Introduction: The Human Need for Wearable Technology Devices
Disruptive technology brings new value to the way people do things. The wearable technology as part of computers reveals the human need for technology for everyday use. Albert Einstein discouraged the use of the same creativity to solve numerous problems (Yu Siang 2017). Many ideas remain suppressed due to lack of innovative design thinking processes. Tim Brown (2009) a design expert and the CEO of Ideo states that creative leaders seek for ways of incorporating design thinking across all levels. Innovation brings irresistible change because Morris Robert (2009).The wearable technology comprises of fashion and wearable technology devices worn on the body. Worn internally or externally, its designs have different features for use in diverse functions. Wearable computer design finds motivation in daily human activities. It uses either sensors, software apps or electronic connections to transfer and interpret data. Today this technology includes fashion items, business gadgets, medical apps, sports devices and many more. Its use is evident across industries including the media and communication, health care, and transport navigation. The wearable watch whose vision started in 1980s is one of the most popular of the wearable technologies. Besides its designs, its end user functionalities include the ability to gather biometric data about the owner such as health and wellness.
Design thinking is transformative. It changes the way organizations operate because its focus is human development. Marc Sniukas. (2015) explains that the discovery stage is about data collection. This differentiates it from the Job-to-be-done model of innovating because isruptive innovation brings new meaning to products or services
Adopted from (Sniukas, 2015)
Often the market does not expect this and when it comes, it becomes recognized. This is a new concept that starts a fresh from conceptualization to when it becomes saleable. The commercialization process requires convincing the consumer. Therefore, the processes through which disruptive design goes through is as crucial as the innovation in itself.
Cohen, (2014) agrees that innovation and creativity is a complex process. Disruptive design innovation starts at the problem definition stage and most innovators fail because they do not describe a wide scope of business development (Stahler 2009). The favorable technology may have some missing features but may require new shift to meet this need. Disruptive innovation is a strategy and it requires investment in research and development. Research investment into wearable watches continues to enlarge the market (Tonner, 2016).
Design Thinking in Wearable Technology
Research into wearable technology has improved its features by incorporating new attributes such as activity trackers, virtual reality headsets, wearable cameras, smart glasses and android applications. This makes a wearable watch much more than it’s original though of keeping time. It has an internal hardware tools like the LCD display, rechargeable battery, touch screen, speakers and thermometers among others. Its software applications include digital maps,, Wi-Fi, schedules, watch faces and calculators among others. Mobile technology brands who were not makers of watches have now embraced the idea. Companies such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei have wearable watch brands.
Initially discovered by a watch manufacturer Hamilton Watch Company in 1972 the digital watch has gone on to become a mobile technology wearable. This is a lighter watch with numerous applications and technologies. The wearables are a combination of mechanical and arithmetic designs; the computer continues to display changes in human living. The wearables comprise of devices that have inbuilt applications which can receive instructions to perform certain functions. Through programing, these perform numerous tasks for a variety of functions. Used in homes, business, and personal use, it is becoming increasingly popular. Although Roberto encourages that innovation should be open to criticism, he also gives principles on innovating including avoidance of criticism which he says” impairs the creative process” ( Roberto 2017 p, 1-24).
Apple wearable watches (Tonner, 2016).
Design focused innovations are creative, imaginative and ready for questioning (Don 2013). Today there are innovatively designed wearable technologies in communication, health care, manufacturing and many more industries. The smart watch features includes useful applications for daily life such as a scheduler and sleep monitor for busy people. It is also useful for the young generation because of its entertainment applications such as games, speaker, headset, and Bluetooth plus music player. Industry players like navigators find the smart watch a necessity because it has an accelerator and GPS. Technology innovators seem to have taken the idea from watch developer (Bradshaw 2017)
Implications of Disruptive Innovation in Wearable Tech Development
Innovators envision products that give customers something that they never had. This is different from user centric discoveries where existing products undergo improved changes to suit the consumer demands. It adds value or meaning to life, which is vulnerable to disruption. The innovator pursues the idea passionately in order to get the final product. Design driven technology starts with a creation of something that is messy into something efficient and usable. It often starts with a vision then develops some designs that go through criticisms to develop it fully. The combination of data visualization, data, and designs produces interesting products that people cannot resist. This process is expensive and risky (Williams, 2015). The evolution of the smart watch depicts a design that visualizes unique attributes for consumer satisfaction. It uses visualization to meet the consumer needs. Its image, applications and model varieties depict what is beyond expectation. This makes it attractive on the outside and useful on the interiors. The visualization of data physically is a disruptive innovation, which continues to change the way people see and do things (SAS Institute, 2017).
