by Exosite, on February 14, 2017
When it comes to creating a connected product, some companies get caught up in the excitement of new development and forget to ask one simple question. Do customers really want it? This week in the enterprise IoT framework series, we’ll dive into that question and discuss ways to improve the relationship to your market.
Most OEMs leverage indirect sales channels such as distribution and retailers to reach customers. Consequently, OEMs are multiple steps removed from the customers using their products, and warranty cards are notoriously inadequate. However, IoT brings new technology advancements that enable OEMs to get better insight into how users interact with their products. As a result, OEMs have an opportunity to establish stronger relationships with their customers.
However, in order to gain frequent and consistent market feedback, OEMs must become experts in conducting user research, market surveys, and user-experience design. If an organization is not historically strong in these areas, they would be wise to seek outside help. Leading organizations follow these practices:
Validate innovative ideas with the market. Without exposing an IoT project idea to the tough love of real-world objections and contrarian lines of questioning, it can never be fully prepared or conditioned for long-term success. A lack of early and frequent market feedback leads to incestuous thinking that is antithetical to success.
Establish market metrics that represent success. In addition to product sales metrics, organizations should establish a set of usability metrics that enable them to gauge the experience customers have with the product and adjust the course of their development efforts accordingly.
Embrace agile development and fast feedback loops. If services are not useful, people will not pay for them. In addition, web and mobile applications need to be updated every quarter to keep up with browser and mobile-operating system updates. Because of this, it is critical that organizations seek agile development processes that shorten the feedback loop with customers.
Download the full white paper below to read the common pitfalls for industrial OEMs and avoid costly mistakes when implementing IoT across your organization. If you’d like to connect your first device for free, sign up for our industrial IoT platform Murano.
