Standards for Future Development Partners: 81.9% of Respondents Value Ongoing Partnership, with 'End-to-End Support from Planning to Operation' (40.5%) and 'Continuous Accompaniment' (31.5%) as Key Selection Criteria

Engineerforce Inc., an IT company specializing in UI/UX design (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Yoshiaki Iida), announces the results of a survey conducted among 111 professionals who have released B2B products (SaaS, business systems, etc.) within the past two years and are currently engaged in product improvement activities. The survey examines the current state of post-launch operational improvements and the criteria for selecting development partners.

01｜Approximately 80% of B2B product improvement managers feel challenges in improvement efforts

02｜Specific challenges: 'Lack of personnel and development capacity' is the top issue, exceeding 50%

03｜81.9% consider development partners who provide continuous accompaniment to be important

Download the full survey report here: https://engineerforce.io/resources/product_operation/

Survey Overview

Survey Title: Survey on the Current State of Post-Launch Operational Improvement and Criteria for Selecting Development Partners

Methodology: Online survey planned by IDEATECH's research marketing platform "Risappy®"

Survey Period: June 19–22, 2026

Valid Responses: 111 professionals who released a B2B product (SaaS, business systems, etc.) within the past two years and are currently involved in product improvement.

* Percentages are rounded to two decimal places; totals may not sum to exactly 100.

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Approximately 80% of product improvement managers report setting KPIs (business metrics) for post-launch improvements

When asked "Q1. Does your company set KPIs (business metrics) for post-launch product improvements?" (n=111), 78.4% answered "Yes," and 15.3% answered "No."

Q1. Does your company set KPIs (business metrics) for post-launch product improvements?

- Yes: 78.4%

- No: 15.3%

- Don't know/Can't answer: 6.3%

Regarding post-launch improvement practices, "mainly bug fixes and maintenance" is the most common response at 44.1%

When asked "Q2. Which of the following best describes your company's post-launch product improvement activities?" (n=111), 44.1% selected "mainly bug fixes and maintenance," and 24.3% selected "adding or modifying features in response to requests."

Q2. Which of the following best describes your company's post-launch product improvement activities?

- Almost no post-launch improvements are conducted: 10.8%

- Mainly bug fixes and maintenance: 44.1%

- Adding or modifying features in response to requests: 24.3%

- Continuously improving UI/UX based on usage data analysis: 10.8%

- Conducting improvements based on business KPIs and integrated effectiveness measurement: 6.3%

- Don't know/Can't answer: 3.6%

Approximately 80% of improvement managers feel that post-launch improvements are sufficiently linked to business outcomes

When asked "Q3. Do you think your company's post-launch improvements are sufficiently contributing to business outcomes (e.g., revenue, user retention, customer satisfaction)?" (n=111), 27.0% answered "Strongly agree," and 54.1% answered "Somewhat agree."

Q3. Do you think your company's post-launch improvements are sufficiently contributing to business outcomes (e.g., revenue, user retention, customer satisfaction)?

- Strongly agree: 27.0%

- Somewhat agree: 54.1%

- Somewhat disagree: 13.5%

- Strongly disagree: 0.9%

- Don't know/Can't answer: 4.5%

About 80% of improvement managers acknowledge challenges in post-launch product improvements

When asked "Q4. Do you currently feel challenges regarding post-launch product improvements?" (n=111), 29.7% answered "Strongly agree," and 54.1% answered "Somewhat agree."

Q4. Do you currently feel challenges regarding post-launch product improvements?

- Strongly agree: 29.7%

- Somewhat agree: 54.1%

- Somewhat disagree: 14.4%

- Strongly disagree: 0.0%

- Don't know/Can't answer: 1.8%

'Lack of personnel and development capacity' is the top challenge (54.8%), followed by 'lack of internal know-how and expertise' (48.4%)

When asked "Q5. For those who answered 'Strongly agree' or 'Somewhat agree' to Q4, what specific challenges do you feel? (Multiple answers allowed)" (n=93), 54.8% cited 'lack of personnel and development capacity,' 48.4% cited 'lack of necessary know-how and expertise within the company,' and 47.3% cited 'improvements are deprioritized and postponed.'

Q5. For those who answered 'Strongly agree' or 'Somewhat agree' to Q4, what specific challenges do you feel? (Multiple answers allowed)

- Lack of personnel and development capacity for improvements: 54.8%

- Lack of necessary know-how and expertise within the company: 48.4%

- Improvements are deprioritized and postponed: 47.3%

- Unable to measure or evaluate improvement effectiveness: 45.2%

- Lack of data to determine what should be improved: 38.7%

- External development partners do not support improvements: 15.1%

- Management does not understand the need for improvements: 12.9%

- Other: 1.1%

- Don't know/Can't answer: 1.1%

Additional challenges include 'departmental requests are inconsistent, making prioritization difficult' and 'unable to identify meaningful KPIs'

When asked "Q6. For those who answered anything other than 'Don't know/Can't answer' to Q5, please freely describe any additional challenges you feel beyond those mentioned in Q5." (n=92), 37 responses were collected.

Q6. For those who answered anything other than 'Don't know/Can't answer' to Q5, please freely describe any additional challenges you feel beyond those mentioned in Q5.

<Selected Open-Ended Responses>

- Employees capable of creating new value are not being developed.

- Different departments have conflicting improvement requests, making it unclear what to prioritize.

- Many products are individually customized, making bulk updates difficult.

- Short-term fixes are difficult due to time and personnel shortages.

- Unable to identify KPIs that field teams can meaningfully pursue.

In post-launch improvements, only 1.8% of external development partners are involved in 'KPI-driven improvements with integrated effectiveness measurement'

When asked "Q7. Currently, to what extent do external development partners support post-launch improvements? Please select the most applicable option." (n=111), 40.5% selected 'adding or modifying features upon request,' 31.5% selected 'bug fixes and maintenance,' 4.5% selected 'end-to-end support from planning to operation,' and 1.8% selected 'KPI-driven improvements with integrated effectiveness measurement.'