Rethinking

Business Strategy for a

Hyper-connected World

A method for creating an ecosystem of connected products/services
that disrupt markets and create new value for users and business.
lvaro Rojo, Brand Strategist
i Introduction: The Need for Change
2 Chapter 1: The Legacy
1.1 Creating value: the motor of business
4 Chapter 2: The Fuel of Transformation
2.1 Trend catalysts
2.2 A culture of change
11 Chapter 3: The Ecosystem Strategy
3.1 Characteristics of an Ecosystem strategy
3.2 The result: connected products/services
3.3 Types of connected solutions
17 Chapter 4: Breakthrough Value
4.1 Business Values
4.2 User Values
20 Chapter 5: A Method for Designing a Connected Product/Service
5.1 Week One: Empathize
5.2 Week Two: Define
5.3 Week Three: Ideate
5.4 Week Four: Prototype
5.5 Week Five: Test
28 Final Thoughts
29 Appendix A: Guidelines for Creating Disruptive Solutions
32 Appendix B: How to Prepare the Session
33 Appendix C: Guidelines for Defining a New Market Space
35 Further Reading
36 About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Need for Change
There has been many changes in the business
landscape forcing companies to rethink and
update their industrially grounded strategies.
Digital is transforming business models faster
than ever. Whereas disruption was a slower
process in the past, its now accelerated. In every
industry, companies are trying to undercut
competitors disrupting the usual ways of doing
business. The music industry, the publishing
industry, the news industry have each learnt
their lessons about disruption. And now its
happening to every kind of industry. You can see
what happens with companies like Nokia, Kodak,
Blockbuster, Blackberry, etc. Big companies can
go from top to the bottom very quickly.
We are in the middle of a Connected Revolution,
where new ingredients such as the number of
sensors in solutions like Nest and Jawbone Up,
smartphone penetration, the amount of time
spent in social media, the amount of
innovations with big data, and location-based
information like FourSquare and Hailo, are
exponentially growing.
There is more competition than ever.
Globalization and collaborative economy
1
is
weakening companies who aren't quick
enough to adapt their offering to emergent
behaviours. However, small startups, who are
more tolerant of risk and more agile at iterating
products, are taking established companies out
of the game. Examples of those who have
succeeded include Airbnb and Uber. In fact, by
2030 more than 75% of the S&P 500 will be
companies that we wont have heard of by now.
Companies need to be different more than ever.
Mass consumption is making companies and
their offerings increasingly homogeneous. Many
companies struggle in established markets just
to shave off minimal market share from its
competitors.
The biggest fear of a company is that a more able
competitor is going to come along and radically
disrupt their business. So, how can companies
stay ahead and protect themselves?
Companies need to differentiate through their
business models and redefine how they create,
market, and deliver value; this is much harder to
copy than a mission statement, a product, a
packaging, a communication, or a technology.
In this little book I present a strategy adapted to
a fast moving and hyper-connected world where
every thing is beginning to be connected. The
strategy is called 'Ecosystem of Digital Services'.
The main purpose is to create a network of
Internet-connected products designed to help
users achieve their needs by adding a digital
service layer that empower physical products.
The value is no longer in the product, its now
embedded in the data generated by user actions.
I am providing a perspective on the subject that
will hopefully inspire decision-makers to create
connected products/services which disrupt
markets, generate new revenue streams, and
create user lock-on. At the end of this book, I
have arranged a structured method of working in
a 5-week rapid design sprint.
This book is the summarized output of my Thesis
for the MA in Digital Media Management for
Hyper Island.
I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did.

Footnote
1. Owyang, J. 2013. The Collaborative Economy. Altimeter
Research Theme: Digital Economies. [report].
i hyperalvaro.com
Stefan Olander, VP Digital Sport, Nike, and Bob Greenberg,
Founder, R/GA, presented during the Cannes Lion Advertising
Festival in 2012 an interesting talk about how and why the most
innovative companies of the world are rethinking their current
business strategies
2
.
During the talk, the presenters mentioned three different types of
business strategies: 'Horizontal Integration', 'Vertical Integration',
and 'Functional Integration'.

