Are Traditional NPD Processes Relevant to IoT Product and Service Development Activities? A Critical Examination

Abstract

Increasingly physical products are being equipped with sensors, which connect them to the Internet; the network ofthese 'smart products' are acknowledged as the Internet of Things. These digitalized artefacts have a wide variety of material properties that could include a range of outcomes, such as new products, platforms, services, and other value pathways that differentiate them from their non-digital counterparts. Practitioners and researchers acknowledge that these differences influence tremendously on IoT product and service development processes. These are significant for IoT firms that occupy the market, due toa paucity of established literature on this theme; it is difficult to find studies on NPD processes, which reflects this digitization. This is an exploratory paper. That explores current literature prior to further empirical data collection. Through a critical examination of literature, this paper examines how smart product development processes are different from traditional product development processes. Thus, this paper offers critical insights and observations to enable both practitioners and academics to ascertain a detailed understanding of diverse approaches to NPD process activities for the IoT.