Takadu Case Study: Water Utility Monitoring Software and Market Expansion

Takadu Case

Takadu Case

The Takadu case study is a brilliant example of how with the passage of time, companies around the world face number of problems related to the systems of water monitoring. The issue is so significant that millions of dollars are spent for overcoming from it. Takadu is a small Irsraeli start-up firm developed in the year 2009 by Amir Peleg, the founder and CEO. The company developed a software system or detecting leakage and faulty equipment related issues within the infrastructure of water utility (Ofek and Preble, 2013). Such type of issues causes huge energy and water loss and even result in service interruptions for the customers (Predescu, Mocanu and Lupu 2018).

In the year 2009, the very first product Takadu 1.0 was launched as a solution to the water utility issue. On September, 2010, the company was named as the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer 2011. In 2011, TaKaDu 1.0. was released. It was a major product release it was the very first product that included new modules like reports and overviews, which was capable of providing additional value as a tool of management on top of being an alert system. 

Ever since its founding, the company has attracted only nine customers globally. So, it was also an area of concern for Peleg for he was unable to decide on whether he should focus on the Research and Development to add to the existing software or should focus on attracting new customers so as to penetrate into new markets before the competition gets intense. He was also worried regarding the positioning strategy for Takadu. It was required to choose an investment alternative as immediately as possible for expanding the business. Takadu had only two options- either to invest in marketing or to invest in R&D (Ofek and Preble, 2013).

Some of the Takadu employees advocated allocating the majority of the firm's activities to making the system more easily accessible, citing the fact that installing the Takadu service to a new client can take up to two months. Peleg also pondered whether the organisation should follow sales leads from all over the world or concentrate on a single geographical area. 

The company can easily overcome the existing issues.Firms in charge of providing and managing water services were responsible with regulating water utilities and use, which were administered jointly by the private and governmental sectors, or occasionally a combination of both. As per the available data, there were about 250,000 water utility facilities present all around the globe, ranging in size and complexity.

According to statistics, Thames Water, a private water provider serving the wider London area, has 14 million users and 30,000 kilometres of pipe. To solve this problem, Takadu must design an efficient marketing strategy and operating model, as the decision-making unit will consider both technical and financial factors. Takadu has defended its intellectual rights in the face of increasing market competition. Takadu has also contemplated forming a partnership with some of the firms that make pipe-sealing materials.

Hence, from the above analysis it is to conclude that Takadu is facing marketing and R&D related issues. With the passage of time, competition is getting intensified and therefore, surviving successfully has become a challenge.