Whether it’s a refrigerator that knows when your milk runs low or smart pillows that keep your partner from snoring, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the latest technological wave. Many call IOT the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with the average home predicted to have as many as 500 connected devices by 2020 (Gartner).And for Amway, this isn’t just a trend to track, we’re delivering connected experiences for ABOs who run their lives and their businesses on mobile.
Atmosphere Sky, Amway’s latest air treatment system, is the first connected product resulting from Amway’s newly created IoT Initiative. Sky allows you to control the device that cleans and purifies the air in your home using your smartphone from anywhere in the world.
“We make a world-class physical product,” said Everette Binger, Amway’s Sr. IoT Chief Architect, referring to the original Atmosphere air purifier. “We now need to add this digital extension to our physical product to really capture and take use of a person already getting into the digital space as soon as they wake up in the morning.”
Sky launched this summer in the US and Canada, with more launches planned in additional markets next year. David Baarman, who works with Binger on Amway’s Connected Experiences team, described how the product works.
“One of the really cool things is you can have all of the units that you own on this one dashboard on your mobile device,” Baarman said. “So I can view the unit in my living room, another that’s upstairs in my bedroom, and a third down in the basement, and be able to manage them all in one place on my phone.”
As Sky owners use the mobile app to run their air treatment system, it’s constantly collecting data on usage trends. Sara Gonzalez, also on Amway’s Connected Experiences team, says those big data collections will lead to insights for future product enhancements.
“We are really excited about IoT for so many different reasons,” Gonzalez said. “Amway is a relationship business. And the data we’re going to get from these connected products—how consumers are using them in their home—is going to put us in a different spot.”
For Amway, it’s more than just connecting devices because we can. It’s about predicting and developing eco-systems around health, beauty and overall wellness to make life easier for ABOs and their customers. It’s an opportunity to personalize more products and services, thereby enhancing the overall experience.
“Because at the end of the day, everyone has finite time,” Gonzalez continued. “So the more we can enable ABOs programmatically, digitally, without them even thinking about it, the more value we can give to the ABO and the more value they can give to their end customer.”
