Engineering Delightful Experiences

13 Pages·2014·3.69 MB·English

Engineering Delightful Experiences
A Frost & Sullivan White Paper
frost.com
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3
Market Trends ............................................................................................................................... 4
Multiple Facets of a Product Translate into Tight Integration Needs ...................................... 4
The Quest to Achieve an Ideal Work-Life Balance ................................................................... 5
“ITfication” of Some Industries .................................................................................................. 5
Achieving Competitive Differentiation ....................................................................................... 5
Ability to Provide Acceleration ................................................................................................... 7
Ability to Create Value ................................................................................................................ 7
Enabling Adoption of Latest Technology ................................................................................... 9
HCL ERS ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 11
About the Author ......................................................................................................................... 12
contents
Engineering Delightful Experiences
INTRODUCTION
In their book1, The Experience Economy, B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore eloquently articulate the
progression of economic value, from the early days of agrarian societies to the dawn of the industrial economy
and its subsequent transformation into the service economy. The authors make a convincing point that we are
now embarking on yet another evolution, namely the advent of the experience economy, in which the consumer
expects not merely goods or services, but experiences.
Pine and Gilmore argue that the successful companies in this new era will wrap experiences around their
products and services in order to sell them better. However, in order to obtain the full benefit of staging
experiences, businesses must purposely design engaging experiences that are capable of commanding a premium,
as depicted in the figure below. One of the advantages of an experience-based marketing strategy is that it
enables a company to manufacture a viral effect.
Figure 1 – The Evolution toward the Experience Economy
d
e
t
a
ti Stage
N n
O re Experiences
I e
SIT Diff
O Deliver
P Services
E
V
I
T
I Make
T d
E e Goods
P at
M ti
O n
e
C r Extract
e
diff Commodities
n
U
Market Premium
PRICING
Source: Frost & Sullivan, adapted from an HBR article
The iPhone is, of course, the iconic example of the newest stage in the evolution of economic value. People
came to love the iPhone not just for its features, but for the entire delightful experience of using it – the way
it looks and feels, the device’s usability and user interfaces, how they acquire and use apps, and the list goes on.
A key component in the pursuit of a delightful experience is customer feedback. Earlier on, engineering was a
hierarchical, top-driven approach with pre-planned product development schedules devised by the companies’
leadership. These engineering leaders were quite apart from the customers, and as a result, more focused on
the need of the hour, which was the technology aspect of products. As a result, customer feedback had a longer
cycle to be incorporated into an offering, as experience was secondary to capabilities or technologies in the
product. However, today the markets have swung the opposite way, since customers care less and less about
the technology per se, and have higher expectations about having a good experience. This experience, driven by
1 “The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stag,” by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore,
Harvard Business Review Press, © 1999 3
frost.com
a customer-centric engineering process, has brought the engineering leadership much closer to the customers.
Feedback cycles are now much shorter and multiple channels of feedback have opened up with social media
coming into place. Engineering superior customer experience is the biggest competitive advantage companies
are trying to create for themselves today.
In this white paper, we will examine current market trends in the global engineering space, including the multiple
facets of a product and the required tight integration to bring that product into fruition, the work-life balance
dynamic, and the “ITfication” of some industries as they embrace IT models. We will then examine how
competitive differentiation can be achieved in engineering great products, via delivering a faster time to market,
creating value and leveraging the latest technological advancements. Finally, we introduce HCL’s Engineering
and R&D Services (ERS) business, and why we believe it is uniquely positioned to capture mindshare and be
a trusted and reliable partner in engineering delightful experiences.
MARKET TRENDS
Multiple Facets of a Product Translate into Tight Integration Needs
Creating a product that delivers a great end-to-end user experience requires a much more integrated approach
to engineering, one in which information technology is embedded in a product ecosystem from the initial
design stage. Take the automobile. Increasingly, a buyer’s choice of car is based on the software on board and
its ability to manage the overall driver and passenger experience through multiple systems – entertainment and
communications, remote diagnostics, driver and passenger safety.
This will become increasingly true as traditional products become more like services. For instance, an intelligent
car will know if its fan belt is likely to break in the next 50 miles. Using its 4G or LTE communication chip, it will
check the inventory at the nearest repair center, tell you that they have the part, book an appointment for you,
and order a replacement part to replenish the repair center’s inventory.
