Case Study Of The Product Growth Of Attivio Inc.

The Attivio Case study discusses in detail about the product growth of Attivio Inc. from a software service to a full-fledged product. The study describes the organizational thought process that drove Attivio into a different category of products. It goes into detail about the differences between a vertically aligned product and a horizontally aligned product while keeping in mind the competitive nature of the industry and the economics- pricing paradox that causes havoc for any product. With a brief understanding of the organization and its product via a short look at its history, descriptive look at the use of its product the ‘Active Intelligence Engine’ and the process behind the product development exercise to establish a more stand-alone
Attivio focused on developing a product or giving a service via an agile process by keeping a “4-week sprint” cycle and using only 4 programmers in every project. Each cycle would lead to rapid prototyped product which would then lead to a decision of whether to redo a cycle and improve the product or not. With the decision to do a standalone product the cycle pattern was continued but the backbone was on having a small sized java enabled software with a traditional, technical and professional sales team to support a horizontally applied structure. All 3 teams had specific tasks to ensure open communication between the client and themselves. This customization model helped Attivio minimize financial risk, develop relationship with the client and also know what is the need from next generation software. I believe that this is advantageous when compared to a vertically scaled product which gives a uniform package to all its clients instead. In the long run the vertical scaling would come to play because expansion necessitates bigger customers and eventually a finished product would become easier to market and sell to customers without the need to spend additional time with developers and coders. The experience in developing products closely during horizontal placement would help in understanding these tacit needs to make an all-solving product for mass users and organizations. When compared to the traditional way of making products, this process (sprint and sales teams) was more active as the former relied on predefined problems, proper handoffs between departments and the product is often a finished software, not