Digital transformation has had a significant impact across many industries. Beyond the regular cast of tech characters, companies spanning a wide range of verticals began to implement digital transformation to respond to market demands; the pandemic has only accelerated this trend. This global crisis crippled industries and threatened businesses of all sizes. While the situation seemed hopeless to some, others saw opportunities for positive change. Would you believe that a 100-year-old tire manufacturing company would consider smart transformation of its business to combat these challenging times?
Research conducted by Gartner shows that, since the outbreak of COVID-19, corporate budgets for technology have increased by 6.9% on average, which has a positive impact on smart transformation. In previous crises, companies often cut expenditures first, but this time their investment in technology has not decreased. In fact, the use, research, and development of smart hardware, the upgrading of management systems, the development of remote collaborative platforms, and digital means for pandemic control and prevention are now top priorities, showing the commitment of business leaders to smartization as well as the urgency of business transformation.
For many companies, working with an IoT platform was a great option to accelerate their digital transformations without having to spend millions on R&D. The following case studies are prime examples of how companies have met the demands of their customers during the pandemic, not only surviving the pandemic, but thriving throughout.
Expansion into Innovative Categories
In the early stage of the pandemic, while people were locked down at home, roadways were deserted, and buses, trains, and airplanes all sat empty. Later, social distancing and fear of community spread of the virus led people to turn to individual modes of transportation.
Goodyear, one of the world’s largest tire companies, employing about 63,000 people and manufacturing products in 46 facilities in 21 countries around the world, picked up on this trend and turned to smartization by means of business innovation. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more than 100 years, Goodyear has been delivering quality products that get people where they need to go.
Goodyear has licensed Miralbueno Group that develops activities in the agricultural machinery sector, gardening, hardware, and industrial sector. In 2020, Miralbueno Group started its partnership with an IoT development platform to power its scooters, air purifiers, and air quality monitors under the Goodyear brand. IoT technology has quickly enabled Miralbueno Group to seize new opportunities in the market and upgrade selected products to be connected within a very short time period. Currently, these IoT-enabled products, under the Goodyear brand, cover all aspects of life and are widely embraced by European and South American consumers, and more products are under development.
Traditional Goes Smart
As more people are turning to smart products to maintain a normal life and interpersonal relations, this has accelerated the smartization of daily life. During the pandemic, consumer demand for digital products and services has experienced robust growth. According to Gartner, in 2021, it is expected that the demand for digital products will go up to 83% with contact-free smart devices such as smart lighting leading the way.
SATCO, founded in 1966, is a New York-based lighting company. Thanks to advances in IoT technology, smart speakers and smart voice assistants are widely available, making the application of voice-controlled smart devices possible. In the era of artificial intelligence, more and more lighting manufacturers are eager to transform their business. SATCO is no exception.
In 2021, SATCO launched its first smart lighting brand, STARFISH™, which consists of more than 50 smart lighting products, ranging from recessed downlight fixtures to color-changing strip lights, electrical outlets, and switches. The growing line of products can be controlled and interconnected through the STARFISH app. Furthermore, the products can also be connected with more than 410,000 smart devices to provide consumers with the ease of interconnectivity. The STARFISH product line has been met with overwhelming success during the COVID-19 pandemic, with product sales increasing 100% month over month.
Businesses Move Towards the Era of the Metaverse
Today, business owners and executives around the world see the pandemic as the biggest risk factor impacting economic and business growth. As smartization is embraced by all industries, the digital revolution is well underway, with widely used passive smart products and more sophisticated active ones. At the same time, AMI (ambient intelligence) has become a “helper” in coping with the pandemic and is expected to create the next driver of growth, triggering a network effect.
Virtual reality has become a key target for all industries and the era of metaverse is coming. Virtual reality has not only become the vanguard in the fight against the pandemic but also a priority goal for different industries. Technology, which used to be thought of as in the background, is now front and center, driving new business models and transforming products and services across all industries.
Tuya Smart enables companies to achieve their smart transformation goals.