Project Saigon Pigeon

The company that I am working with is classified as they have already indicated interest in adopting my Product Proposal. I will be briefly covering the process that I have gone through with them to illustrate the importance of Product Planning. As this company is expanding the business into Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam as a Third Party Advisor, I have named this project as Project Saigon Pigeon to reflect its company and product positioning.

1. Empathise

   1. Background Situation

      1. The Client is a CEO of the Singapore Operation. The Singapore business has been growing under his leadership. He wants to do more on the growth rate.

      2. On the external environment, business has been picking up after the endemic

      3. In the Internal environment, his business is supported by domestic sales and international sales

      4. His Regional Partners have their growth plans in mind and seek to collaborate with my Client.

   2. Problem

      1. The main business revenue comes from International Business where quality of revenue surpass the quantity of revenue. The quantity of revenue is controlled by intrinsic monopoly of the current Third Party Advisor(TPA) business operation workflow. The more the Singapore Operation support in volume, the more Resource it has to allocate and the less profitable is the business operation in the long run.

      2. External Partner "I" is the largest independent TPA that work with the same busienss model as the Singapore Operation, in that it manually check and match the requirement of the End User and match the Service Provider. This also comes with distinct positioning in fee charging and quality of services. Regional Partners have been promised a large commission by just referring their End-Users over. The Group CEO and the Singapore CEO is not comfortable with this alliance in the long run. Regional Partners are convinced of the alliance in the short run

      3. For long term survivability, Regional Partner should get End User from its source and refer to Singapore for matching operation service. Regional Partner and The Client are also bounded by immediate short term responsibility in revenue.

   3. Solution

      1. The situation has become a chicken-and-egg situation where one is trapped by short term gain but unable to realise a long term plan.

      2. As the market is growing externally, it becomes a good idea to expand into another new market that require the matching service that Singapore has provided. The catch - is proving the business use case with case volume.

      3. It makes sense to start a TPA business in Vietnam for case volume justification.

      4. To make sure of the long term survivability of the Group, a single country should be the owner of the End-User in Vietnam. This means generating User Demand and the Matching Operation should be conducted by the Singapore Operation so that the Group can first break the revenue reliance on the current monopoly of "I". What follows should be the growth of partnership of more Service Providers to challenge the monopoly of "I". This can by achieved by offering a tiered pricing of services to End User to challenge the current premium price that is applied to all End User.

   4. Focal Solution

      1. Setting Up of the TPA Business Operation in Vietnam

      2. Create a Tiered Pricing for selected Services

      3. Use Technology to capture the Matching Operation process to connect End User to Providers. Bypassing physical call agent helps consolidate Singapore's competitive advantage in generating volume

      4. Growth Partnership with Service Providers to become the largest Provider in Singapore

   5. Optimise Workflow

      1. Current

         1. End User -> Vietnam TPA Call Agent -> Singapore Operation -> Service Provider -> Singapore Operation Concierge Service

      2. Proposed

         1. End User -> Vietnam TPA Call Agent -> End User uses Singapore Operation Platform for matching, appointment, and Concierge Service

   6. Output

      1. Reset the Group's Business Priority with the TPA expansion in Vietnam

      2. Capture growth in volume with Technology

   7. Impact

      1. More profitable business operation

2. Define

   1. Research Methodology

      1. The current business is in the bottom left hand corner of the 2X2 matrix of revenue and market share. Taking the marketing positioning of the TPA in Vietnam, the business model should remain as an offline business.

      2. The Singapore Operation Platform comes in the bottom right hand corner of the revenue-market share matrix once The Client has settled the setting up of the operation in Singapore. This is expected to take at least 3 years. The solution should be scalable well across Asia region.

   2. Competitive Audit

      1. Partner "I" // This portion is completed but it cannot be released to the public to protect the business anonymity of The Client and the Project Saigon Pigeon

   3. User Interview

      1. User Demographics

         1. Name

         2. Age Group

         3. Gender

         4. Language

      2. Agenda

         1. Problem

         2. Goal

         3. Pain Points

      3. Solution

         1. End User Profile and Resume

         2. Parsing and Tagging Services

         3. How End User and Service Providers Review Each Other

         4. Appointment

         5. Flights Booking

         6. Accommodation Booking

         7. Concierge Service

         8. Follow Up Appointments

         9. Reviews

   4. Affinity Diagram

      1. Parsing and Tagging

      2. How End User and Service Providers Review Each Other

      3. Appointment

      4. Concierge Service

3. Ideate // This portion is completed but it cannot be released to the public to protect the business anonymity of The Client and the Project Saigon Pigeon

4. Prototyping // This portion is completed but it cannot be released to the public to protect the business anonymity of The Client and the Project Saigon Pigeon

5. Testing // This portion is completed but it cannot be released to the public to protect the business anonymity of The Client and the Project Saigon Pigeon