This week I was thinking about redefining home ariconditioning and how google, facebook and linkedin will infleunce this rebirth. MicroAC concept enables unique opportunity for creating great user experience and additional value than just cooling or heating your house. In today's article see how the mobile user interface can become a paltform for social networking and the cloud based database can become the spring board for a plethora of open source add ons....
If I were to redefine a traditional manufacturing company like air conditioning how would the learning from the new high tech world be incorporated into the business model? Air conditioning was invented more than 100 years ago. Most of the innovation has been on the high end systems with the introduction of smart
thermostats and controls for example. The compression technology made significant improvements in efficiency but the base system and application of air conditioning a house has not changed much in hundred years.
With microAC I want to use existing technology and apply it differently. What I want to do is combination of a few smart technologies that do not require major innovation but the innovation is in application of the technology. This creates a superior user experience and saves a lot of energy at the same time. I have more details of the idea on this website. But in this blog I want to see how a traditional industry like home AC
in USA can become a differentiator in the house purchase decisions through the lessons from Google, Facebook and other who are defining the internet era.
In many ways the the dot com era is still being defined. Google is defining the internet search and how information is organized, while Facebook, linkedin etc. are defining virtual communities and social interactions. Together, they are defining how businesses market and service their products. Viral marketing through blogs and twitter have proven to be very powerful. Companies like Dell and Starbucks learnt to use these effectively (ideastorm.com and mystarbucksidea.com). even though the evolution is an ongoing process, there are some clear trends for success.
There is power in free. Google has shown us that by giving something’s for free you attract the critical mass required that opens new paths to revenue. Adwrods is the classic example. Even in the depths of recession Google’s revenue continued to grow. There is power in distributed. Google and Facebook allow their content (like maps, facbook login, facebook feedback etc.) to be embedded on any website. I think this is called mashups. This is an ingenious way to increase your reach to hundreds or thousands of websites. There is power in community development or open source. Wikipedia and Flikr have found success through the power of collaboration. People like to have to power to contribute and create content. When the community activity is controlled and channeled properly, the results are great. It is equivalent to having focus group, product definition and development and field testing all for free and done right. The social networks created online are niche groups based on social, demographic or particular interests or activity, inside the niche groups there is so much openness and sharing. The strongest networks are buil around sharing and openness.
I have been thinking how microAC can incorporate some of these features successfully. I know I have to experiment and learn in this development. For starters, any customer of SHAC will have free access to his house environment and economics information. This information will be available to the user community through an app on their phone or tablet. The app will have user friendly customizable screens that can be integrated with facebook. The data will be stored securely on a cloud and the user can decide what he wants to share with his friends on facebook or any other network that allows integration of external website. The users can monitor the energy savings and air quality in the house on Facebook. The community blogs – linked to facebook will be used to discuss features of the apps that work and that require improvement. Users can share the house data on comfort, energy, air quality and home usage patterns etc. When they
openly share and discuss, the user learns to better manage their house environment (temp, humidity and air quality) etc. The company learns on features that excite customers and those that do not etc. The community provides an ongoing source of innovation.
User community is not the only way to increase the value of the app and data. I like to tap into the ensource developer community to transform the rich data available into valuable uses for home owners, other appliance manufacturers or utlilitites or the police etc. If you are wondering how it may
help the police…be patient you will see in a minute.
There is valuable data available in the cloud. Temperature, humidity, and air quality, home usage patterns, usage of lights in the house, energy consumption and savings realized over conventional systems etc… A
developer could register with us and get access to the information required to develop add on applications. For example a developer in the energy business can be expected to use this info and create value for the utilities. Or a developer with security background might innovate on the home usage patterns for the
police. Or someone in health might know how to use the air quality data. Another appliance maker might integrate his appliance wirelessly to the cloud and use the cloud and SHAC app to interface. Taking this further, other devices can use the data in the cloud to enhance their product or service. Thus, the SHAC starts becoming the whole house automation system. Through this innovation, new revenue paths will emerge. This can either be through direct sale of an app or through services for other appliance makers or service providers.
