Leveraging Product Management in Times of Recession
Recession-proofing is a top priority for most businesses as we head into Q4 amidst economic uncertainty. The Product industry is no exception, and businesses who have adopted a product-driven strategy are likely in a strong place to weather the storm.
The KPMG 2022 CEO Outlook, which surveyed over 1,300 CEOs at the world’s largest businesses about their strategies and outlook, reveals that 58% of leaders expect a recession to be mild and short. And whilst 73% of Senior Executives believe that a recession will disrupt anticipated growth, 76% have already taken precautionary steps ahead of a looming recession.
Despite clear concerns around recessions, there is more confidence in the resilience of the economy over the next 6 months than in February. Further, 71% of leaders are confident about the global economy's growth prospects over the next 3 years (up from 60% in early 2022) and nearly 90% are confident about their organization’s growth over the next 3 years.
In the longer term, more than 25% believe that advancing digitalization and business connectivity is vital to achieving those growth objectives over the next 3 years. Therefore, it’s clear that Product teams, as well as wider tech and digital professionals will become increasingly important to businesses in the coming months.
How Product-Driven Strategies Can Increase Business Resilience
Product Managers prioritise users at every decision point and invest time in understanding behaviours, needs, and wants. They dedicate a lot of their time to diving into data that comes from tracking tools, customer service logs or usability tests they run. They work with personas and target audiences, and they have a clear understanding of their customer segment.
With this in-depth knowledge of customer needs, Product Managers can help you identify the short-term solutions that will enable your company to stand out from competitors, but also identify the longer-term solutions that will allow your company to excel after the recession. This means companies are in the best possible place to maintain and even improve profits by retaining existing customers and adapting to market needs to attract new customers. They can help you They will do their best to help you understand your customer, and in that sense, enable you to make optimal decisions.
A recession doesn’t have to be bad for business. Instead, it’s important to approach the situation as an opportunity to re-evaluate and innovate. Just think of the start-ups founded during the last recession: Uber, Airbnb, Slack, Pinterest, WhatsApp, Square and Venmo are only a few. Product Managers can help you find a way to create solutions to existing or new needs that will arise because of the circumstances.
Hiring the Right Product Managers for Q4 and Beyond
If you’re looking to pipeline and prepare for the remainder of Q4 and 2023 and need the right talent to drive your business through potentially volatile economic circumstances, get in touch today for a free, confidential chat about how we can support you identify, attract and hire the top Product talent.
Maxwell Bond is the leading tech, digital, and product recruitment partner of choice across the UK, and are on hand to support businesses thrive regardless of what comes next, providing support across contract and perm hiring, salary benchmarking, employer branding, and bespoke market intel to ensure you stay ahead of the curve. Message me today to book in a free consultation.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for your next Product role with leading UK businesses, click here to browse our current vacancies online.
