Channel Life, New Zealand: Senior Director at Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work Discusses How the Internet of Things is Priming a Smart Product Economy

“A slew of newly connected gadgets that are controlled through mobile apps and feed personal data into the cloud are driving a wave of interest in the Internet of Things (IoT),” writes Euan Davis. “Home automation start-ups, established consumer electronics giants and large venture capital-funded technology companies are gearing up for competition as connected cars, homes and even smart cities emerge.” Excerpts:

“Examining the abstract world of IoT from the world of products reveals the extent to which a billion inter-connected devices and products are changing business as we know it.

Latest research from Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work—a survey of over 200 global product design and innovation executives carried out in collaboration with the Economist Intelligence Unit—highlights practical steps that business leaders can take to benefit from the fast-accelerating trend of smart products—and the prizes on offer from the Smart Product Economy. 

Adding smart technology to products can deliver game-changing innovation, enriched customer experiences and higher levels of efficiency. The digital data emanating from a smart product or the processes that surround it is where the value—or alchemy—can be found.

If properly instrumented and personalized, smart products become the sources of tremendous insight on product usage and status across the value chain, inform continuous product improvements and influence strategic moves into connected and/or radically adjacent markets.

By distilling and applying the insights gleaned from product intersections, manufacturers and other players in the value chain can strengthen customer relationships and create new and more profitable sales channels. 

Over the longer term, strategic opportunities for smart products will emerge around interconnected solutions and the partnerships that underpin them.”

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