The first two traditional types of strategies are product-centric; the
first one is called 'Horizontal Integration', where a company works in
silos creating a large portfolio of products. Coca-Cola is possibly the
best example, creating many products under different brands. The
second type of strategy is called 'Vertical Integration', which consists
of creating value, finding new ways to affect the supply chain and
saving money to be more efficient
3
.
In these two cases, the companies are building their strategies
inside-out, instead of users-in. These companies are focusing on
solving challenges of the organizations while users are sidelined
as extras.
Most of these companies focus on selling more stuff instead of better
engaging with users around how they are getting value. Companies
don't focus as much during the post-sale experience. The truth is that
users will spend, hopefully, more time using the product/service
purchased than the time they will think about buying it.
2
The Legacy
1
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Footnotes
2. R/GA & Nike. 2012. Building A New
Ecosystem. [video online] Available
at: http://bit.ly/1fGPkBa [Accessed:
21 Feb 2014].
3. Odland, S. 2012. 5 Ways To Control
Costs. [online] Available at: http://
onforb.es/1fGPloR [Accessed: 21
Feb 2014].
3
Furthermore, the market is becoming increasingly homogeneous,
making companies invest bigger budgets on marketing
communications to achieve differentiation.
Creating value: the motor of business
Value is defined as the equivalent return for something exchanged.
The purpose of every company is to identify opportunities for
bringing value to users and conduct value exchange for financial
benefits. It means creating something that costs less than the
money that users are willing to exchange.
Generally, companies occupy a position in the value chain where
they add value before passing to the next actor in the chain. So, a
transaction finishes when the product is bought. This is the classic
way of doing business; the purchase is the end of the relationship
between the company and the buyer.
Michael Porter, one of the classic gurus of business strategy, wrote;
To outperform rivals it must deliver greater
value to customers or create comparable
value at a lower cost, or do both.
4
This traditional thinking of identifying, creating, and delivering value
is grounded in assumptions of Industrial economy
5
, and today many
companies still view value creation narrowly, missing the most
important needs or developing products that dont completely match
user expectations.
Businesses often spend a lot of resources looking at how to reduce
costs and how to optimize processes of creating and delivering
value; they also spend much energy thinking about how users
access, receive and interpret value through communications.
The problem with the conventional approach is that products/
services and the strategies designed for them are too easy for
competitors to copy and improve. Current research suggests that
focusing user-loyalty based on this conventional approach only leads
to short-term gains
6
.
Footnotes
4. Porter, M. 1996. What Is Strategy?.
[online] Harvard Business Review.
Available at: http://bit.ly/1ijebcf
[Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
5. Normann, R., Ramirez, R., and
Others. 1998. Designing Interactive
Strategy: From Value Chain To Value
Constellation. Wiley New York/
Chichester.
6. Liabotis, B. 2007. Three Strategies For
Achieving And Sustaining Growth.
[online] Ivey Business Journal.com.
Available at: http://bit.ly/1mpJAe3
[Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
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The world is in a transition where social change will no longer be
dictated by centralized process of industrialization, but by
information: generated by everything people do in search of relevant,
alternative, authentic, and immediate experiences.
While the world simultaneously enjoy but struggle with the fruits of
industrialization, many technological changes are converging; but
IoT (Internet of Things) is the technology that will completely
transform the way that users interact with products/services.
As defined by Cisco Systems, IoT is the network of physical objects
accessed through the Internet
7
.
Internet and ubiquitous technologies are making possible the
addition of a layer of connectedness to products/services.
Nowadays, companies are already adopting this technology, and
starting to commercialize products that sense, track, measure, and
control information in limitless forms.
IoT allows people and products to be connected anytime, anyplace,
with anything and anyone, ideally using any network. Life will be
something like: as soon as you wake up, the coffee is brewing, the
house is heated, the car already knows the best route to work, a
connected refrigerator sends to your smartphone the updated
grocery list
When objects can sense and communicate, it changes how and
where decisions are made and who makes them. Information
4
The Fuel of
Transformation
2
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Footnotes
7. Cisco. 2014. Internet of Things (IoT).
[online] Available at: http://bit.ly/
1neRisN [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].
