Situation
A $7B enterprise technology business unit underwent a significant transformation to reposition its products, value proposition and GTM approach. This shift required not only the launch of a revamped portfolio but also a fundamental change in how product management was innovated, prioritized, governed, and communicated across the organization.
Historically, product management operated through informal, decentralized processes. While this enabled agility, it also resulted in disjointed decisions, duplicated efforts, unclear accountability, and inconsistent field enablement. Strategic investments were frequently delayed or misaligned with enterprise priorities due to a lack of structured governance. Internally, teams struggled with low visibility into decision-making criteria and program status, which bred confusion and hindered collaboration.
Externally, the field and customers were inundated with disconnected updates, making it difficult to understand the value of emerging offers or articulate them clearly. At a time when the business unit needed to build momentum and shift perception in the market, the lack of cohesive alignment threatened to derail adoption of the new portfolio.
To succeed, the business needed a centralized, scalable process for value creation and governance, a unified communications strategy, and strong cross-functional alignment—from executive leadership down to frontline sales.
Action
Keenan Reid partnered with the client through a multi-year, four-phase engagement to redesign how product management was governed—shifting from ad hoc decisions to a scalable, structured model for innovation, value creation, and execution. Our work focused on four key areas:
Centralized Product Governance
- Defined and implemented a structured decision-making process, including intake, stage-gated development, approval, and retirement.
- Developed criteria for prioritization, business cases, and enterprise alignment.
- Facilitated alignment workshops to reconcile cross-functional priorities and merge them into governance.
- Developed and managed a rhythm for executive decisions to institutionalize change
- Integrated workflows into Azure DevOps, the client’s system of record.
Embedded Strategic Planning
- Implemented a structure to align annual financial planning with new product growth targets, giving product teams shared accountability for growth.
- Developed annual business strategies that incorporated the evolving innovation pipeline.
- Set up a centralized process to prioritize system changes and manage the backlog, aligned with the company’s approval process.
Change and Communications Infrastructure
- Established a formal executive communications function to support visibility and change management.
- Developed and led an internal campaign to land new strategy with 100’s of internal stakeholders
- Designed and rolled out an annual communications calendar aligned to product launches
- Trained over 150 team members in communications best practices to ensure message clarity and continuity.
Field-Product Alignment
- Collaborated with marketing, sales enablement to launch a new portfolio narrative
- Managed a sequenced, cross-functional campaign to roll out product updates with consistency across internal and external channels.
- Supported the field enablement with product strategy messaging, visuals, and training, including a 600-person three day bootcamp event
Result
The new approach helped drive measurable business outcomes:
- Sustained growth: The initiative supported an average year-over-year growth rate of 14% during the engagement period, as the business unit successfully repositioned its portfolio for market traction.
- Clearer customer value: The new, unified portfolio structure eliminated customer confusion and made the value of each product and program immediately clear—strengthening the go-to-market message and improving field confidence.
- Accelerated, aligned decisions: With clearer roles, a centralized backlog, and structured governance, the organization made faster, more coordinated product decisions—significantly reducing cycle time from idea to execution.
- Stronger cross-functional planning: Product growth targets were embedded into annual strategic and financial planning processes, giving product leaders shared accountability and streamlining resource alignment across teams.
- Executive recognition: The transformation earned broad executive support and contributed to the client team receiving the organization’s top employee award.
