Turing a vision into reality! One of the most challenging roles in the software business is being a Product Manager. They identify the customer’s needs, the objectives of large businesses, and the product or feature that will fulfill the need, articulate what success looks like for a product, and rally a team to solve the puzzle. 

At Unifynd, we are grateful to have one such solutionist, who skillfully solves problems. 

Nilesh Awari, our Senior Product Manager at Unifynd has a passion for solving problems. He started his career as a quality assurance engineer and shifted gears from software development to product management. He believes that when you work towards your passion; experience and growth is gained without looking for it. With the imminent launch of our new product, Loop Loyalty, we asked Nilesh about the experiences and the challenges he and his team of product managers had to overcome. 

Here are the 5 questions we asked our Senior Product Manager! 

1. What is the best & most challenging part of being a product manager? 

The best part of being a product manager is seeing the impact that your work can have on people’s lives. Whether you’re creating a new feature that makes a user’s day-to-day experience easier or launching a new product that transforms an entire industry, the ability to make a real difference is incredibly rewarding. 

The most challenging part of being a product manager is balancing the relationship between competing priorities and stakeholders. While developing new features, the decision-making skills are tested at every step making it difficult to choose between what to prioritize and what can be put on hold. 

2. How does product management work with executive leadership? 

Product management and executive leadership are closely intertwined at Unifynd. I work closely with our CEO, COO, and other members of the executive team to ensure that our product roadmap aligns with our overall business strategy and goals. One of the key aspects of effective product management is having continuous communication about real-time trends and requirements from the executive leadership. This way we can discuss our progress and potential roadblocks or challenges that our team might be facing. 

Having come from an engineering background, I was always focused on the product and development of the same, but at the same time, I realized that at the end of the day, every product is a business. With the executive leadership at Unifynd, my team and I can align ourselves with the business goals as well as translate our vision into actionable plans. 

3. How did you develop your roadmap for Loop Loyalty? 

Developing a roadmap for Loop required a deep understanding of our users’ needs and pain points, as well as an awareness of the competitive landscape and emerging industry trends. Having worked in an enterprise loyalty business for nearly half a decade we have carefully studied the pain points that need to be addressed for users and businesses in this space.  We took utmost advantage of our learning from the past and built a roadmap for our new product, Loop Loyalty. 

In addition to this, we worked closely with various teams such as sales and business analysts to understand the market requirements and trends. Our engineering and design teams collaborated to prioritize features that would significantly impact users’ lives.  We conducted extensive user research to ensure that the features we were building were aligned with our users’ needs and desires. By taking into account all these factors, we created a roadmap that is comprehensive, user-centric, and aligned with our business strategy.

4. What specifically are you adding to Loop Loyalty with this new feature?

One of the essential areas we are excited about with Loop Loyalty is our Rule Engine. This powerful tool enables loyalty program managers to create complex user flow based on a set of pre-defined rules for their users to follow. This would enable loyalty program managers to reward their users based on their completion of the above flows. With the help of this feature, users will be able to customize their rewards depending on their activities and behaviors inside the loyalty program, giving them a more personalized experience. 

In addition to the Rule Engine, we are also exploring other features such as gamification elements and social sharing capabilities to enhance further the user experience and engagement within the Loop Loyalty program. Our team constantly evaluates industry trends and customer feedback to identify additional essential features that will provide the most value to our users.

5. What comparisons would you make between Loop and its competitors? 

Compared to our competitors, Loop offers a more user-friendly, intuitive, and flexible interface, as well as a wider range of features and customization options. Our solutions cater to most industries that want to integrate loyalty solutions to enhance their users/customer journeys on their platforms. We also prioritize security and data privacy, ensuring that our users can trust us with their most sensitive information. At the same time, we recognize that there is always room for improvement, and we are constantly listening to our users’ feedback and working to refine and improve our product.

Conclusion 

In this interview with our senior product manager, we gained insights into the product development process of Loop Loyalty, and the skills and strategies required to achieve the targets. Developing a product involves a detailed understanding of the user’s needs and the vision of the company in the long run. 

Some of the key takeaways from the interview include the importance of customer feedback and market research in driving product decisions, the need for a collaborative and cross-functional approach to product development, and the value of a clear and strategic roadmap for guiding the product team’s efforts.

As we move forward in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing market, it is clear that product managers will continue to play a critical role in driving innovation and success. By asking the right questions and staying attuned to the needs and wants of their customers, product managers can help ensure that their products meet the ever-evolving demands of the market.

Reach out to us at growth@unifynd.com to begin your journey with Unifynd.