In fact, an automobile is no longer simply an automobile; it’s an automobile with an overlay of
telecommunications, consumer electronics, and other elements of the driver and passenger experience. This
convergence of industries in a single product is leading many companies to ask what business they’re in. It may
not be the company’s traditional business or any of the traditional industries. Companies in today’s automotive
industry instead will need to look at what value they can create for customers and what partner ecosystem they
must develop to make that happen.
Experience-driven engineering will become essential in the future, impacting both the car manufacturers and
the CTOs of electronics and semiconductor manufacturers. As the quantity of electronic components inside
of a car continues to rise, the need for a scalable solution to connect the various isolated networks (engine
control unit, controller area networks, multimedia systems, and sensors) within the vehicle has grown as well.
This is where In-Vehicle Ethernet can play a key role, as it is a more standardized and less-expensive alternative
compared to other network technologies. In-Vehicle Ethernet can potentially develop into a standardized
automotive infrastructure component and will spur the advent of a new wave of connected vehicle applications.
Automobiles are just one of numerous products and services in which user experience is becoming paramount.
Smart lighting in commercial airliners is reducing the jet lag of long-haul passengers. Sensors in homes and
assisted living facilities are improving the quality of life for elderly residents by monitoring their well-being.
Mobile telephones, with a penetration in emerging markets that is many times higher than that of credit or bank
debit cards, are serving as payment portals that bring financial services to traditionally underserved populations.
4
Engineering Delightful Experiences
Products are lending themselves to service-based models so that there is a renewable relationship and companies
can make recurring revenue.
The Quest to Achieve an Ideal Work-Life Balance
Employees are increasingly aware of the need to increase their productivity while also striking a proper balance
between their work and personal lives. Therefore, there is a growing demand for solutions that allow these
employees to be productive from anywhere and enable them to use some “downtime” effectively to answer
e-mails, send scheduling requests, set up and participate in meetings, and work collaboratively with other
members of the team.
A number of pilot projects undertaken by enterprises in North America and Europe have indicated that when
teams of interdependent workers (such as customer service reps) are allowed to create their own plans for
how and when to get their work done, productivity improves considerably.
There is another dynamic that is worth mentioning here, namely how “Gen Y-ers” are treating work-life
balance more as a work-life blend. The shift also stems from the observation that Gen X is more tech-savvy,
while Gen Y is tech-dependent, and as such, can flip back and forth between its personal and work lives quite
frequently. In order to achieve such a work-life blend lifestyle for their employees, enterprises need to be able
to supply access to their corporate data from any device, anytime, anywhere.
Solutions such as telepresence and unified communications (UC) are creating tremendous value by creating
travel savings, and enabling faster decision-making, stronger customer relationships, cost control and
improved productivity.
“ITfication” of Some Industries
Industrial revolution improvements are coming from innovations and efficiencies being delivered via IT models.
The IT function is to aggressively adopt a product development – and thus business-crucial – role, so it will have
to think beyond software applications and become more focused on consumers. Collaboration between CTOs
and CIOs will have to significantly increase. And for both the CIO and the CTO, technology will be only a means
to an end; that is, an experience that will delight the users of their products.
ACHIEVING COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION
In order to offer a delightful QoE in their products and to differentiate themselves from the competition,
companies need to:
• have product/service velocity;
• make a compelling value proposition; and
• provide innovation via the latest technologies.
In other words, there is a need for a more integrated approach to engineering, i.e., one in which IT models/
techniques are leveraged right from the start (i.e., initial design stage). But some leading brands might need to
develop a relationship with a trusted partner that can provide that essential component. And what characteristics
should the portfolio of such a partner have?
5
frost.com
In terms of an accelerated go-to-market strategy, it is necessary to make a distinction between “incremental”
or “affordable” innovation, which delivers a few extra features to an already existing product, often hiding
in plain sight, but yet with the potential to pave a product’s way to mass adoption; and “breakthrough” or
“quantum leap” innovation, which have the potential to create new product categories and change people’s
lives, ushering end users into a new world of possibilities.
A successful company such as Apple can delight its customers in providing breakthrough innovation via products
such as the iPhone while also pragmatically delivering incremental innovation, adding value and features to
its product line. While those extra functions might not seem like much taken in isolation, over time, as users
take a step back and look at the totality of these additional features, the subtle flair of Apple’s methodical
innovation approach becomes evident. The fact is that “game-changing” products such as the iPhone simply
do not come around every year, not even every three years; if that happened, these breakthrough products
would not be as ground-breaking and revolutionary after their introduction.
