Just like any other department within an organization, it is vital for the product management team to have access to the proper tools that will enable them to perform better when strategizing, managing releases, defining product features, and capturing customer feedback. Fortunately, today’s product managers are now equipped with more efficient, modern collaborative tools, thanks to the development of cloud-based applications and SaaS that help them to collaborate more effectively with cross-functional teams so they can come up with the right product at the right time.
Let us take a look at the specific ways SaaS (software as a service) solutions help product teams work towards product success.
Setting a Clear Product Strategy
To come up with a great product that users value, product management teams will need to have a clear product strategy in place. Unlike generic product management software, a collaborative software allows the team to capture high-level product strategy.
Establishing Product Goals and Mapping Initiatives
A product manager has to set quantifiable metrics if they want to ensure that they are on track. With purpose-built tools, the product manager is able to define goals and map these to high-level initiatives. With these goals, the product management team is able to measure progress and ensure that the product features they come up with offer unique value for their customers and their company.
Planning for Sprints and Managing Dependencies
With collaborative software, product management teams can manage sprints and releases easier, enabling them to effectively communicate value and support their users. Everyone is aligned and equipped to handle critical dependencies as all technical and non-technical work is kept in one place.
Crowd-sourcing Ideas
Great products come from creatives ideas that can be acquired from various sources, and crowd-sourcing from internal teams and customers is made possible by a comprehensive tool that integrates feedback from these sources. Thanks to Saas, product managers can efficiently prioritize ideas that matter so a product that adds the most value to the business is built.
Defining and Prioritizing Product Features
If you attend a product management training course you would know that requirements management is a vital process in a product’s lifecycle. Software makes it possible for product managers to set priorities, ensure that product features are aligned with goals, and give the engineering team a set of clearly defined features.
Creating and Sharing Visual Product Roadmaps
Product roadmap software makes it more convenient for product managers to create roadmaps and communicate these to internal and external stakeholders. The software stores data in the cloud and updates it as the features and dates change and allows PMs to customize views for different audiences.
Integrating with Other Tools
By integrating with other tools that are being used by the product management team, SaaS enables the product manager to collaborate and communicate with cross-functional teams that play a crucial role in the product’s success. As these teams are using third-party tools, SaaS solutions make collaboration seamless by integrating with the tools that these teams already use.
Michelle Gonzalez has been writing for SMEs across the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK for the last five years. She is a highly-experienced blogger and SEO copywriter, writing business blogs for various industries such as marketing, law, health and wellness, beauty, and education, particularly on product management training such as those offered by ProductSchool.com.