The
adoption of any new technology by the market typically goes through different
phases, as depicted in the diagram. The
Innovators are a class of customers who are always keen to be the first ones to
experience new technology. These are
the people who sleep overnight, outside the Apple Store, to be the first ones
to get their hands on the new iPhone. You can
identify them amongst your friends as the “gadget freaks”. They always
buy the new car, new phone, new watch,etc.
The second
phase of the life-cycle are the Early adopters who buy the technology because it
gives them certain benefits. These are
the people who buy a smart phone because it enables them to send/receive emails
on the move. It allows them to take pictures, post them to Instagram and so on. The third
phase is the early majority who buy technology because others are buying it and
it gives them proven benefits. They do not
want to risk being too early and they wait for the product to be accepted by
their peers.
The late
majority are the people who do not want to be left behind.
They buy
technology because everyone else has it, and without it, they risk becoming
outdated.
The laggards are conservative people who struggle to keep pace with technology.
The Chasm
is the bridge that Technology providers have to cross. 70% of the new products
fall in the chasm. They never make it to the main street. The secret
of the successful product companies is that they listen to their customers,
refine their products and ensure that customer needs are met, at the early
stage. The product
companies that do not refine their product / strategy, based on initial
customer feedback, are the ones that fall in to the chasm.
IoT, as we
speak, is in the Early adopter stage. Today’s customers are buying IoT
solutions because they want to solve specific business problems. Some of
them want to reduce cost in order to compete better. Some of them want to
design better products and some of them want to respond faster to customer
issues.There are
close to 70 technology providers around the world for IoT solutions. But, the
market penetration is yet to cross the chasm.The
companies that are refining and fine-tuning their products, based on the early
customer, are the ones that will cross the chasm and hit the main streets.
The
potential for IoT is immense. We are just looking at the tip of the proverbial
iceberg.