Therefore, it is important to seek out both types of innovation: those coming from building up incremental
features and functions, and those that can create a paradigm shift within an industry, revolutionizing it and
creating a new delightful end-user experience. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to manage innovation
both “upstream” and “downstream” a product line. For instance, the figure below depicts the various solution
types for video conferencing, ranging from simple (mobile) to complex (immersive telepresence). Incremental
innovation can be achieved for each product category, but it was breakthrough innovation that delivered a new
product category that delivers the most compelling end-user experience (immersive telepresence).
Figure 2 – Gamut of Video Conferencing Solutions
Video Conferencing Solutions
Immersive
Telepresence
)
e
c Life-size images, spatial audio, every
n
e participants has a seat at the table
ri
e Multipurpose
p
x
E Rooms can be use with or
of without telepresence
y (leveraging MCUs)
alit Personal
u
Q Single-screen executive
E ( tdeelsekptroeps etnecleep urensitesn,ce
o Immersive
Q Mobile
Telepresence:
er Supported endpoints: Providing the
s Highest QoE
U (cid:127) Smartphone
- (cid:127) Tablet
d
n (cid:127) Laptop
E
Product Features
Source: Frost & Sullivan
6
Engineering Delightful Experiences
Ability to Provide Acceleration
The early adopters of a new technology in a given industry can typically command a coveted premium,
while defining and creating a new market segment. Competitive pressures have shortened product lifecycle
and, as a result, created more need to have agility in new product introductions.
HCL’s ERS (Engineering and R&D Services) division can bring three key pillars toward addressing this
goal: accelerated development, plug-and-play solutions, and global delivery. ERS has mature and proven
competencies in delivering complex engineering products across nine industries.
Figure 3 – ERS Global Delivery Model
Source: HCL ERS
Accelerated delivery can be achieved by focusing on four different areas: concept to manufacture, transition
and resourcing, quality and compliance, and engineering delivery. Each of these areas can accelerate development
for different aspects of the overall project delivery, be them for ramp-up time, product launch, product quality
or end-customer satisfaction.
Plug-and-play solutions can also dramatically shorten the time to market, reducing development time by as
much as 30%. In its engagements, the ERS team relies upon 20-plus ready-made solutions across segments
such as Mobility, Cloud, M2M, Smart Devices, Analytics, NUI, Online, and Video, among others. These plug-
and-play solutions are categorized into four main groups: Product Intelligence (PI), App Test Factory (ATF),
Performance Engineering (PE), and Extendable framework for device testing (eDAT).
Lastly, ERS can deliver across five continents, supporting clients with a “follow-the-sun” capability in a scalable,
culturally diverse fashion that takes advantage of factors such as proximity and familiarity with local regulations.
The local expertise across several locations around the world can be leveraged to engineer the best solution.
7
frost.com
An example of ERS’ acceleration capabilities is a project that involved the end-to-end development of a
monocular handheld infrared camera for law enforcement. The ERS team:
• Accelerated the product release in nine months;
• Achieved a 25% reduction in the time to market;
• Attained the highest sales volume and fastest ROI; and
• Sold more than 40% of its projections.
Ability to Create Value
Another tenet in achieving a strong competitive differentiation is making a compelling value proposition, which
can be attained by delivering an incredible price-to-benefit ratio. Mature products have a competitive feature-to-
margin ratio, while emerging markets have lower price points. In addition, innovation has a risk everyone wants
to mitigate.
ERS tackles all of these issues via a three-pronged value strategy, consisting of:
• Value-Based Quality: A catalog-based testing that lowers the cost of quality and concomitantly raises
the product quality.
• Value Engineering: I ndustry-leading test, value engineering and product lifecycle management expertise,
VAVE and service monetization. T his results in a roughly 30% impact on TCO and 25% impact on customer
satisfaction.
• Value-Based Sustenance: ERS relies upon 30-plus years of engineering acumen with best-in-class
mature processes delivering superior customer satisfaction. This results in a 25% impact on engineering
and maintenance costs.
ERS’ value creation pedigree includes a 15-year mature engagement with one of the world’s largest telecom
OEM companies, and consisting of development, testing and sustenance of an industry-leading switching
portfolio. This infrastructure is deployed by over 35,000 customers globally with an overall business impact
of more than $4 billion and spanning 60 patents. One of the key improvements was the 35% improvement in
release cycles.
