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Not All Consumers Want Everything Connected

News. IoT predictions have been soaring, but the last year they have taken a turn. May be your customers aren’t ready for them yet and they simply don’t want smart features. Ask them and consider the economics, before you invest heavily in IoT.

Just because you can make something with IoT technology doesn’t mean people will want it. Such are the learnings from a smart fan producer, who initially made to fans, one smart and more expensive (40% chose that) and one not-smart. As they decided only to make one smart, they realised that only half of the customers actually used the smart features and that quality and aesthetics count more, according to Harvard Business Review.

Therefore, companies need to ask themselves 5 things before they go IoT:

  • Does this connected feature or product solve a real problem? 
  • Do my customers genuinely want this? How many of them? 
  • Have I fully weighed the economics involved? 
  • Should I keep the work in-house, or outsource it? 
  • Can I ensure a good customer experience?  

Earlier this year, Gartner VP Alfonso Velosa predicted that mainstream adoption of connected devices is still 5 to 10 years in the future.

Read the article in HBR