the case for the internet enabled spoon
why the Internet of Things is a real opportunity that your business cannot win.
Spoons are the last thing* the average Joe can imagine to be internet enabled (see diagram). Where in fact, no matter what random object you consider to be worthless of a connection to the net, you're likely to be mistaken. Why, for what benefit, and really... an internet enabled spoon? *At time of writing (101 votes).
I have been working on projects categorised under the 'Internet of Things' (IoT for short) for a few years now - smart devices, smart homes and smart cars to be precise. Data network providers are keen to be the conduit between you, your services and your things. Businesses are keen to be ready to exploit what the IoT might bring. Yet one of the hardest challenges within business is to prioritise the requirements needed to cope with IoT. Requirements such as data management - huge volumes of data flying backwards and forwards between things; service design - what to do with all that data hurtling through the ether; and experience design - what customers will make of it all.
you and your 26 smart things
Imagine a world where everything, and yes - EVERYTHING, has a means to connect to the net. Even the spoon you used to stir your coffee before reading this article. Each firing out ones and zeros. That's a lot of data. Gartner, a well known research company, had us down for 4.9 Billion connected items by 2020 when it looked into the space only a short time ago. Ahem. That was a little low. Earlier this year (2015) another well known research company upped the stakes and put us down for nearly eight times that amount with 38.5 Billion connected items by 2020. The reality, once you get close to the businesses who are preparing to actually deliver the technology that drives the IoT, this figure is dwarfed, being only but a fraction of the 200 Billion connected items by 2020 predicted by Intel.
Don't believe them? Intel consider a future where everyone will have at least 26 smart things connected to the net. How many do you have today? What do you own that has a connection - wifi, bluetooth, Z-wave, Zigbee, ethernet, cellular... More than you think. Is 26 really that hard to imagine?
Intel predict everyone on the planet will have at least 26 smart things connected to the net by 2020.
If your business is anything like most corporations, you either haven't started working on a strategy to exploit all these new connections or you've already started, and based your calculations on far fewer connections. If you're working for one of the few that really get the IoT, then you shouldn't be surprised by an internet enabled spoon. If you are - I for one am eager to know what you're doing. Get in contact.
can you cope with seeing double?
Your business may not be particularly interested in connected cutlery, but there is likely to be something that doesn't connect today and will tomorrow. Something that will create data that you'll want to access. Possibly you want to know how long a loaf of bread sits in a dark bread-bin? When a can is emptied and recycled? The times of day someone sits at their dinner table? How many flushes of the toilet cistern? How much rubber is left on a car tyre? How often does someone recharge their batteries? How far our pets have traveled in a day? What types of drinks are stirred or foods eaten with a spoon?
These might not be questions you're asking now (or ever), but ones you may soon be fascinated in learning its answers. Whether you're the one putting the connection into a product - such as a sensor in a spoon; accessing the data from someone else who provides the connection through an add on - a connected spoon handle; or even accessing the data from an alternative connection - the cup or bowl in which a spoon is used, the data will become available and answer a great new range of questions you never new you could ask.
If you doubled the number of interactions you could have with customers today, how would this impact your business?
No matter the source, whether you own it or buy it in, the data ends up on your servers and you are likely going to want to process it and do something with the result. Because you have access to the data, you'll have access to the customer and therefore you'll want to support the customer - whether through a legal obligation, such as the data protection act in Europe, or because of a business benefit, such as providing a great customer service.
Here's a thought. If you doubled the number of interactions you could have with customers today, how would this impact your business? Would you be able to cope with twice the number of orders? Twice the number of queries? Twice the number of issues? What about eight times the amount (thinking back to Jupiter's estimates)? Or better still, forty times the amount (based on Intel's estimates)?
what's in it for the customer?
Now you know that you can have access to the answers the IoT can provide, what benefit is there for your customers? What is the case for someone purchasing an internet enabled spoon? Calorie counting? Weight measurements? Location? Detecting temperature? Accessibility? All are questions that customers are asking today, and some inventors are already hard at work bringing them the answer.
