Episode 26: A skeptic’s view on the smart home and how to build services, not products

This week I invited my husband to replace Kevin Tofel (it’s only for this week, y’all) to get a viewpoint from someone who isn’t exactly enamored of the connected home. Andrew Allemann (my husband) talks about the devices he likes and the things he doesn’t. If you’re building a product,he’s worth listening to, although his complaints are probably familiar to anyone whose spouse is tired of living with a bunch of gadgets in perpetual beta.

Some of Andrew's favorite products are the Hue lights.
Some of Andrew’s favorite products are the Hue lights.

Our guest is Nandini Nayak, who is with Fjord, and she came on the show to share research and insights about transitioning from selling products to selling services, which almost every single company building connected products will have to master. Nayak has helped create the concept of Living Services and Living Brands, which she explains on the show. The basic idea is that once connected, products can become personal and adapt over time to the needs of the buyer be it a consumer or a corporation. IT’s a powerful one and we explore it in depth. Please listen to the show for more.

Hosts: Andrew Allemann and Stacey Higginbotham
Guests: Nandini Nayak, Fjord

  • The perils of living in a smart home plus some of the perks.
  • Why this device is my husband’s favorite?
  • How do you define a living service?
  • Will startups or big companies be better at creating connected services?

Published by

Stacey Higginbotham

I am a journalist who has covered technology for over a decade at publications such as Fortune, PCMag, Gigaom, The Deal and BusinessWeek.