PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the impact of real-time data emerging from implementation of the Internet of Things (IoT) and netnography on the efficiency of the new product development (NPD).Design/methodology/approachCustomer-oriented organizations are the ones that survive in the market with a flow of new products to the market. Expectations like reduced timelines with quality focus provoke innovations. Customer inputs become the soul for a successful product wherein it becomes important to keep a constant stream of information flow back from the market. Literature review states that real-time data gathering with the implementation of IoT ensures the same. Along with real-time data, researchers have envisaged the need to identify the customer persona before incorporating customer opinion and sentiments vide netnography.FindingsThe organization can leverage the collaboration of IoT origin real-time data and sentiment analysis to effectively manage the NPD. Real-time customer data coupled with customer opinions and sentiments prove to be a game changer in the NPD process.Originality/valueThe originalities of this study are impact of IoT origin real-time data coupled with sentiment analysis on the NPD process. While impact of IoT origin data is reported in isolation similar to sentiment analysis, influence of collaboration of real-time data with sentiment analysis on NPD process is reported in this study.