Time to read: 4 min
寻找适合您公司合作的产品开发公司可能是一个困难的过程。考虑到很多因素，重要的是要花时间真正了解您的想要的东西。
但是，多年来，整个工程服务行业的公司实际上出现的趋势实际上表明，平均满意度得分很低，这可能是由于缺乏研究和发展的投资。产品设计和制造公司有充分的理由进行投资 - 公司可以帮助推动新的，更有效的方法来标准化产品开发和硬件交付。根据收集的数据我们估计工程服务的尘埃ry spent less than 1% of revenue on R&D on average between 2013 and 2017. For comparison, the Healthcare industry spends approximately 16% of revenue on R&D, while other technology companies spent 13% of revenue on R&D.
As a customer, why does the Engineering Services industry’s low satisfaction scores and R&D investment matter? Deciding which product design firm and manufacturer to work with on your hardware product is a critical business decision, and selecting the wrong firm may mean that your hardware product never gets to market due to costly delays. If any party is unable to deliver key details on time, relationships can breakdown and cause larger issues in the long run.
Customers absolutely deserve the best possible experience throughout the entire product development process. When considering which product design and manufacturer to work with, here are five factors that we suggest every customer consider:
客户支持
As a customer, it’s important to understand how the product design firm will support you and your project throughout the engagement.
First, a project tracker should be used to keep tabs on key milestones, changes to schedule, risks, and important contacts. A project manager or lead engineer should keep you informed every week on how risks are resolved and if they pose any threat to the project’s schedule. Thus, before engaging a firm, you should ask whether you’ll be assigned a dedicated project manager. In addition, try to gauge how responsive the product design firm will be during critical moments.
Finally, while not a full-proof method, we recommend that customers ask for referrals to better understand how past projects progressed. Understanding previous projects will give you a level of insight and assurance that your partner can deliver and has previous experience relevant to your project.
设计和交付准时的概率
You want to do as much as possible to tilt the scale in your favor when it comes to designing and delivering your hardware product on-time. Data compiled by Ethan Mollick, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, shows that over 75% of companies deliver products later than expected. This is a challenging problem to overcome, but the odds of delivering on-time are improved when a product design firm has excellent communication and project management skills. Attention to detail and a strong understanding of how design changes can cascade or unfold in the future are helpful in delivering on-time. Can the product design firm provide you with evidence that they’ve delivered past projects on-time? It’s recommended that you ask to see case studies proving that your manufacturing partner has delivered on-time in the past. If these can’t be provided, then you may want to continue to interview other suppliers.
临时工作和付款
鉴于许多关系不会超出初始参与度，因此产品设计公司可能会试图使客户在一开始时尽可能多地签署工作。作为客户，您应该在尽可能多的小型设计或制造冲刺中进行工作。这将使您能够查看关系将如何发展以及供应商是否按照承诺进行准时。此外，付款应与实现关键里程碑的成就保持一致。虽然初始付款是合理的，但这可以确保您在提供服务时支付服务。
的沟通和关系nships
强有力的沟通对于任何硬件项目的成功至关重要，而且其重要性常常被忽视和低估。您是否觉得产品设计公司正在花时间清楚地解释他们将要执行的工作？提出尽可能多的问题来理解问题的根本原因。了解设计的变化如何对成本，制造性和时间表构成风险也很重要。公司的时间估计是否过高？在参与之前收集多个报价将帮助您了解什么是标准和可实现的。询问产品设计公司的合作伙伴也很重要。他们与谁建立关系可能有助于加速您的项目的发展？虽然无形，但您对产品设计公司的感觉是成功参与的关键。归根结底，这总是与您要合作的人有关。
beplay客户端下载功能和自动化
It’s important that the product design firm’s capabilities are a good match for your project. For example, do they commonly work with startups or do they focus more work with enterprises? Either way, you should understand their customer mix to ensure that the partner understands your unique strengths and challenges. If you’re working on a medical device, the firm you choose should have ample experience developing medical devices and bringing them to market. Finally, does the product design firm use software in a meaningful way to accelerate development or make it more efficient? Though it may seem like a small detail at the start, capabilities and automation can help speed up the development lifecycle.
将上述所有内容融合在一起，我们希望这些建议将帮助您找到能够按时交付并超越和超越的产品设计公司。尽管在做出这样的决定时还有许多其他考虑要考虑，但即使您与公司互动，这些仍然是继续评估的关键点。
这篇文章是由联合创始人兼首席执行官丹尼尔·斯通（Daniel Stone）撰写的SilSync.
