IT Brief, Australia: Senior Director of Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work Says Strategic Opportunities for Smart Products will Emerge Around Interconnected Solutions

“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. “However, 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.” Excerpts:

“Whether it is smartphones, smart cities, smart cars or even smart toothbrushes, smart technologies are finding their way into, and around, the everyday things we like to buy and use.

The opportunities unleashed by smart products are seemingly endless for any company seeking game-changing innovation or new levels of efficiency.

Adding smart technology to products can deliver game-changing innovation, enriched customer experiences and higher levels of efficiency. From R&D and manufacturing, through distribution and after-sales support, product data is changing the way products are built, sold and supported. Survey results reveal where companies are focusing their smart product investments.

Smart product development focuses on two primary objectives: making industrial equipment smarter, through insights gained from embedding smart products into and around a manufacturing process; and making product packaging smart by highlighting the expiration status on commodities such as perishable foods, or reminding patients how and when to consume their medication. The third significant development opportunity focuses on making consumer devices smart, such as a fitness band that tracks personal wellness.

All these initiatives are set to change the dynamics between product creation and product sale dramatically because customer insight and business meaning are flowing through and around a product’s data.

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.

Our research demonstrates that the process of giving a product a virtual identity triggers productivity gains and offers the potential for game-changing innovation. Product companies need to engage quickly to ensure they are not left behind.

New ‘digital components’ can be added to almost any object without dramatically increasing its price. Sensors and processors, software controls and data storage can be added, accessed through an interface like a dashboard or app.

By using data and analytics, companies can see and predict a product’s behavior and, by extension, the wants and needs of its user by interpreting the data and anticipating how a product could solve current and future needs.

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

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