...not why you would want to make a spoon connect with the net, but when it is connected, what will you do with the data?
The question, unless you manufacture spoons, is not why you would want to make a spoon connect with the net, but when it is connected, what will you do with the data?
Here are but a few examples of utensils meeting real customer needs - not much is required to link them up with the net. Nothing more than a small add on module to an existing circuit.
Liftware offers a self-righting spoon to help ten million people who suffer from debilitating hand tremors.
GE Global Research's calorie counting plate could become a valuable dieting aid.
Heck, for less than ￡6 ($9), I'll sell you a digital spoon right now - with FREE DELIVERY! One that measures weight down to 0.1grams.
No matter how you or your business feel about the Internet of Things, it is apparent that where there is a business opportunity, supporting a customer need, there is growth. Forty times the growth than was predicted only a year or so ago. Connected spoons IS but one of them.
...and here's why your business won't win:
With the question of why someone would want to connect a spoon to the internet out of the way, we can turn to the question of why your business will not win from the opportunity set before us. With two hundred billion new connections in the next four years, someone has to win, don't they?
You're not winning. You're coping.
It's not about winning. It's about coping. The market space will change and your business will either sink or swim in the wake of such changes. The 'things' that are to be connected are things today, or replacements for things we already own. There will be very few things that are novel innovations like we've never seen before. Therefore, the product you sell tomorrow is simply an enhancement of the product you sell today. Except now, your product is connected. That connection brings data, which demands support, and most likely delivers an end-user experience. And of all of these are not cheap. You're not winning. You're coping.
Of course, you needn't play the game. You can choose not to concern yourself with connecting the loaves of bread you sell with the world wide web; to wirelessly speak with your restaurant's tables; nor to use the data your customers are sharing which could benefit your service. That's fine. But then you're missing the opportunity, and in business, a missed opportunity is as good as throwing money away. Too many missed opportunities and your competitors steal the advantage. So whilst you may not want to play, and whilst you are unable to win anything new, you can remain relevant and be a part of the new hyper-connected world we'll all live in.
how to cope with the future
Own the data. Before that, create the data, store the data, process it and create meaningful insights from it. Make it relevant to the customer. Play it back to them in ways that will encourage them to keep sharing. It is unlikely you'll be able to own it all - but the more you do own, the more power you have to negotiate and hold back the competition. As for the business that has to buy all its data, it faces the biggest risk of all. Without control, data can be held at the ransom of higher prices, forced changes, and sit exposed to a new threat of cyber crimes - completely out of your control.
make your products loss leaders to the service you will eventually sell.
The products you sell may not be where the money is in future. It may be in the service you can provide based on the data your product generates. This changes the business model for many companies. To insure first mover advantage and to stake your claim to the data generated, you may chose to make your products loss leaders to the service you will eventually sell. Much like how the likes of digital media giants Facebook and Google gave away their key product until they had the right service to sell. Even like inkjet printer manufacturers who discounted the hardware itself so as to own the continued sale of compatible inkjet cartridges. Your business might want to make daring changes in its product and service roadmap that to today's CEO will seem ludicrous.
Large corporations struggle with vision. Today's problems are costly as it is. Tomorrow's problems are just that - tomorrow. Even when companies begin to develop their strategies, and manage to convince their board in taking a punt, the timeline for delivery of those strategies are short - 3 to 5 years, and are inevitably built on today's business models. To take advantage may not be within the capacity of your company today, but in the smaller ventures that your company will subsume later... if you're still in business (Kodak, Nokia, Woolworths...).
Those companies that are determined to do it themselves, the opportunity is real. The question remains, how real are you about taking advantage? If you are reach out to us.
If you would like to learn more about the Internet of Things, finding new ways to describe your company's future, or to bring your business ideas to life, then reach out to us at[email protected]
This article was written by Matt Jones - Experience Consultant for Uservox Limited - all rights reserved ? 2015, 2016 Copyright Uservox Limited UK
Diagram: What would be the most useless internet enabled gadget? Add your vote by visiting: https://uk.toluna.com/polls/4508312/What-would-be-the-most-useless-internet-enabled-gadget