Case Study: "Productization” for a Non-Profit Results in Major Funding

Challenge

Productize a pilot program directed to a difficult-to-influence constituency, the medical community, to gather intellectual capital and garner major funding.

Landscape

A highly regarded and innovative group creating and providing mental health tools and services to traumatized populations around the world found that urgent demand for their expertise was exceeding their capacity to deliver in the wake of September 11.

The directors needed a way to leverage years of accumulated knowledge in a way that would make it easier to dramatically scale up the “distributing” of the information to non-academic settings in varied geographies. MIDIOR was engaged to help this team identify and execute methods for "productizing and packaging” their expertise and models in a way that would allow it to be distributed and utilized by many different types of people in new and different settings.

Process

MIDIOR conducted a market analysis and collected “requirements” by completing multiple “day in a life” studies with potential users of the information. In parallel, MIDIOR drove the team through a detailed process of identifying the key concepts at the core of their success. The result was the creation of a product line that included both a “train the trainer” program and a “toolkit” for healthcare providers and social workers outside of the non-profit. MIDIOR also applied its expertise to create a "product development and launch plan" for the toolkit as well as a communications program to drive awareness and education in the marketplace. The final step was to work with the team to execute a pilot program where the toolkit was exercised in a handful of local clinics and to use the information gathered in the pilot program to fine tune the product line.

Impact

The “train the trainer” program and the toolkit have provided new clarity to the team about its underlying assets and have been responsible for driving national exposure and new sources of major funding.