In today's economy, the importance of finding information is only part of the issue; ready access to it, and sharing it amongst employees, and making sense of it, is critical to understanding and success.  Why?

It may be because managing information - especially information outside a company's walls is fluid, constantly changing, often disparate and complicated.  Putting it together into a coherent whole requires following threads of evidence amongst disparate "dots".  To put it together requires certain skills and resources.  Research is a specialty field, theoretical and pragmatic in practice.  Finding actionable intelligence for decision making is challenging but beneficial to the success of a corporation. 

Consider the elusive art and science of researching private companies.  One of the first steps to consider when conducting private company research is to identify the direct and indirect relationships between the private company and the rest of the world. If you have enough time to do it and know where to look and how to look for records, public filings and historical filings, one can "follow the money".  By following the money, the well-versed researcher can find historical information, suppliers and investors who have recorded their affiliation.  By using analytical skills, one can make sense of the connections, providing much-needed analysis d for strategic planning and decision making.  With the explosion of information and sources, there are a lot of sources to use to pick up the trail, though doing so is not usually a direct route.  In the last few days, we have researched the wedding industry in the U.K. and instrumentation industry in New England.

Getting new products developed faster relies on a number of systems and processes, with management of information being one of them.  Product life cycle management software helps to automate the process of formulating new products for some firms, often reducing costs in the process.  But automation and software alone are not sufficient. Other resources and research by research specialists can be the difference in product development from concept to commercialization.

In the August MD&DI, a peer-reviewed journal from Canon Communications, I wrote that product innovation in medical devices requires a three pillar approach:

1. new product development process. Such a process includes preparation (research market potential, sizing, segmentation, etc.) and exploration (development of clinical, regulatory, reimbursement, and competitive knowledge),

2. a new product strategy, which identifies product development, positioning and pre-and post-launch measures to meet the plan.

3. resources, funding and personnel, must be ample in order to address the requirements for execution.  Included in the resources is ample budget and understanding of the importantce of systematic, secondary and primary research modalities, to fit the requirements.

You're invited to visit http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/07/08/016.html to read the article in its entirety, or contact me at 508.346.3225 for details. Thank you.