Avalon Innovation as a development partner

To meet a market with increasing demands, major shifts in technology, connectivity, services based on data as a complement to products, etc., can be a real challenge for many companies. Not at least for small and medium-sized companies. Using a development partner that complements your own skills to meet the requirements can be a good solution.

Of course, customers we meet daily have completely unique challenges. But a recurring problem is the ability to meet rapidly changing demands from the market. A traditional product company with mechanical content in their products; simply doesn’t have the opportunity to supplement their products with electronics, data communications, etc. short term, without hiring the right skills or buying the service. This is where the concept of development partners comes in.

Divide the work correctly between the parties

A development partner will never be able to replace the competence of our customers. There is always a deep knowledge of our customers about the market, technical requirements, technical pitfalls, regulatory requirements, etc. that a partner can not quickly assimilate. Here it is important to smartly divide the work so that the existing competence can be used in the new context. It comes quite naturally if you just do not get caught up in traditional customer-supplier patterns.

Complementary competence

Avalon Innovation is a consulting company without specific industry competence. However, we have deep expertise in a number of technology areas / technologies that are absolutely crucial for successful projects. One example is that we are not experts in the development of portable speakers,, but we are experts in Bluetooth technology that is often included in this type of product.

The basic idea is that Avalon should always add expertise that the customer lacks. Either because it is not part of the customer’s core business, or because it has not had time to build the competence.

Execution, the customer has project definition know-how

In order for a project to be successful, together with the customer, we must create as efficient a division of responsibilities between Avalon and the customer as possible. It places demands on the customer but also opens up some interesting opportunities. For example, it is important that the customer has “customer competence”, or put another way, the customer must take responsibility for the customer / industry-specific requirements actually being included in the delivery that is defined.

We often run our projects where the customer contributes staff / expertise to the project team. It is an excellent way to transfer some of the “DNA” that is in the customer’s organization to the ongoing project.

Development department “on demand”

The complexity increases with the number of technology areas needed (software, electronics and mechanics, etc.), as well as with the number of people involved. To address this, both parties need to cooperate. Often it’s about establishing working methods and clear roles in the project. To quickly get a working project team up and running, we focus on these three parts:

• Planning, what to do, by whom / what role, when, etc.
• Teams, to gather the right competencies for implementation, the teams can consist of Avalon consultants, the customer’s staff or other external suppliers.
• Role distribution, roles define interfaces between the members of the project.

The basis for our joint teams is always a core of project manager and systems engineer / system architect. These are “carriers” of Avalon’s working methods and culture.

Structuring, the customer builds up their own competence and capacity

The variant “interim development department” also occurs. In some cases, for example during major technology shifts, the customer may need help from Avalon for a number of years to move quickly and risk-free in an investment while building up their own internal capabilities. In these cases, we work in a similar way as stated above, and our working methods are usually adapted to the customer’s “new” organization.

How can we help you?

Are you facing a major technology shift? Are there revolutionary changes in your market that can be solved with technology? Thoughts about how to capitalize on digitization?
Then do not hesitate, contact us at Avalon Innovation and we can suggest and discuss forms of collaboration.

Dag Lindahl
070-454 37 08
dag.lindahl@avaloninnovation.com