YOUR OBJECTIVE COMES FIRST
Define the scope in its operating context.
Connect the technology to a useful commercial offer.
Montana Commerce identifies manufacturing, agriculture and ag technology, B2B technology, life sciences, back-office operations and logistics among its key industries. Consider a B2B product business sharing request ownership across a small team as a scoping example, not a local client claim. Its work may depend on customer descriptions, requested actions and unresolved questions. The engagement should establish how one accountable owner confirms the next step rather than several colleagues repeating the same follow-up. That operating detail helps distinguish an appropriate service scope from a broad industry label, with actual requirements confirmed by your organization.
Montana Department of Commerce: industry context ↗01A use case with a real buyer
Define who experiences the problem, who would use the solution and who approves spending. Examine evidence from customer conversations and existing alternatives. Distinguish an interesting technical capability from a reason an organization would change its current workflow. For a B2B product business sharing request ownership across a small team, discuss customer request ownership with the people doing the work. Bring customer descriptions, requested actions and unresolved questions and identify where one accountable owner confirms the next step rather than several colleagues repeating the same follow-up. Use that evidence to refine the assignment instead of assuming every business in the state needs the same capability.
02From a capability to a customer use
Define a potential use in enough detail to test whether the technology is relevant. For example: Turn incoming messages into proposed service records with contact details, requested action and missing information. Keep ambiguous classifications reviewable and connect approved requests with the appropriate follow-up owner. Identify the user, buyer, present alternative and limitations. A possible technical solution is a hypothesis to validate, not proof of willingness to pay.
03A delivery model around the technology
A related situation may expose a different requirement for integration or support: Extract proposed references, quantities and dates from attachments, then compare approved mappings. Keep the original document beside discrepancies so a small team can review the exception without re-entering every field. Decide which responsibilities belong in the product, which require a partner and which remain with the customer. Use the findings to refine a pilot and the first commercial offer.
04Evidence for the next commercial stage
Agree a bounded pilot or customer learning plan with acceptance criteria. Examine implementation effort, actual usage and support needs alongside technical performance. Use the findings to revise the offer, roadmap or delivery approach before assuming a larger launch is justified.
