Subscribed

Subscribed helps your company move to a subscription model by identifying the history of this innovative idea, how it makes businesses so successful, and what you need to do to implement it in your own company.

Back in 2015, Tien Tzuo argued that business school isn’t worth anyone’s time in an article in Fortune. His stance was that there’s only one idea they teach there and it’s to make an awesome product and sell a ton of it.

But the world’s changed and so have people. That means the old innovative product method doesn’t work so well anymore. Just look at the rise of the popularity and success of subscriptions.

Customers love this business model because it gives them access and service. They don’t really want to own a car or CD. Both of these items require work to maintain if a person wants to keep having the services of transportation and music they provide.

Subscriptions, like Uber and Spotify on the other hand, give access to the service without the consumer having to own or maintain anything. It’s the music on the CD and the transportation they get from a car that people really want.

Knowing and tailoring your product to your customers in this way isn’t just a good idea, it’s necessary to stay afloat.

Consider that only 12% of companies on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 are on it today. And even then, you don’t recognize those that made the cut because of how well they’ve changed to meet customers changing needs.

So how does this new way of doing business actually change the way companies function? One of the biggest adjustments many are making is in the innovation process. The old idea is that to create a unique new product, you have to follow a linear process. It begins with research then goes on to design and manufacturing. Everyone from engineers to product managers has a shared responsibility of making the thing and getting it out to the market. The product itself moves in a straight line, beginning with the idea all the way to release. Once it’s out, customers decide how well it will do. There’s no more change or improvement at that point. Subscription plans turn this upside down to focus first on what the customer really wants. Creating a stellar service, then, is a process that requires tinkering to see what works best. You begin with what a customer wants, release that, then change it frequently based on their feedback. A product should be something that molds to fit the customer’s needs. And with subscription models, you can get a constant flow of customer data to make those adjustments. Everybody has a…