Changing the perspective is always difficult. It is hard to imagine how the perspective can be changed in a standard product that is off the shelf but often times it works significantly if the same device or instrument is used in a unique or different way. Let’s go back to the example of a centrifuge that is used to separate biological entities dependent on their weight through the application of a ’g’ force.
Now imagine a device that is still essentially a centrifuge but now it is used to separate blood components in a continuous manner. The piping is fitted such that it allows the liquid that is being subjected to ‘g’ force to enter and leave, while the rotor inside is spinning. This does require some change to the fluidics that is fitted to the centrifuge but the device is still essentially a centrifuge. Now this “instrument” does not get labeled a centrifuge but instead becomes a leukophoresis machine. This now becomes a clinical instrument that is used to separate cells from a cancer patient or someone else. What this enables is to now think of this instrument in a completely different light and never as just another centrifuge.
Similarly, adding functionality or modifying the instrument does not serve the same purpose as changing its definition.
Many companies that start a business always imagine themselves to be in the similar line of business and do not necessarily think outside those categories.