- [Instructor] Smart products and connected products
are predominant in IoT.
Unfortunately, these types of products often fail
because the incremental value
is less than the incremental cost.
Value modeling addresses this.
It is a three-step process
for creating valuable IoT products.
Again, let's consider an IoT dryer.
Our first step is to define the value proposition.
In this case, it's dry clothes as quickly as possible
or for as cheaply as possible,
while maintaining their integrity.
In the next step, we quantify this value proposition.
There are two parts.
There's ventilation and heat.
Both contribute to the evaporation of liquid into gas
which is what in effect a dryer does.
So in this case time or energy
is a function of ventilation, heat, and pricing.
To quantify this model,
we need to capture certain variables.
They could include fan speed, angular velocity of the drum,
load weight, heater temperature, drum temperature,
and finally electricity pricing.
These variables expose the sensors that we need to include
in our IoT dryer.
It's important to note that the model
is not a one and done solution.
Overtime, as we capture more and more of these variables,
we refine the model and it becomes more accurate.
Once we have our IoT dryer in software form,
we can manipulate it to solve it in different ways.
For example, if we want to dry the load
as quickly as possible, we can minimize time,
we can then take those variables to configure the dryer
so that it dries the clothes in the shortest amount of time.
Next, we look at analytics.
As mentioned earlier, the model has improved
by capturing additional data points for each variable.
At a high level, we can classify analytics in three ways.
Looking into the past.
For example, perhaps we want to do a report
to see how our IoT dryer utilized energy.
Looking in the present.
Perhaps we identify a heating coil that's overheating
so we shut down the dryer.
And looking into the future
where we make predictions on let's say
how long the clothes will take to dry.
Value modeling is a key differentiator
between an IoT product
and its smart and connected counterparts.
The smart product may have an embedded chip
to determine timing.
The connected product may be connected to your phone
so you can look inside
or get a message when your laundry is finished.
The IoT dryer can dry clothes as quickly as possible
or dry them for as low a cost as possible
and it can be connected to a network of other IoT dryers,
together all contributing to a cyber model
that improves all of their quality.
The incremental value of a smart dryer isn't that high.
Same for an incremental value of a connected dryer.
How much more would it be worth
to be able to get a text message from your dryer
or to be able to look inside it?
It's key to put value front and center
when designing your IoT product.
Use the process of value modeling to go beyond
creating merely a connected or a smart product.