5
generated by the usage of products/services is letting people take
better and faster decisions, helping them improve their lives.
Trend catalysts
Below, I will explain the technology and business drivers that may
trigger the success of IoT-based solutions.
1. A business opportunity for investment
Computer chips are becoming increasingly cheap. In his seminal
1965 paper, Intels founder coined Moores Law to predict that the
number of transistors on a chip would double every 18 months (later
adjusted to two years) and that the cost would fall off at a similar
rate
8
.
Seventy-five percent of companies across industries are already
exploring IoT
9
. Cisco Systems predicted in 2011 that there will be
twenty-five billion devices connected to the Internet by 2015 and fifty
billion by 2020
10
. By 2025 IoT has the potential to create an economic
impact between $2.7 trillion to $6.2 trillion annually
11
.
Examples: Nike+ FuelBand, Google Glass, Amazon Dash, etc.
2. Business solutions are becoming mobile
Thanks to accessible Internet data plans, a mature market, and good
mobile computing power, companies can build reliable solutions
around smartphones. As a result, the mobile device is becoming a
remote-control device for products/services/information
12
.
Example: Phillips is piloting a project where iBeacons accurately
tracks the movements of users who are searching for a product and
provides the correct direction on their smartphones.
Example: Google Wallet and PayPal Beacon are examples of how
companies are using smartphones to unify users everyday gadgets
(cards), adding new value (security).
3. The body is able to control products/services
Companies are starting to design gesture and speech control
solutions, connecting bodies with the Internet (Natural User
Interface). The goal is to give a natural, easier and comprehensive
way to control products/services.
Example: Microsoft Kinect is a classic example of controlling
software using the body.
Footnotes
8. Moore, Gordon E. (1965).
"Cramming More Components Onto
Integrated Circuits". Electronics
Magazine. p.4. Retrieved
2006-11-11.
9. The Economist. 2013. The Internet Of
Things Business Index. A Quiet
Revolution Gathers Pace. The
Economist Intelligence Unit.
[report].
10. Evans, D. 2011. The Internet of Things.
How The Next Evolution Of The
Internet Is Changing Everything.
[report].
11. McKinsey Global Institute. 2013.
Disruptive Technologies: Advances That
Will Transform Life, Business, And The
Global Economy. [report].
12. Crocombe, I. 2014. 2014 Trends
Digest Deck For Digital Leaders.
[ebook] http://slidesha.re/1fFNWzi
[Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].
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Example: Ring is a wearable device recently funded on Kickstarter,
letting users send texts, control home appliances, etc., through
gesture control.
Example: WorldKit is a system which connects users palms with a
depth camera and a projector to make ordinary surfaces instantly
touch-based.
4. Users demand personalization
Big data is playing a greater role on how companies fine-tune their
targeting and storytelling strategies. Companies are learning how to
effectively exploit user databases in real-time to make personalized
propositions.
Example: Hellmann's brand teamed with supermarket chain
St. March and turned grocery store receipts into personalized
recipes combining products users bought.
It has become a powerful source of knowledge when companies
know how to interpret behaviour patterns and improve their current
offering.
Example: IBMs Dublin research lab used cell phone data to aid the
redesign of bus routes. Researchers used time and location data,
collected from calls and SMS, to assess commuters frequent routes
and then compared these to the existing public transport
infrastructure. The results shown sixty-five possible improvements
that could reduce travel time by ten percent.
Another technology, the cloud, has made a fundamental shift in the
way businesses operate during the last few years. The key of some
disruptors companies was to offer an instant access to their services
with tools that enhance individual interests.
Examples: Spotify, MIT OpenCourseWare, Netflix, etc.
Increasingly, users are demanding products/services which provide
a unique experience and a personalized solution.
Example: Nest has built high levels of engagement around energy
usage and cutting air conditioning consumption. These services use
historical data, shared by users of the thermostat, in order to "auto-
tune" and optimize their energy consumption.
Example: In exchange for inserting a connected device into a cars
diagnostic port, Progressive Insurances Snapshot provides a
discounted policy rate based on how an insured driver drives,
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7
including how hard he/she brakes, and the time of day his/her car
is used.
