Since the Internet of Things (IoT) gained widespread relevance and made it's way firmly into our digital space, many of our clients are now using smart products which come with the Internet of Things to drive their businesses forward.
What are Smart Products?
We like to think of Smart products as the online representatives of the physical products that you can see, feel and touch.
The physical item could be anything but it is represented online as a product. This is made possible by the use of certain high-end technological innovations like the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and Near Field Communication (NFC) which are both an effective way of recognizing and tracking items.
For instance, if you want to create a smart product, you will attach a tag to the physical product. This tag will help you establish a connection between the physical product and the online version of it. These tags store information about the physical product. It is electronically saved and can be used to track the progress and location of the product using an RFID reader.
This not only helps you gather extra data about your users but has automaticly created a connection and channel for you to communicate directly to the consumer!
With these RFID technology tags, you can create the online version of any product and that makes the product a smart product.
This technology is used to create a synergy between the physical and its digital representation. So any changes made on the smart product will ultimately affect the physical product and vice versa.
Supply Chain Managment (SCM)
Companies and businesses that use smart products make use of a system called Supply Chain Management (SCM). For instance, if your business has smart products, It will have to strategize, monitor and manage the smart products from when they are produced, launched and supplied to consumers.
This SCM system will aid effectiveness and help drive your business to great heights. If you create a smart product and forget about it, the essence is defeated. You need to monitor it regularly and receive feedback on the progress of the product at the hands of consumers.
Let’s use Apple as an example. Every customer or anyone that purchases the Apple product is required to register that product. When this is done, a unique identifier is given to the customer and the product. With these unique ID's, Apple can then monitor that particular product and the progress level in terms of the consumer experience.
Hopefully, with the direct link to consumers, you can see the benefit of creating smart products and why they are driving digital transformation all around the world.
Let us help you innovate with Smart Products. Contact us today.