I was reading a short blog post by Adobe about IoT and Personalization. That got me to thinking about how different companies think about what the Internet of Things (IoT) really means. Here’s a view into Adobe:
More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables—activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more—that track seemingly endless datapoints.
Notice how the viewpoint is that IoT is all about the devices that capture the information. In other words IoT means what is the device or channel to both capture the information and to create an experience from it. I noticed that same viewpoint at Adobe Summit earlier this year and it makes sense. In the grand scheme of things Adobe’s suite of tools forms the perfect system to both capture the information and ultimately personalize the experience based on insights gained. They have web, mobile, and other tool sets along with a strong set of API’s.
Other people think about what to do with the data once it hits some repository somewhere. Pretty much every big data vendor out there thinks in these terms. In reality, for people like the implementers at Perficient, we ultimately have to focus on the combination of all the components. So here’s my view on what you have to consider:
- Capture wearable data from a variety of devices
- Store the data in a secure and scalable platform. The key is BOTH secure and scalable.
- Apply analytics to gain enough insights to really provide value to your customer
- Use those insights for existing personalization systems like AEM Personalization, Adobe Campaign and Adobe Target. This means transferring the data insights to those systems.
- Capture the results and use it in an ongoing feedback loop for ongoing personalization (Adobe Analytics for example)
Ultimately, micro-personalization relies on a wide range of interconnecting and real time systems. Now let end with one more thought from that blog post which I find the most compelling:
We’re in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward “smart for smart’s sake,” and many brands remain in that corner. But many brands are also gradually opting for more strategic approaches. They’re taking a breath and stepping back to examine both existing and potential IoT experiences, asking themselves whether their products lend real value.
Download our guide to learn more about implementing personalization strategies using tools within Adobe Marketing Cloud.