5. Companies are more open for collaboration
To deliver a coherent and full user experience, companies
of different categories are cooperating and partnering to build
products/services that can be integrated and used together.
Example: To meet the needs of runners, Apple and Nike partnered in
2006 with the launch of Nike+ iPod products, bringing the worlds of
sports and music together.
Another form of collaboration is the way that companies are opening
their APIs to encourage developers to modify and improve the
original software in order to offer customized solutions.
Example: Nike+ Accelerator provides development tools, technical
platforms and support hardware for companies who want to
integrate NikeFuel into their own products or wearables.
6. Products/services are becoming social
Social media communication tools have profoundly changed the way
users interact with each other. Based on that, companies are
connecting products directly to social media in order to fuel
conversations around product purpose
13
.
Example: The Natalia Project is an alarm-band system designed
to protect someone who's being assaulted by sending a message
onto his or her social media network providing time and location of
the attack.
Some companies are building collaborative networks where
community participation influences and improves the resulting
product/service.
Example: Waze is an app which creates a constantly updated
repository of traffic information through collaboration of drivers who
share road information.
A culture of change
Many well-known innovators are genuinely interested in 'change' as
well as understanding the real motivators for doing what people do
and why people change.
Footnote
13. Bonchek, M. and Choudary, S.
2013. The Age Of Social Products.
[online] Harvard Business Review.
Available at: http://bit.ly/1hnTuJG
[Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
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8
The only thing that is constant is change
Heraclitus.
People use technology to accomplish everyday tasks. Technology is
an accelerator of innovation; it's a factor that enables companies to
disrupt markets. However, technology by itself doesn't disrupt any
market; its people who disrupt them. People who have to
understand, buy, adopt, and use technology in their everyday life.
Although this sounds obvious, sometimes companies just equate
innovations to new technologies. Companies must prioritize
understanding emerging needs and consequence of new habits,
behaviours, priorities and social patterns, over technological-hypes.
Our focus should not be on emerging
technologies but on emerging cultural
practices.
Henry Jenkins
14
.
The following is an extracted summary from the book Meta
Products
15
, about why user aspirations change and make them look
past technology in search of new experiences.
Through time, we have used different ways
to deal with change. Someone in the 19
th

century, for instance, would probably have
responded to change very differently from
the way we do today. Traditions, religions,
ideologies, national identities, geographical
context, available resources, serendipity,
distance, and time, were constraints that
were all new. Todays filters to constraint
influences are more porous. All this makes it
difficult for us to realize what exactly is
changing today.
A handful of major changes in history have
influenced people's mindset today. For
instance, Francis Bacon's reflection of the
Age of Reason was that machines would
Footnotes
14. Jenkins, H. 2006. Eight Traits of the
New Media Landscape. [online]
Confessions of an Aca-Fan. http://
bit.ly/1iWuWfe [Accessed 21
Feb 2014]
15. Crdoba Rubino, S., Hazenberg, W.,
and Huisman, M. 2011. Meta
Products. Amsterdam: BIS
Publishers.
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9
liberate mankind and they would save
labour. It was just a matter of time before
scientific efforts and intellectual aspirations
combined in 1750 to produce the steam
engine. It was not just an invention, but a
platform of knowledge, ideas and
techniques, allowing established industries
to grow exponentially affecting people's lives
all over the world. In fact, a new idea of
progress was born: machines would
produce a better society. This aspiration
caused people to look for ways to help
industrial society flourish. Thanks to this
historical factor, new products were in the
hands of the majority instead of the elites.
In the 1970s, industrialization also enabled
and defined relationships between countries.
It made people conscious of the concept of
global economies. At the very beginning of the
globalization movement in the 1970s, Daniel
Bell foresaw that it was no longer industrial
processes that dictate social change, but the
creation of a service economy was making a
self-sustaining technological growth possible.

The last big moment of the history with an
impact on people's aspirations was the birth
of Internet. For businesses, the Internet era
brought on changes like the elimination
geographical barriers to competition, the
democratization of goods, the full
transparency of pricing, the transparency of
quality It was in 1991 when the World Wide
Web was first introduced to the public. And
with this, the start of a new society.
