At the beginning of a new decade, a new year or any new era at all, it seems natural to look around and search for the next big thing to come. As designers we do this quite often – almost on a daily basis – by researching and observing people’s behaviour, their use of stuff and patterns in general, and therefore people often ask us about this. And as a lot of the people we work with have a tendency to like products and technology (or even have a business build upon one or both of these), they often ask things like ‘what new technologies are emerging?’ or ‘what kind of products will we see within the next (insert number) years?’. And though these questions are relevant, answering them alone will not provide the useful answer you really need.
Because the future of technology is convergence and the future of products is services.
Increasing availability of new technology and commoditisation of products makes both technology and products unable to create the significant differentiation in the market needed for companies to survive. Instead it is the coherent experience of technologies in a relevant application surrounded by seamlessly integrated services that will make the difference on the market in the 2010’s.
A shining example that already exists is of course Apple’s iPhone, iTunes and iTunes Music/App Store complex of products and services. While any given company with an electronics engineering team and a couple of web designers is able to cobble together an MP3 player, a mobile phone and a site for music download for that matter, Apple is second to none in this area and will most likely be for years to come. – Simply because they focus on the customer experience and desires instead of technology and products. Of course the solution sports a lot of advanced and new technology on both the hardware and software part, but this is not in itself what makes the difference: It is the application of it and the services surrounding it.
Apple, Zipcar, Netflix and a lot of other cutting edge companies share the same secret (which is not really a secret): Instead of asking ‘what is the next big thing?’ they ask what needs and desires their potential customers have and explore ways to satisfy them with whatever technology products and service it might take. Though it sounds simple it often requires some working on the mindset in companies that have traditionally seen themselves as product manufacturers suddenly to realise that they are in fact service providers developing products to give access to a service which is what their customers actually regards as the real value of the product and thereby the reason to engage with the company and it’s products in the first place.
Products are great because they make technology useful and relevant, but they are often just the carrier of services. Services providing what you actually need: Like getting around. The solution to this is not (necessarily) the car, but now that we have it, it’s hard to imagine that it is not there. And therefore we see car manufacturing companies struggle or even die these years: When you compete on making a car and you no longer need to overcome heavy barriers in terms of knowledge or technology to do it, basically all you have left to compete about is price. Or having the latest technology first or having it fail the least. – Or making the coolest commercials. And then you die. – Because you will never be able to differentiate your company enough from your competitors this way. Because neither of the above creates a significant better experience.
If instead of being in the car industry you were in the ‘getting people from place to place in the most convenient way’-industry, suddenly your opportunities would be a lot different: You could run a car sharing service, a shuttle bus company or – if you were a public institution like a city government – install a metro system or make cycling lanes all over town… Or you could make the car that made all other cars redundant because it was thoughtfully integrated with other products and services increasing the value of both – or a solution that we cannot even imagine yet.
Services are nothing new and they are not the golden solution to anything. Services basically occur whenever people interact with each other or with companies or organisations regardless of it being person to person or through some kind of interface. And by focusing on the value you create through your services you will be able to make new, groundbreaking products and prosperous business ideas for the new decade.
But just as there are no products without services, there are no services without products. So don’t be mistaken by people trying to tell you that products do not matter anymore and that the important thing is what you design, not how you design it. That is a fatal misjudgement. Again, take a look at Apple: Though it is the iPhone, iTunes and the Music/App Store that makes the coherent experience in the end, the iPhone in itself is such a cool product that you could have people buying it even it could not even be turned on. And the interaction between the three and yourself is a carefully thought out design too by the way.
Happy 2010’s!
2 Comments
Great article. Good perspective. Thanks!
Great reading, thanks.