Part 1 of this series highlighted how convergence brings smart connected products to life – it  requires a good technology toolset, domain expertise, and new skillsets. It entails product development thinking that expands beyond a standalone product; which is now part of a system, and which can be further expanded into a system of systems.

How products can develop into a system of systems

And there’s an obvious reason, rather multiple reasons, why organizations are keen to move along the connected product journey and develop smart products – doing so builds competitive advantages and creates new lines of revenue. They also highly rate the ability to futureproof their business and improve customer relationships, which can be closely related aspects.

What respondents thought their biggest gain would be in developing smart connected products

Having the ability to upgrade the product software through over-the-air updates leads to more features and enhances control in the hands of the end consumer, which ensures a continuity of the product solution, increases its useful life, and thereby improves lifetime value for customers and manufacturers alike.

Smart products serve a variety of objectives and applications

Optimized maintenance, in-field operational insights for better product design, detection of misuse, and management of inventory all give manufacturers ideas on how they can reduce the costs of operation and maintenance and build revenue plans that’ll reap benefits over long periods.

While the benefits are adequately enumerated to make a good case for developing smart connected products, it also requires multiple skill sets to execute the plan.

Multiple stakeholders in the smart product development process

This is where Altair® SmartWorks™, a low-code IoT application development platform, brings tremendous value to all organizations who are looking to build world-class applications for their end consumers. This open architecture IoT infrastructure gives organizations the flexibility to build powerful web and mobile applications based on a secure, scalable, performant backend they don’t have to worry about. Taking worry out of the equation lets them focus on what’s important – adding value to their consumers.

In part 3, we’ll explore the critical success factors organizations must consider while building smart connected products. Click here to read Part 1.

In the meantime

• Sign up for a free trial of SmartWorks
• Learn more about how SmartWorks harnesses the full power of artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) with Altair’s next-generation, cloud-native enterprise data ecosystem
• For more details on smart connected product development – download the Smart Product Development eGuide