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10
"You have to make a distinction between
what technology makes possible and how
social developments happen to adopt that
technology.
Maddy Janse, Phillips
15
.
How different are our aspirations now, compared to the Industrial Age?
Whether centuries ago or today, peoples aspirations are still drivers
of change. While it's generally accepted that technology changes our
lives, the reality is more complex. The process could be called an
aspirational cycle; people experience the past and present in a
certain way, causing them to build their aspirations. Through this
whole process, they learn and create new aspirations, which again
motivates them to materialize them. People have aspirations that
are constantly changing when they are fulfilled, and through these
new interactions, potential new meanings arise, and ultimately new
behaviours.
Example: When the iPhone was launched, the tactile screen was a
relative novelty, but within a few short years, it became the standard
expectation for buying a new phone or tablet.
Only businesses that proactively alter user aspirations will be
disrupters.
You cant just ask customers what they want
and then try to give it to them. By the time
you get it built, theyll want something new.
Steve Jobs.
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We can see how users are increasingly searching for meaningful,
emotional, immersive, entertaining, and personalized experiences,
not just products. Free time and memorable experiences are values
the new economy has brought to society and for which users are
willing to pay.
In his 1971 book Future Shock, Alvin Toffler predicted the upcoming
experiential industry", in which people in the future will agree to
spend lot of money living experiences
16
.
"Emergent technologies and their fast
adoption are clearly calling for new business
models Companies must hold a people-
centric view of the user not only as a passive
spectator and consumer but also as an
active inter-actor, creator and producer
Companies must develop products and
services connecting the scientific and social
dimension in a relevant way considering the
emotional dimension and its impact and
relevance to people's value universe.
Anne Lisa Kjaer, CEO at Kjaer Global
15
.
11
Ecosystem
Strategy
3
Footnotes
16. Tofer, A. 1971. Future Shock. New
York: Random House.
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12
Some companies are updating their industrially grounded strategies
for a new one adapted to this fast-moving and hyper-connected
world.
Stefan and Bob called the latest type of business strategy
'Functional Integration', and thanks to the Nike+ case study, R/GA
has re-branded it as an 'Ecosystem of Digital Services'
2
.
Cindy Chastain, Creative Director at R/GA, defines an Ecosystem as
a business strategy that seeks to leverage digital technology to
create dynamic, interconnected touchpoints and product extensions
that provide additional value to customers, deepen their connection
with a brand, and, ultimately, feed business growth
17
.
The main purpose is to create a network of Internet-connected
products designed to help users achieve their needs by adding a
digital service layer that empower physical products. The value is no
longer in the product, its now embedded in the data generated by
user actions.
Below, I have listed characteristics of an Ecosystem strategy.
Characteristics of Ecosystem strategy
1. Every new product/service creates a new
market space
The way that most companies stay in business is by launching new
products/services to existing markets and making incremental
improvements to them. The problem is the time that a company can
continue making sustainable growth from doing essentially the
same. In fact, recent research indicates that most companies can't
sustain robust growth for more than a few years
18
.
The Ecosystem strategy is about creating solutions around the user
to open new markets. To know more about it, go to the Appendix
section and read Guidelines for creating disruptive solutions.
One of the things Apple has demonstrated over its lifetime is that it
is a great disruptor. Since Steve Jobs returned to the company in
1997, the cycle of creating disruptive solutions is around three to
four years, on average. While pirating music was a real disruptor to
the music industry back in the late 1990s, with its iPod and iTunes
Apple moved from the computer industry to the music industry,
disrupting the entire market. The iPod itself was a cool device new
to the market, however adding iTunes as a service layer was what
really drove Apples success. In the second quarter of 2012, iTunes
claimed 64% of the entire digital music market
19
.
Footnotes
17. Chastain, C. 2013. 6 Ways Ecosystems
Have Changed Our Roles And The Way
We Work. [e-book] http://
slidesha.re/KTeZZn [Accessed: 21
Feb 2014].
