The Internet of Things (IoT) has been called, “the most significant market disruption since the dawn of the Internet” and everything we already see in development (e.g., Google’s Project Jacquard) bears that out. In fact, take a peek at this IoT List to get a sense of some of the products already on the market (mainly consumer ones).
As 2015 progresses and we move in to 2016, you will hear, see and experience the “IoT” as it accelerates and permeates our consciousness. Consumers, businesspeople, supply chain and manufacturers—essentially everyone not living in a cave cut off from the world—will become increasingly familiar with IoT as it becomes a world economic focus.
That familiarity and awareness will be driven by what we wear, sit on, surround ourselves with, design, ship, and interact with, becomes increasingly digital, connected to the internet, and controlled by our smartphones, tablets, or computers (or even internet-connected and dedicated boxes in our homes, offices and facilities).
In fact, the oft-cited IoT forecast that there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2020 by Cisco (who says this will result in $14 trillion in global economic activity – PDF), or McKinsey & Co. (will add $310B in incremental revenue to companies that embrace IoT) and countless others, has become increasingly accepted (WIRED: “Are Enterprises Ready for Billions of Devices to Join the Internet?”).
But what has been lacking in virtually ALL of the analysis, projections, excitement and enthusiasm, has been a focus on the essence, the meaning, and how profound this transformation will be on we human beings.
The Era of Living Services
A new report from Accenture Interactive’s Fjord, Design and Innovation group, explains (in non-technical jargon) how the digitization of everything + liquid consumer expectations are creating the next wave of digital transformation.
The report’s focus is on the Internet of Things (IoT) but from the perspective of how the world we will shortly be in will be a learning, adapting, and sensing one that is fluid and “liquid”:
You will have heard of the Internet of Things, but how will businesses and brands use it? How will health services, transportation, insurance, utilities and security companies, for example, evolve to match our increasingly liquid demands and expectations in a world where almost everything is digitized?
These questions are answered in this ground-breaking report on the future of everyday life by Fjord, which envisages how businesses from oil companies to retailers, will create entirely new types of customer service or ways of working.
The Era of Living Services describes how brands will use the Internet of Things and powerful data analytics to create services that come to life; predicting and reacting to consumers’ changing needs and circumstances. In other words, branded services that are personalized and change in real-time for every individual wherever they are and whatever they are doing. It looks at the effect Living Services will have on most aspects of our lives – from our homes, finances and work; to our health, shopping and the future of travel.
This is likely one of the most important reports you will read this year as it puts IoT in to a real-world context that you will undoubtedly find applicable and useful to what you do. You can read more, download a PDF of Accenture’s The Era of Living Services, or watch a video about it here.