Needham, Massachusetts (PRWEB) February 07, 2017 -- At least once every decade, technological advancements and stronger competition have necessitated the creation of measures that both drive and monitor the innovation performance of new technology and product capabilities. The advent of the Industrial Internet (IIoT) and the Internet of Things (IoT) will be no different. The few IIoT/IoT metrics that exist today will multiply greatly in number in the decade ahead. Industry leaders, as they did for the explosion of intellectual property metrics this past decade, and product portfolio and open innovation metrics before that, will develop new metrics that specify IIoT and IoT design criteria and requirements in product creation and development processes so as to systematically enable capabilities across their products and product lines.
New-To-The-World IIoT & IoT Metrics
There will be IoT-related metrics to assure sensors exist on and within products to gather data throughout the product life cycle. There will be metrics that quantify the ability of sensors to generate, qualify, and archive data to big data repositories. There will be metrics that gauge the amount of data actually captured vs. data that was lost or corrupted. There will be metrics that rate a company on the ability of their products to fit in multi-vendor settings, such as emergency rooms or factory floors or transportation hubs. In many ways, the sky is the limit for the number of metrics that might be created for a technology with a goal to tie everything together.
To be competitive at the end game, companies will need strong design thinking to modify their R&D, product development, and product commercialization processes. Capabilities will need to be designed-in to products and be part of the "product's system."
GGI is currently concentrating our efforts on IIoT and IoT metrics that drive and enable capabilities in products and their manufacturing processes. For example, in the areas of product architecture and modularity, expect metrics that rate product designs on their "sensor-readiness," "ability to receive and adjust to signals during manufacture and then in customer settings," and "ability to generate data of customer value." In the areas of product planning and definition, expect metrics that assess the strength of the product to "fit with data gathering/producing/monitoring infrastructure" of the differing markets and customer environments. In the areas of product design and development, expect metrics that assess the "effectiveness, efficiency, and coverage of sensors" in the product; along with new "reliability measures for up-time and data error rates."
New metrics and KPIs will also emanate from customers and the marketplace(s). Customer satisfaction is sure to have a number "IoT satisfaction" components. Research companies and market/investor analysts are sure to develop "comparative indices on the best IoT-enabled industries and companies.
More Emphasis On Risk Management
The Internet of Things is not the only measurement area that is getting attention. With all that is going on in the world, Risk Metrics are evolving. Most companies, ERM system or not, have little actual knowledge of the monetary business, portfolio, and product risks they face. Only 35-40% of companies can currently quantify their potential risk costs. HBR's article on "VUCA" has helped many to think outside the traditional risk metrics box.
Better Innovation Productivity & Efficiency Metrics
CFOs are becoming more active in creating metrics that measure the financial output of R&D and product development, for a given amount of R&D spending; productivity equals output divided by input. The Great Recession spawned new metrics like "NPD Efficiency" and "Research Quotient."
Personal & Corporate Advancement
If staying current and employing the best available metrics is important to you or your company, please join us February 28 to March 2, 2017 in Norwood, Massachusetts for the 21st R&D-Product Development Metrics Summit. We will discuss the KPIs, metrics, and measures that drive innovation productivity and performance from a C-Level viewpoint. Marketing managers, program managers, and technical managers that manage budgets or groups of people will also embrace this curriculum and workshop.
Bradford Goldense, Goldense Group, Inc. [GGI], http://www.goldensegroupinc.com, +1 781-444-5400 Ext: 205, [email protected]
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