client motivation and problem space
Determine if there is sufficient opportunity for a new product offering, identifying a suitable opening in the competitive landscape, that provides a new use case and monetizes Vertex's legacy tax content.
key issue to address
Research and document a viable tax research tool (product, SaaS) and/or provide a programmatic interface to directly access research materials (content, CaaS) required for tax projects.
deliverable to address challenge
A future determination (proceed/halt) will be based on the findings from research conducted and materials presented through the innovation stage/gate process.
Additional Considerations
internal pressures
Not directly stated by leadership, there existed the internal desire to validate a previously suggested solution as a replacement for a specific legacy product. This was understood but the innovation process, as it was designed, avoided internal biases and predetermined outcomes.
philosophy and school of thought
User-centric research and product design within the innovation stage-gate process.
Opportunity Space, market viability for a given product that is worthy of additional research.
Learning Goals, a value proposition and the criteria for it to be tested against.
Assumption To Be Tested, a potential solution (product) with an assumed value that a customer would be willing to pay for (value proposition).
Develop a suitable Minimal Viable Product (MVP).
Please Note
regarding sensitive information and/or intellectual property
For this case study many of the specifics regarding the ideas discussed and research results gathered have been removed. Instead, this case study presents a high level overview and the general ideas/results that illustrate a cohesive and logical sequence of events.