When I joined Skyfii in 2018, the company was facing a significant challenge: businesses in its target market saw the company as a commodity offering and it was forced to compete largely on price. Skyfii was looking to expand its revenue with existing customers in the APAC and EMEA regions, and develop new customers in the North American market.
A Complex Product that Customers Didn’t Understand
It had build a new set of analytics tools that provided previously-unaccessible insights to physical venues, like airports, shopping centers, and retailers. However, it was a complex product, and one that most buyers were unfamiliar with. As such, the company lacked a clear way to show potential customers what problem this offering could solve for them. If that didn’t change, Skyfii would have struggle to grow.
Using Category Design to Change the Narrative
My focus was using category design thinking to reposition the company and create a new category POV (point-of-view). Developing a clear POV wasn’t a quick exercise though. Skyfii didn’t just need a category POV, they needed confidence that they were using the right POV.
To build that confidence, I initiated a series of interviews with customers, partners, investors, employees, and potential customers to better understand the gap between Skyfii’s actual offering and how the company was perceived. We were able to use this insight to come up with a new category POV (point-of-view) that allowed us to connect customer needs with Skyfii’s newly developed product and service offerings. The result? Skyfii successfully moved from perceived as a commodity “Wi-Fi analytics” offering to the leader of a new category we called “omnidata intelligence.”
Category Design Thinking Fueled Growth
This new narrative for the company’s direction not only drove interest and new revenue but also gave Skyfii’s investors the confidence they needed to green light several strategic acquisitions that would accelerate these plans. As a result, since adopting this narrative in late 2018 and early 2019, Skyfii’s revenues have grown at a 72% CAGR.
