5 Examples of Phased Implementation

John Spacey, July 31, 2017

Phased implementation is the process of developing and launching a business, brand, product, service, process, capability or system by breaking the work into phases. This is done to reduce complexity and implementation risk. Phased implementation can also reduce time to market and allow things to be quickly improved using feedback from real world results. The following are illustrative examples of phased implementation.

Innovation

Innovative firms tend to ship their products early and often. This allows for constant refinement, aggressive change and response to competitive challenges.

Product Development

Getting a minimum viable product in front of customers as quickly as possible in order to improve product positioning, promotion, pricing, branding and distribution.

Service Development

Launching services to customers tends to require an extensive development effort that may impact sales, marketing, operations, processes, systems and infrastructure. As such, it is common to launch services without full operations support at first. When services are a commercial success, operational capabilities are added. For example, a service might be launched with manual support and billing processes that live outside a firm's systems until commercial volumes justify the system development effort.

Pilots

It is a common practice to run a pilot phase in any high risk venture such as a rebranding.

Systems Development

Programs and projects to develop or improve business capabilities, processes and systems are often broken into phases designed to reduce the chance of project failure.

Overview: Phased Implementation
Type	Strategy Implementation IT Operations
Definition	Developing and launching a business, brand, product, service, process, capability or system by breaking the work into phases.
Related Concepts	Strategy Implementation » Business Capabilities » Implementation Risk » Time To Market » Minimum Viable Product » Product Positioning »