Smart watch visualization and the strap design (Adopted from: https://3d.shubol.sk/)
Disruptive design centered innovation markets itself. The discovery of the computer is not pined to one particular designer rather it is a progressive human development. Featuring a combination of mechanical and arithmetic designs, the computer continues to display changes in human living. The differences in tiers of customer satisfaction provides a motivation for the innovator to think ahead. In the market, distribution of customers varies from those who are satisfied with current technology to the dissatisfied. This innovation gains high business value because of its uniqueness and consumer use. Creating a business model out of it is an organizational strategy (Trkman and Dasilva 2014). Disruptive innovation is expensive and takes time to come by (Overdorf and Christensen 2000). There are innovative designs in the medical, educational, scientific and business, which take years to come into effect. The continuous changes in technology call for deep research to keep up with the pace. Integrating the organizational strategies with innovation involves a process of examination of capabilities. Design thinking goes beyond technological innovations because it influences all segments of an organization, product or service leading to new alternatives opportunities (Tim 2009).
Advancements in Wearable Technology
Business theorists Michael Porter and James Heppelman (2014) discuss the effect of smart, connected products. These comprise of processors, sensors, software applications and connectivity. It is a connection between what is physical (hardware and electrical), the artificial intelligence (software operating system) and connectivity (antennae, portals, wireless, wired). Its operation, data analysis, decision making and functionality determines its efficiency. Wearable technology needs regular monitoring, controls and automation. These products change the industry by channeling innovation into a new direction. The wearable technology suits the techno savvy generation. It has application, which normal watches did not anticipate including phone call reminders, sleep monitor and Bluetooth.
Christensen (2017) defines disruptive innovation as technology that aides in the creation of a new market and brand value. This kind of technology eventually disrupts an existing market as well as it value network. Technology that creates a disruption in the market comes as a surprise. People did not expect a personalized way of communicating via emails. The wearable computer is even more unimaginable. Wearables features among the most promising disruptive (Bajarin 2015). As modern innovation drives towards robotics, self-driving technology devices, drones and robotics, more unique devices continue to emerge. The graph below highlights this statement.
(Christensen, 2017)
Roberto Verganti (2009 pp, 19-30) gives a strategy for design driven innovation, which starts with a process of ‘making sense of things ‘around. This innovation changes how people use things. It may have a high costs because of its value but its use surpasses the cost factors. The disruptive design invention is often hard to imitate and it brings new meaning to life. Organizations invest in this kind of innovation to stay ahead of their competition as well as to add value to brand equity. Unlike common designs which look at the market trend, this kind of innovation invests in research, listening to others and insight. The modern consumer finds meaning in products and services depending on their innovative designs and application or functionality. In disruptive technology, the customer is not aware of the innovation but its release makes it memorable. Disruptive design centered innovation is designing innovation in a world where ideas are in scarcity (Roberto 2017). It includes the wildest of all imaginations.
Creating Business Models for Wearable Technology
The modern computerized systems in smart watches provides artificial intelligence. It helps people to make automated decisions on important matters. Meaning or usefulness is important in innovation because of the value for people, business and processes. When creating the vision, the innovator looks at the people’s benefit and is open to external criticism. (Roberto 2017). An innovative idea needs to have meaning for individual users and businesses. It starts with capturing the mind of the consumer rather than their current objects. This perception interprets the consumer needs through a non-existing idea then adds value.
Government policies approach design policies in a collaborative way encouraging global innovation (Roberto 2009 p, 236). Redefining value, takes time and it requires resources. Intensive research is expensive and calls for partnership in some cases. Despite the fact that globally, design thinking needs to approach innovation based on social and cultural foundations (Horn 2013). This makes it acceptable internationally and it gives it a common culture foundation. The Economist (2014) states that continuous competition in the market system comes about because of disruptive technology, which gives no warning hence propagates the negative side of capitalism. Innovation purposes to redefine value, innovate with focus on people and improving life as the smart watch does.
Conclusion
When disruptive designs come into existence they create new gaps or needs (Bright, 2015). Innovation and organizational strategy change people’s way of living and doing things. Social and economic changes are visible having come about because of technology. Innovation with a design focus is essential for technical engineers and developers as well as the creative minds. The Smart watch as a wearable technology involves three different parts featuring the physical, software and connectivity. Its disruptive design changed the watch manufacturing and the technology industries. It brought about new uses of watches to change the way people use traditional watches as time keeping tools. Van de Velde Eric (2015) looks at the impact of disruptive innovation in the education sector to point out its weakness of disrupting knowledge.
References
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