MARKETING STRATEGY

BLACKBERRY - COMPANY ANALYSIS

Project Context 

BlackBerry, a cybersecurity company focused on developing cybersecurity software primarily in vehicles, but also in medical devices, industrial equipment, and avionics.

Impact

The cybersecurity workforce shortage and intense competition drives the need for BlackBerry to bolster its talent pipeline through the creation of an education program and diversify its product offerings by developing a SMB cloud security solution.

For a successful implementation and to mitigate the threats of decreasing revenue and weak brand awareness, BlackBerry must leverage its strong technical resources, cybersecurity and IoT knowledge, and embedded security software. Considering their inability to withstand the competitiveness of the smartphone industry, the increasing threat of competitors and changing trends in the cybersecurity and software industry are key drivers for BlackBerry to consider change. 

Challenges

  1. Ove- reliance on its IoT Portfolio (its main source of revenue growth) and stagnating cybersecurity portfolio growth. BlackBerry’s decreasing revenues and supply chain disruption risks through reliance on channel partners and third-party resellers hold BlackBerry back against its competitors.

  2. Cybersecurity Workforce Shortage. There is a greater demand for cybersecurity solutions as cyberattacks during COVID-19 have increased. There is also a global workforce shortage of 1.8 million cybersecurity workers. There will be fierce competition to acquire cybersecurity talent, threatening BlackBerry’s competitiveness.

Key Contributions

As competition continues to intensify within the software and cybersecurity industry, BlackBerry must adapt its strategy to its target market’s needs and leverage its strengths and capabilities in order to regain their past reputation and success.

Blackberry needs to diversify its revenue stream and become less reliant on its IoT portfolio. Therefore, they must expand offerings for small and medium businesses in industries vulnerable to cyberattacks.

A SWOT matrix showcases the internal restraints the organization has on its actions in the context of its external environment.

Created implementation timeline for Blackberry successfully expands their reach to SMBs to enter the cloud security market.

Final Deliverable

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