Anark was developing a cloud-based content collaboration platform, Anark Collaborate, to make product data accessible and actionable across manufacturers and their suppliers. The software company wanted to ensure that it was meeting the needs of its target customers. This required dedicated market research involving precise, industry-tailored questions that would yield valuable insights. To achieve this, Anark partnered with Lifecycle Insights.
Lifecycle Insights conducted a targeted research study that helped Anark hone in on its customers’ most critical needs while developing the platform. This research provided the Anark team with data that ultimately led to a more confident product launch and enabled the company to make more meaningful connections with its customers.
“If you start with industry knowledge and expertise, it’s going to be a much better project. And it was,” said Patrick Dunfey, Anark’s vice president of marketing and sales enablement.
Insights From Manufacturing Companies Around the Globe
By obtaining feedback from manufacturing companies around the globe, Lifecycle Insights was able to provide Anark data and insights on the biggest issues manufacturers face. Lifecycle Insights’ research findings informed the development of Anark Collaborate, a modern content collaboration platform designed for manufacturers that combines file-sharing app convenience and communication app simplicity with a deep understanding of technical product data. The platform improves workflow, communication, and collaboration for manufacturers by seamlessly connecting the data and conversations between engineering, manufacturing, procurement, suppliers, and service teams.
Lifecycle Insights provided technical expertise and specific industry insights that Anark could easily translate into action for marketing this collaborative software platform. As a result, Anark reduced friction in its product life cycle timeline and refined its software user stories to optimize collaboration across an array of manufacturing and supply chain use cases.
Lifecycle Insights’ research helped Anark uncover four chief areas of concern for its clients. Dunfey called these findings “head-nodding data” that instantly resonated with Anark’s clients because they were so crucial to their overarching needs:
- 54% of users need an easier way to share product data (for instance, without using email attachments).
- 72% of clients need quick assembly of technical data packages (TDPs) for products, as they stated their current methodology is ineffective.
- 76% of those surveyed stated that they need a secure platform without external IP issues to collaborate and work.
- Engineers said that 50% of their time is spent sharing and explaining data, indicating that there is a need for data to be easily accessible and available to all.
Lifecycle Insights’ clear, relevant data made it easy for Anark to communicate the value of its content collaboration platform to the manufacturing industry, analysts, and partners.
Research Services Providing Surety and Insight
Dunfey noted Lifecycle Insights’ ability to understand Anark’s audience and to create a research study that resonated with it. The research study findings were an invaluable asset that boosted the amount of value Anark was able to reap from the project.
“If I were to map out all the projects we did last year and the amount of value we are going to get out of them long-term, this one with Lifecycle Insights is going to be one of the best, if not the best, projects we did,” Dunfey said.
Lifecycle Insights offers this value through research services that provide surety and insight for executives taking on new technology-led initiatives. Services include quantitative survey-based industry and benchmark studies, qualitative interview-based studies, competitive landscapes, persona guides, and more. And beyond the study data, the team has deep industry expertise that enables it to guide clients with authority. Dunfey called Lifecycle Insights a “trusted advisor” during the development of Anark Collaborate.
“If I were to map out all the projects we did last year and the amount of value we are going to get out of them long-term, I think this one with Lifecycle Insights is going to be one of, if not the best, projects we did.”
Benefits of Working with an Industry Leader on Research Projects
While Anark, like so many other companies, initially considered conducting the research project in-house, Dunfey stated that going with an industry leader like Lifecycle Insights provided the following key benefits:
- faster results,
- lower costs,
- access to a wider respondent pool,
- less disruption of work, and
- a more polished and well-designed study.
Lifecycle Insights is a team of analysts and experts who can keep pace with the fast-changing face of solutions that underpin such tech-led initiatives as Anark’s.
“Most people don’t have that level of insight,” Dunfey said. “That’s why we called [Lifecycle Insights], quite frankly. We didn’t want to spend years trying to figure it out.”
About Anark Corporation
Anark is a leading provider of technical content collaboration software, empowering leading global manufacturers such as Boeing, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Schaeffler, Ericsson, Cohu, Cisco, and the U.S. Department of Defense to redefine the boundaries of collaboration so they can innovate faster. By making product data accessible and actionable, manufacturers and their suppliers reduce errors, scrap, rework, and delivery risk while delivering higher-quality products and services.
About Lifecycle Insights
Lifecycle Insights is a trusted research, advisory, and publishing firm providing data-driven insights and industry-proven guidance on engineering transformation. We digitally publish research, educational materials, and advisory insights on technology-led engineering initiatives. Armed with these insights, executives make better investment and adoption decisions. Then the organization can reap more value from technology-led engineering initiatives in less time, with more surety, and less disruption.