{"id":23971,"date":"2022-06-27T09:16:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T13:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3pillarglobal.com\/?p=23971"},"modified":"2025-05-14T15:37:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T15:37:36","slug":"mvp-development-for-enterprises","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.3pillarglobal.com\/insights\/blog\/mvp-development-for-enterprises\/","title":{"rendered":"MVP Development For Enterprises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minimum viable products (MVPs) are all the rage in product development circles and among businesses of all sizes. So what are they? MVPs are learning tools<\/a> designed to provide value to users and unlock critical early insights into your product as well as the fastest path to revenue relevance.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBecause the term MVP is so closely associated with Eric Ries and his Lean Startup Methodology<\/em><\/a>, it\u2019s usually discussed in relation to startups. That said, enterprise businesses can also reap the benefits of the early learning and product insights an MVP can provide. Angel Almada, Director of Enterprise Program Management at 3Pillar Global says, \u201cAn MVP can help any company regardless of size or maturity, as it can be used as a tool for the ramping up of a new product.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are many similarities between startups and enterprises in terms of how to approach researching, building, and launching an MVP, there are also some critical differences. This article will discuss essential concepts to keep in mind when it comes to MVP development<\/a> for enterprises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Embrace An Agile Mindset (With Caveats)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nWhen developing product ideas, some scaled agile frameworks, such as Nexus, SAFe, and LeSS, are specific to enterprises you can use. Enterprises have established their brand identity already, and existing customers have a certain level of expectations that you cannot violate without risking that relationship.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nInstead, enterprise MVP development starts with research to better understand the customer segment and their priorities. Enterprises must ensure the MVP is high quality and produces value without investing in a complete solution. An article by DevTeam<\/a> states, \u201cYou build an MVP with the least number of features, and your focus is to build a working product as quickly as possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMVP development for enterprises requires striking a balance between producing value for your desired market segment and simultaneously ensuring it remains cost-effective. Ultimately, this balance reduces the time to market<\/a> and gives you a greater understanding of the market through the use of the MVP.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nRemember, your MVP is not a prototype but a fully formed product with minimal features.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAchieving stakeholder buy-in and practicing rapid iteration of your enterprise product idea can be tricky, but it\u2019s crucial to find a way. A Proof of Concept (POC)<\/a> is one way to get your stakeholders on board while also showcasing your product\u2019s capabilities. What\u2019s more, incorporating wireframes will demonstrate what the MVP might look like and how it might function. Providing wireframes can give stakeholders very real insights into how your MVP is a product that has surpassed the idea stage. This approach generates confidence, increases buy-in, and yields a solid plan that allows you to begin developing your enterprise-level MVP.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nScott Varho, SVP, Product Development, 3Pillar, says, \u201cGetting the governance structure right and giving the product access to the necessary resources tends to be difficult for large enterprises. Someone needs to make decisions about what the insights mean and how that impacts the current plan. Changes may require work from other teams that have their own leaders, agendas, and commitments. Minimizing these overlaps is key to getting a market result for the MVP. You want to learn the market potential for this product, not how your internal organization does or does not support the MVP.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rethink Your Relationship to Perfection<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nRemember, in the Agile world, perfect is the enemy of done. Enterprises tend to strive for perfection before release, which frequently hinders the speed to value, quick wins, and insights you can gain. Truthfully, when it comes to MVP development for enterprises, perfectionism is counterproductive and inefficient.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes<\/a> describes the usual process for feature approval that\u2019s followed in enterprise businesses: \u201cAfter long requirements gathering and stakeholder analysis sessions, specs are sent to technical teams who then spend months or years building features to meet the instructions they were given. In today’s rapidly changing and increasingly competitive business landscape, this approach will fail due to its inherent lethargy and inefficient allocation of technical resources.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn a similar vein, enterprises tend to embrace a \u201cmore is more\u201d philosophy when it comes to features. This won\u2019t work when developing an MVP for enterprise, as it violates the \u201cminimum\u201d condition. According to MaxCode<\/a>, \u201cSuccessfully implementing MVP-driven approaches in large organizations requires a mindset shift towards how to learn about required features in a structured way. The goal should change from releasing complete products to learning about the product throughout the release cycle and focusing future investments towards functionalities that have the greatest ROI possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Launching An Enterprise MVP<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nWhile finding early adopters can be a conundrum for startups, this is much easier for enterprise MVP development, thanks to a built-in customer base. Cassi Lup, Senior Manager, Product Development at 3Pillar, shares: \u201cLarge enterprises have a larger pool of early adopters they can engage \u2018on the side\u2019 within their organizations, whereas startups need to engage with the market earlier.\u201d\nHowever, branding can be a more complex endeavor, as enterprise businesses need to juggle their existing brand identity with their messaging around their MVP\/new offering.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nMichael Rabjohns, UX Practice Leader (US) at 3Pillar, says: \u201cFor example, say Marriott wants to launch an MVP. How will it coexist with or within Marriott\u2019s existing digital presence? Does it align with Marriott\u2019s branding, etc.? A startup probably won\u2019t have to worry about this because they wouldn\u2019t yet have an existing digital presence.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAside from keeping current customers happy<\/a>, you want to make sure you keep your internal operations running smoothly as you begin developing your enterprise MVP. DevTeam<\/a> explains that enterprises developing an MVP must \u201censure that you have enough competent people to support your core business applications so that the MVP development project doesn\u2019t stretch your maintenance team too thin. Assigning both maintenance and MVP development to the same team could create priority conflicts.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Be Proactive<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nPlan ahead to avoid problems down the line. Startups can launch their MVP first and redesign it later for scalability. However, enterprises need to think about scalability from the start. There are tools available to plan for scalability while remaining agile in your enterprise MVP development, including:\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Product Roadmaps<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nAny enterprise product roadmap<\/a> that does not harness and leverage its data is an express lane to obsolescence. If your MVP differentiator wasn’t “smarter product or smarter processes” early on in the development of your product, it must be part of your eventual plan. The disciplines required for data-driven products<\/a> inherently promote healthier data governance and architectures sufficiently sophisticated to collect data for analysis and KPI measurement.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Value Streams<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nAccording to PMI<\/a>, \u201cThe value streams layer encompasses the capabilities required to provide value streams to your customers. A value stream begins, ends, and, hopefully, continues with a customer.\u201d according to PMI. This lets you organize your teams and products by the type of value they are providing, which allows for better coordination and collaboration.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Business Model Canvas (BMC)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\nAccording to Harvard Business Review, a BMC \u201chelps organizations conduct structured, tangible, and strategic conversations around new businesses or existing ones.\u201d Your BMC must factor in:
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