About
Digital R & D
Technology has put consumers in the driver’s seat. Customers now have instant, constant access to information about products, quality, and pricing – for both you and your competitors. In the past, if you had established yourself as a leader in a region, the competition was at a disadvantage. Today, customers know how you stack up against rivals around the world, and your past market leadership is irrelevant. This is not just a problem for sales and marketing. It is also a problem for R&D, which must respond – in as near to real time as possible – to changing customer demands.
The good news is that technology is also the solution. For example, by designing smart products that leverage Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, Computer Vision, R&D can capture usage data to understand customer desires and capture performance data to learn how to improve products rapidly.
Design cycles will have to accelerate to maintain competitive differentiation. For example, most carmakers update a car’s electronics only if the customer happens to come in for service. Tesla has upped the ante by sending new features and functions directly to the consumer through regular software updates. Do not be surprised if its competitors start to follow.