Research and development is by far the most exciting place to be in any business. It’s where all the meaningful things happen. This department has to be run like a well-oiled machine. Only the best people you have must be in this part of your business. The most serious decisions are made in this department. All other departments literally hang off of every word and action that the R&D office expresses. Even though you are the business owner, even your decisions may lead to your aims being hampered when things go wrong, but also expanded when things go right. Research and development is where products of all kinds begin their lives. Actually, the thoughts of these products begin in the boardroom and are then translated into this section. Not to sound cliche but it’s where the magic happens. If you want to make a world beating product, then you must employ incredibly amounts of research into every sector you can think of. However each type of product will come together differently. If you make equipment for other businesses to use, then you’ll have a very different process as to if you were making a retail product or software of any kind. Some things are similar but the overall processes are starkly uncomparable.

Creating for B2B applications

Say for example, you’re a ship engine building company. You quite clearly are not making products for the consumer world. You are making a specific product, an engine that could be fitted for combat ships in navies, for the very large cruise ship market, or perhaps vessels for commercial shipping. Whatever the case might be, you definitely need to have close ties with other businesses and entities that utilize your product/equipment. Straight away, your research and development department needs to be in direct contact with it’s buyers. This means getting on the list of suppliers with each buyer in your chosen industry. Even before you have begun to develop your product, you need to contact various businesses and meet with them to discuss their requirements.

Once you have a picture of all the relevant businesses that you could be supplying, then you can collate all your gathered research into your R&D department. You’ll know what kind of strength tolerances are most desired. The cost-effective benefits you could offer. The size and weight that would be best for the top companies and smaller businesses. Essentially, you get most of your cue from the companies that need your product for their own performances.

The software basecamp

Software is becoming more and more expensive to create. The market for applications has astronomically exploded. It’s little wonder then that methods for developing software have changed to keep up with both of these things. Software isn’t always limited by hardware in terms of performance. This is where research and development comes into the breach as you can refine and refine your software to be optimized. The question is, do you intend on only making one software or multiple? Like Microsoft, you can create one mother software which can then house smaller software such as Microsoft Excel. It makes sense to have a dedicate building where this can occur. This position is very challenging but by opening your own offshore development center you can green light multiple projects that develop various software.

Firstly, the center will be provided for to your needs. The provider will implement what you tell them to regarding company culture and your exact way of doing things. They will use your parts, your materials, and also run the general maintenance of the center. Crucially you do not lose control of the team you hire to work in this center because people managing is left entirely in your hands. Beneficially, because the center is offshore the running costs will be lower than if you started it in your main operating country. Be mindful to give this offshore team that act as your basecamp, autonomy so they can make fast flowing decisions and make changes to a project if their research suggests it to be the right move.

The common uncommon

The research and development strategies for retail products continue to change. Although the foundations are very common, the minute details and nuanced tactics and styles are far from common. Every business will need to research the market to find out what is currently the biggest concern for consumers of a particular industry. You must know what kind of products are your rivals, and why. Traditional research and development departments will be in the headquarters of the business. Just like all the other R&D departments for software and B2B equipment, retail product R&D departments are huge. Consider Ferrari and how they do this. The company has built its own facility for the research of it’s latest technology and development testing units such as wind tunnels and even their own race trace.

For your business, these two elements are the things to first get right. You need enough room to make sure you can test your product. It might be that you need testers to come in and see what they make of it. A separate room for this in the facility to benefit from close proximity is the best choice. Researching for your product will entail things like building labs, engineering rooms, material testing, and design studios. Traditional research and development centers will have all the things needed to build as many prototypes as needed and the final finished product too. It will also have meeting rooms for regular discussions to occur between leaders of projects and the head of the department.

Research and development is not always the same pertaining to your product. If you’re making B2B equipment then you will usually have a lot of market research to commence. A lot of information needs to be collected but a large facility needs to be able to make the product. Software is a tricky thing because you can create it in the office but for the purposes of longevity and tackling multiple projects at once, an offshore base camp such as a development center is perhaps the best choice.