I have already written a lot more than I wanted to, I am not a writer and one day I hope I can get a student to proof read and edit what I have written. I say students for two reasons – the first is that is what I can afford and two they are usually full of enthusiasm and creativity and sometimes this is dampened over time.
thermostats and controls for example. The compression technology made significant improvements in efficiency but the base system and application of air conditioning a house has not changed much in hundred years.
With microAC I want to use existing technology and apply it differently. What I want to do is combination of a few smart technologies that do not require major innovation but the innovation is in application of the technology. This creates a superior user experience and saves a lot of energy at the same time. I have more details of the idea on this website. But in this blog I want to see how a traditional industry like home AC
in USA can become a differentiator in the house purchase decisions through the lessons from Google, Facebook and other who are defining the internet era.
In many ways the the dot com era is still being defined. Google is defining the internet search and how information is organized, while Facebook, linkedin etc. are defining virtual communities and social interactions. Together, they are defining how businesses market and service their products. Viral marketing through blogs and twitter have proven to be very powerful. Companies like Dell and Starbucks learnt to use these effectively (ideastorm.com and mystarbucksidea.com). even though the evolution is an ongoing process, there are some clear trends for success.
There is power in free. Google has shown us that by giving something’s for free you attract the critical mass required that opens new paths to revenue. Adwrods is the classic example. Even in the depths of recession Google’s revenue continued to grow. There is power in distributed. Google and Facebook allow their content (like maps, facbook login, facebook feedback etc.) to be embedded on any website. I think this is called mashups. This is an ingenious way to increase your reach to hundreds or thousands of websites. There is power in community development or open source. Wikipedia and Flikr have found success through the power of collaboration. People like to have to power to contribute and create content. When the community activity is controlled and channeled properly, the results are great. It is equivalent to having focus group, product definition and development and field testing all for free and done right. The social networks created online are niche groups based on social, demographic or particular interests or activity, inside the niche groups there is so much openness and sharing. The strongest networks are buil around sharing and openness.
I have been thinking how microAC can incorporate some of these features successfully. I know I have to experiment and learn in this development. For starters, any customer of SHAC will have free access to his house environment and economics information. This information will be available to the user community through an app on their phone or tablet. The app will have user friendly customizable screens that can be integrated with facebook. The data will be stored securely on a cloud and the user can decide what he wants to share with his friends on facebook or any other network that allows integration of external website. The users can monitor the energy savings and air quality in the house on Facebook. The community blogs – linked to facebook will be used to discuss features of the apps that work and that require improvement. Users can share the house data on comfort, energy, air quality and home usage patterns etc. When they
openly share and discuss, the user learns to better manage their house environment (temp, humidity and air quality) etc. The company learns on features that excite customers and those that do not etc. The community provides an ongoing source of innovation.
User community is not the only way to increase the value of the app and data. I like to tap into the ensource developer community to transform the rich data available into valuable uses for home owners, other appliance manufacturers or utlilitites or the police etc. If you are wondering how it may
help the police…be patient you will see in a minute.
There is valuable data available in the cloud. Temperature, humidity, and air quality, home usage patterns, usage of lights in the house, energy consumption and savings realized over conventional systems etc… A
developer could register with us and get access to the information required to develop add on applications. For example a developer in the energy business can be expected to use this info and create value for the utilities. Or a developer with security background might innovate on the home usage patterns for the
police. Or someone in health might know how to use the air quality data. Another appliance maker might integrate his appliance wirelessly to the cloud and use the cloud and SHAC app to interface. Taking this further, other devices can use the data in the cloud to enhance their product or service. Thus, the SHAC starts becoming the whole house automation system. Through this innovation, new revenue paths will emerge. This can either be through direct sale of an app or through services for other appliance makers or service providers.
I have already written a lot more than I wanted to, I am not a writer and one day I hope I can get a student to proof read and edit what I have written. I say students for two reasons – the first is that is what I can afford and two they are usually full of enthusiasm and creativity and sometimes this is dampened over time.
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