The evolution of connected devices can be traced to early Internet days and e-commerce’s emergence. Since the early 2000s, the physical product world has morphed at a rapid pace, as consumers shifted behavior to online commerce and entertainment. Smartphones and the ubiquity of wireless networks arose to replace desktops as the primary point of consumer connectivity, leading the way for a boom in mobile computing. Ultimately, connected products emerged, embedded with sensors and connectivity that enable data to be aggregated and analyzed through cloud platforms for delivering value to the consumer.
Today, connected devices can communicate with other connected devices, provide remote control, automate decisions and take actions based upon the data gathered. They can also receive automatic firmware and software updates to patch problems, ward off security threats or add new features. According to Parks Associates research, 19 percent of U.S. broadband households currently own at least one Internet-connected smart home device that offers remote control, monitoring, or notifications via a smartphone, tablet, computer or app.
IoT Product Development Stages
One result of this evolution is the definition of what a product is has changed. It is no longer simply the mechanical and electrical components designed into a form factor. In the IoT, products are comprised of physical components, computing components that enable data collection and storage, connectivity, and smart elements that employ sensors, remote computing, and cloud-based analytics and applications.
Three developmental models can mark the evolution of products, from a pre-IoT stage to the most robust cloud platform applications. Products progress through these models in stages as the company’s IoT vision matures.
- The first stage includes single devices that embed connectivity and offer control through a proprietary app. During this stage, the principal motivation is to simply provide remote control for a product. Basic connectivity to a cloud platform that provides virtualization and authentication of the device can enable application-programming interfaces (APIs) for control of the device through a mobile application.
- During the second stage, companies think beyond remote device control to coordinate automation and services with other products. To facilitate this development of a small ecosystem, they open up APIs so data from other devices can be integrated for coordinated functions either through their own proprietary app or through an automation platform.
- The final stage involves a deeper level of integration, where devices communicate among one another without an intermediary via a common platform on which their applications run. As multiple manufacturers build on top of a common platform, such as Google Weave or Apple HomeKit, consumers are offered the added value that can be achieved from a larger ecosystem of products that speak the same language. These more elaborate platforms provide a comprehensive range of cloud services.
Smarter products deliver increased value for consumers as they functionally evolve to monitor, control, optimize and operate more autonomously. Each successive stage builds on the preceding ones. Ultimately, the autonomous stage combines monitoring, control and optimization to provide autonomous support for product operation, process coordination, feature personalization, troubleshooting and service.
Cloud platforms are also changing the way products are developed. For years, the sequential waterfall methodology for product development served as the foundation for consumer products manufacturing. This method provided a well-documented, programmatic approach with clear goals; however, it depended heavily on identifying all the variables up front without testing assumptions. The waterfall method also required rigid adherence to the development plan through the end of the process without being flexible enough to start over or incorporate new insights along the way.
In contrast, the agile method of product development was conceived, first in the software development space, as a solution for the disadvantages of the waterfall method. Instead of a sequential design process, agile methodology follows an incremental approach, beginning with simple and small modules. At the end of each product sprint period, project priorities are evaluated and tests are run. The sprints allow for bug discovery and customer feedback incorporation before the next steps.
Cloud platforms strongly support the faster, flexible, iterative methods of agile development. Connected IoT products can provide vital data on how products are actually used, what features bring the most value, and where resources might be wasted. By virtue of their connectivity, firmware and software updates can be pushed to devices actively in use so that actual use data and consumer responses can be measured. What once could have taken months or even years of product development can now be achieved in a fraction of the time.
While device makers can be eager to get connected in the rush to IoT, it’s important to think past the near term, when developing a product that will be connected and supported by cloud services. Device companies need to identify long-term IoT strategy for creating business value that may involve new relationships, new processes, and new competencies.
