Revamping development processes helps software company break into new $1 billion market

Our Impact  

A public safety software provider wanted to better compete in an already saturated market: digital evidence management systems. Their goal was to deliver a better customer experience by improving third-party integration capabilities and adding end-to-end evidence case management systems throughout the entire life of an investigation. That’s when they called West Monroe.

We helped the client identify where to play in the market and how to win. Included in our research, we identified more than $1 billion in the total addressable market (TAM). We also conceptualized how our client could transition from an evidence management system to an end-to-end investigation case management system. This included how to integrate a recent evidence management software acquisition into the future-state product vision, concept design, and a minimum viable product (MVP) definition.  

The Full Story 

The Challenge 

Early in 2020, the client evaluated ways to continue growth and find new, creative ways to generate revenue streams. In a crowded marketplace, our client faced the task of trying to differentiate their evidence management solution. They couldn’t offer another common experience and needed something to enhance customer and partner value. 
 
The problem was made more complex since they recently acquired an evidence management software solution and wanted to transform it into an end-to-end case management suite. The product needed several essential customer value items to stand out from the competitors. It had to enable people to engage with evidence easily, gather data from a growing list of third-party video feeds, and foster collaboration among forensic scientists, field scientists, and investigators while promoting security around the evidence’s chain of custody. 

An Undeniably Different Approach 

Drawing expertise from different fields was necessary in order to stand out and evolve from their current state. We assembled experts in product leadership, technology, and software strategy—as well as the client’s executive team and private equity owner.  
 
We started with market research, including customer surveys to test interest. An analysis identified key feature functionality. Direct customer interviews then helped identify market perception and opportunities for new product development.  
 
Using that knowledge, we built a product vision, conducted user research, created concept designs, and authored an initial prioritized backlog. This process not only assisted the client in making informed decisions on the future state of their product but also helped them develop internal capabilities to work in modem Agile ways of working. 

Our multidisciplinary expertise and highly collaborative approach allowed the identification of a clear market entry point and developed a roadmap for product strategy. During the project, the utilization of the roadmap enabled the client to make insightful product decisions. Helpful tools we provided included:  

• High-fidelity designs and a clear product vision for the future state  
• User research consolidated into an easy-to-digest format 
• Training on how to use product development methods 
• A forecastable backlog of the MVP features that included high-level effort estimations  
• A best-practice effort estimation process that drove better engineering capacity planning and throughput management 

These tools aided the client in fully understanding the outcome, effort, and monetary investment it would take to realize their vision. They also gained internal expertise to internally manage the project. 

Real Results 

Along with helping our client broaden the scope of their offerings and develop a plan for continued improvements, our collaboration opened new revenue potential by identifying over $1.6 billion in total addressable market. The results will help bolster their short-term bottom line and future potential growth.  

The resulting customer research codified the client's knowledge of their customer and continues to be a cornerstone of how the client understands and trains internal staff about their product and users. Additionally, the project's resulting interface designs drove functionality clarity, enabling an accelerated path through build and launch in May of 2022 (and a mobile launch in September 2022).  

Our client's technology development process also continues to incorporate key modern digital and product development methods—allowing faster and more impactful updates to new and existing products on an ongoing basis. 

Above workstreams overlapped to create a total of about 7-8 weeks of effort, all said and done.