IoT data doesn’t just improve a device’s performance once it’s been sold. It can also play a crucial role in the development of a device’s next iteration.
“Before IoT, the requirements that drove product design were largely assembled by marketing, which used inputs such as sales results, focus groups, and maybe a ‘finger in the wind.’ The IoT changes this,” writes IBM’s Steve Shoaf.
By analyzing data, IoT device engineers can determine how a product should be changed to make it more profitable and more useful to consumers. With the right numbers at their fingertips, engineers can eliminate features customers don’t use, add new features customers might want, and identify the needs of specific markets.
“Companies can analyze the data generated by products, corporate assets and operating environment, using the insights gained in doing so to accelerate innovation, heighten customer satisfaction and create new business models,” writes IBM’s Zach Jory.
Incorporating IoT data into the innovation process, however, means engineers need to change how they do business. Instead of relying on outside factors like consumer complaints or sales figures for feedback, they must learn to design those mechanisms into the product itself. This is a new challenge that will require time and experimentation to perfect.
“Success with putting this into practice requires engineers to understand the analytics that will be applied to the operational data and consider how (and when) engineering processes will react to the insights created. Engineers also need to apply systems engineering techniques such as modeling to quantify and characterize this new part of the engineering process,” Jory writes.
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And visit IBM experts in Berlin from September 1–6 at IFA 2017, Europe’s biggest global conference for consumer electronics and adjacent industries, to continue the conversation.