8
Engineering Delightful Experiences
Figure 4 – ERS’ Value Engineering
Info Acquisition, Analysis, Ideation - Phase 1
Validation, Finalization - Phase 11
(cid:127) Gather key product data
Implementation - Phase 111 Pre-Workshop (cid:127) Perform Analysis to
identify areas for cost out
(1~3 Weeks)
(cid:127) Brainstorm alternatives
-Designs, Materials
-Processes, Tolerances
-Sourcing, Standardization
(cid:127) Pmscraoanldeuu fpcartco truderuleicnatgsio efnodr t ofu ll RELEASE UNDERSTAND IDEATE (1~3 days W@ orksh(cid:127)o pDocument all ideas
(cid:127)(cid:127) FRpireno-acdl eutrectsti ftiaicnpagpt ircooonvmsa lposl re ted Onsite) (cid:127)(cid:127) RBuanildki ncog nosfe Indseuass
completed (cid:127) Create Ideas short-list
n PRIORITIZE for validation
atio TAEPSPTRIONVGA &L oHf CExLc Ceellenntecre CuTsetaommer
t
n
em (cid:127) High level analysis
e -Technical Justification
lp -Financial Justification through
m cost modeling
I -Implementability
(cid:127) Create working PROTOTYPE VALIDATE (cid:127) Risk assessment
dpreositgont yapned wBiOthM new eks) (cid:127) Compute ROI
We n
(cid:127) Redesign based on REDESIGN BUSPINREEPSAS RCEASE (6 to 10 Evaluati(cid:127)o Define project objectives
approved project plan (cid:127) Present project ideas
(cid:127) Summarize financials
(cid:127) Risk mitigation plan
(cid:127) Project timeline
Customer Approval
Source: HCL ERS
Enabling Adoption of Latest Technology
The convergence of industries is catalyst to both new technology challenges and opportunities. One such
instance is the advent of the SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud) stack, which is becoming increasingly more
pervasive and becoming a “game-changer” for all businesses across various industries.
ERS qualifies the latest technology in three main categories:
• Disruptive Technology: Technologies such as NUI (Natural User Interface), NFC (Near-Field
Communication) and SDN (Software-Defined Networking), which are proving to be potential game-
changers and for which ERS can leverage a portfolio of over 1,250 patents across multiple industries.
• Adjacent Technology: Group of related industry technologies that impact the convergence trend and
capabilities for technologies ranging from aerospace to software/online.
• Next-Generation Technology: This denotes technologies that can be used to created next-gen
experiences, resulting in up to 25% improvement of usability and adoption. This requires an effort
involving the set up of advanced research units, labs and capability development.
9
frost.com
Figure 5 – ERS’ Next-Generation Technology
Source: HCL ERS
As an example of ERS’ help in stimulating the adoption of newer technologies, the unit has developed an
Android-based, in-flight handset for airplanes from design to manufacturing. This was a complete end-to-
end industrial design project, including component and material selection, Android v. 3.2 customization, and
integration with TI-based hardware.
HCL ERS
HCL’s Engineering and R&D Services (ERS) can be that trusted partner, advise its clients on key issues, and
help them deliver a delightful experience to their end customers. In order to achieve this, ERS can leverage the
following intangibles:
• Global footprint: ERS has at its disposal a total of 18,500 engineers across four continents that serve
a total of 300-plus active engineering engagements at 75 active offshore development centers with
dedicated labs and 22 shared labs.
• Wide array of experiences engineered: ERS maintains a diversified portfolio capable of engineering
delightful experiences across a comprehensive gamut of verticals, including aerospace, automotive,
consumer electronics, industrial manufacturing, ISV and online, medical devices, semiconductor, servers
and storage, and telecom.
• Customer pedigree: ERS has an enviable blue-chip customer list, having worked with seven of the top
10 A&D companies, most of the major automotive OEMs across North America and Europe, seven of
the top 10 medical device companies, two major mobile and digital lifestyle OEMs, top three white goods
manufacturers, four major platform vendors, two networks operators, three of the top seven Fortune 500
CSPs, five out of the top seven OEMs, top four handset manufacturers, top three VAS solution providers,
six out of the top 10 Semi OEMs, and seven of the top 10 ISVs.
10