Many companies are realizing that traditional paths to growth — such as expanding product lines or entering new markets — are no longer sufficient. According to a recent McKinsey article, leading companies are setting themselves apart by building entirely new B2C businesses, often by repurposing internal capabilities or assets.
While this trend opens up exciting new avenues for growth, it also presents a critical challenge: how do you measure the performance and business impact of internal tools once they’re launched into the market?
The Rise of Commercializing Internal Tools
Some of today’s most successful software products started as internal tools:
- Asana evolved from Facebook’s internal task system.
- Jira originated as “Gojira” within Atlassian.
- Slack began as an internal communication tool at Tiny Speck.
In each case, strong internal adoption signaled early product-market fit. Now, more companies want to replicate this success by turning internal innovations into commercial products.
McKinsey reports that companies that allocate 20% of their growth capital toward building new businesses see significantly higher growth rates than those that don’t. What’s even more striking is that more than 80% of companies already possess underutilized assets — such as data, proprietary software, or internal tools—that could form the foundation of these new offerings.
These internal assets can be the seeds of new revenue streams. But unlocking that potential requires more than just launching a product. It requires a clear understanding of how that product performs once it reaches the hands of users.
Identifying a Commercial Ready Tool
Not every internal tool is built for the open market—but some have clear potential. The challenge lies in knowing which tools are worth investing in and when they’re ready to make the leap. That’s where visibility becomes essential.
Without observability into how an internal tool is being used, critical signals go unnoticed:
- Are users relying on it regularly — or only occasionally?
- Which teams or functions are getting the most value?
- Is the tool solving a meaningful problem beyond its original context?
Without the right visibility, the results can be costly:
- Misallocated Resources: Teams continue investing in features that aren’t driving impact.
- Overlooked Market Potential: High-value tools may never get the chance to scale beyond internal use.
- Unclear Business Cases: Without data, it’s difficult to build a case for commercialization
Observability shouldn’t be an afterthought—it should be built into the commercialization process from day one. Doing so brings significant advantages:
- Validate Readiness: Use real-time metrics, such as usage and adoption, to confirm product-market fit signals before launch.
- Spot breakout tools: Identify high-engagement tools with repeatable value that could succeed in the market
- Continuous Improvement: Use usage patterns and user feedback loops to iterate and improve the product experience over time.
- De-risk Commercialization: With clear metrics, the business can make informed decisions about where to invest time and capital.
Observability isn’t just about what happens after a product launches—it’s the key to knowing whether it should launch at all.
A Hypothetical Scenario: Bringing an Internal Tool to Market
Imagine a company that has developed a powerful internal analytics tool. Leadership sees potential to commercialize it as a stand-alone product. Rather than flying blind, they integrate observability from day one.
Within weeks, they learn:
- The feature users love most isn’t the one they thought.
- A bottleneck is causing drop-offs in engagement during onboarding.
- Usage is growing fastest among a user segment they hadn’t initially targeted.
With this data, the team refines their product roadmap, improves onboarding, and tailors marketing to their highest-value users. Six months later, revenue is on the rise—and they have the data to prove why.
Making Observability Actionable with Trufflow
Observability tools like Trufflow are designed to help companies manage the transition from internal tool to successful commercial product.
Key capabilities include:
- Application Performance Monitoring: Get a clear view of how an application is used, by whom, and how often.
- Portfolio Assessment: Evaluate and compare groups of applications to understand which are delivering the most value.
- Flow Diagram: Map out upstream suppliers and downstream consumers to visualize where value is created or lost.
- Value Observability: Quantify usage, engagement, and performance so you can measure impact relative to business goals.
The opportunity to commercialize internal tools is massive—but success depends on more than a good idea and a launch plan. Without visibility into how your product performs pre-launch, even the most promising innovations can miss the mark.
Observability platforms like Trufflow provide the critical insights needed to measure impact, optimize performance, and demonstrate real business value. If you’re thinking about turning your internal tools into market-ready products, make observability part of the plan from day one.
Trufflow can help you track, evaluate, and grow your next breakout success.
