.