Common reasons why smart connected products fail—and how to avoid them

Thorough market research allows you to gain valuable insights into customer preferences, needs and market trends. Market testing can help identify potential flaws or areas for improvement before a product reaches the consumer. Neglecting these steps can often result in failure to meet customer expectations and missed opportunities.

In today’s competitive market, it’s essential to offer unique and compelling advantages that can set your product apart from the competition. Customers are more likely to choose products that can provide innovative features, solve their problems or offer a distinct value proposition.

By identifying and understanding risks and challenges early on, you can develop strategies to help address them effectively. Mismanaging these risks can lead to unexpected problems and setbacks, such as product recalls or negative customer experiences. A proactive approach to risk management can give you the time you need to implement measures to decrease the likelihood — and impact — of issues.

Many customers are drawn to products that they perceive as well-designed. If a product fails to meet quality standards set by the customer, it will likely struggle to gain traction in the market. Before building your product, you should know the expectations of your users and what materials can help meet them.

Even the most talented teams are susceptible to groupthink, which can significantly impact decision-making processes. Interestingly, the more cohesive and collaborative a team is, the greater the likelihood groupthink could lead to ineffective decisions. To counteract this, it’s essential to involve external resources at critical points in the process. By constantly challenging decision-making through the inclusion of outsiders who can bring fresh perspectives, you can enhance the quality of decision-making processes.

An effective advisor can help you map out clear objectives to provide direction and purpose to your vision, allowing you to attain more tangible results. This roadmap can anticipate future challenges, mitigate risks and help you stay ahead of the competition.

For IoT products, you should determine the technology you’ll use for connectivity. A design and engineering advisor can help you decide on the method of data transfer to cloud and how immediate the data transmission should be. They can also help you find the resources to develop and support the software, data management and analytics needed by your business and customers.

The ideal advisor should be capable of quick prototyping and creating a minimum viable product (MVP), with a strong understanding of engineering, materials, manufacturing processes and scalability. They should focus on improving customer experiences and helping your company stay flexible in response to market and technology changes, all while staying true to your core vision.

Launching a product is only the beginning. You should know what to do during the post-launch phase, making sure that your product meets the expectations of your customers and stakeholders. A guiding hand can provide you with ongoing support who can help you navigate regulatory requirements, tax risks and sales strategies to take advantage of opportunities and reach revenue goals.