Product development in the IoT world: Commercialisation is the real challenge
Product development is the crucial nexus of testing, refining and delivering a product to market, and although it can take the better part of a year to go from idea generation to final delivery to a customer, but the rewards might just be worth it for manufacturers and vendors.
That's what Aaron Maher, managing director and co-founder of Procept, says. Maher also believes that the hardest part is the commercialisation of any hardware product. It takes the right expertise and knowledge, the risks can be minimised.
"IoT and Wearable products are exciting, and will change our lives forever. The reality is that they are physical products, which require significant time and funds to get to market. The commercialisation stage is where the most effort lies, it needs to be designed, developed and certified with mass manufacture in mind," he says.
"Your product is novel and exciting and the commercialisation stage is where it becomes very real. Engineering excellence during this stage is a must, but so is the ability to maintain the product vision. You can't compromise on the benefits your product will provide to customers. Above all else, it's vital to work with an experienced team, a safe pair of hands to ensure your product reaches the market successfully, and is revenue-ready," Maher continues.
According to research by Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research, the majority of products that have been unsuccessful in markets is because organisations are failing to properly assess the market, which leads to disengagement with the product in the early stages.
"Sitting down with a business early on and figuring out who their product is for, why they would want it, and crucially, whether there's enough of a market to support it is of extreme importance to success. Hardware products require significant investment and time, so it's best to remove risks early on through assessing product / market fit, and answering tricky technical questions first," Maher says.
The IoT and wearables market will be a large market for potential development, with figures by Statista putting an estimated value of US$19 billion in 2018, ten times the value than in 2013.
Maher believes that this area will be prime for experimentation and development. If developers wish to succeed, drafting engineers and product expert early in the development process will 'de-risk' the development process. After that, he says, it's all about delivery. Relying on your experiences will help your product achieve breakthrough success.