18. Christensen, C. M., Raynor, M. E.
and Anthony, S. D. 2003. Six Keys To
Building New Markets By Unleashing
Disruptive Innovation. Harvard
Management. EEUU.
19. Ingham, T. 2012. iTunes Owns 29%
Of US Record Market. [online] Music
Week. http://bit.ly/1rQgdTF
[Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
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13
2. Products/services are connected
amongst themselves
It is totally possible to implement the logic of the Ecosystem
strategy without developing connected products. In that case, the
company is only taking half the advantage of this strategy.
Connecting products with Internet and each other forms a whole
network of always-on information users can access through each
device.
3. Value shift from product to service
To return to the Apple case study, while the initial purchase is for a
traditional device (in the form of an iPod, iPhone, iPad, iMac...), the
ongoing purchase relationship between company and user is rooted
in whatever digital service is needed (iCloud, iTunes, App Store,
Genius). The service-added layer shifted value to content, rather
than to the object itself.
Some companies known for their hardnosed approach to business
have already embarked on this strategic path. Apple is not the only
company unique at excelling with an Ecosystem strategy. Some are
starting to build a mixed portfolio of traditional and connected
solutions, like Nike, Google, Amazon, BMW, Philips, Samsung, and
Lego. Other tech-savvy companies, like Fitbit, Withings and Nest, are
creating an Ecosystem embedding IoT in all of their products.
The result: Connected products/services
The products/services that are produced by the first two types of
business strategies have a risk of quickly become commodities
2
;
however, the network of solutions produced by the Ecosystem
strategy and IoT add new value extendable throughout a long-term
life cycle.
How can IoT transform the actual concept of products
20
?
1. Web-connected products can interact with the user
and sense the surrounding environment
Products/gadgets/devices are typically passive. Users normally
activate them to perform a certain task. But we are starting to see
different solutions that initiate communication with users, sending
messages and alerts based on habits, decisions, preferences, and
location.
Footnote
20. Lord, B. and Velez, R. 2013.
Converge. Transforming Business
At The Intersection Of Marketing
And Technology. Hoboken,
New Jersey: Wiley.
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14
2. Web-connected products can interact with each
other seamlessly
Web-connected products can automatically communicate with each
other, transferring information and delivering a seamless and
integrated experience.
Web-connected products have infinite possibilities in the whole
business landscape. As an overview, I will present some examples:
items at home can be controlled, monitored and even connected to
each other; connected cars can improve traffic flows or allow
functions to be controlled remotely; weather-related sensors could
help agriculture by monitoring moisture in the air or ground and
warn farmers about droughts; heart sensors could give patients and
doctors data to prevent diseases; sensors that monitor white blood
cells could alert cancer patients of a relapse; etc
21
.
Users are demanding solutions that make their lives a little bit
better, while telling engaging stories that works through every
touchpoint. A touchpoint is a point of interaction involving a specific
human need in a specific time and place. It could be a device, a web
interface, a mobile app, a sensor, or a RFID tag.
As Helge Tenn remarked during the IAB Think Digital Conference
Brssels in 2013, we are in an era when users expect products to be
more than tangible objects. Companies need to adapt and think with
a service mindset to enhance their offering and connect with their
users in more personal and immediate ways
22
.
From now on, I would like to make a distinction between IoT and
connected solutions. While the two concepts have been used
interchangeably between the authors I quoted, I would encourage
you to remember this: while IoT is the phenomenon of connecting
everything with Internet, connected solutions is the result in which
businesses add a digital service layer to a physical product.
Connected solutions are going to radically change entire business
models and current product design strategies. The potential value is
no longer in the physical product; instead it will be embedded in the
information generated by user actions.
Footnotes
21. Smith, I. G. 2012. The Internet Of
Things 2012. Halifax (UK):
CASAGRAS2.
22. Tenn, H. 2013. IAB ThinkDigital
2013. [video online] http://bit.ly/
1mpKkzK [Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
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15
The core of the IoT is to seamlessly gather
information about objects in the physical
world and using the information in multiple
applications. Information collection about
the origin of goods, location, movements,
properties, usage, and context can help
enterprises to improve business, and also
create new ones.
Anne Lisa Kjaer, CEO at Kjaer Global
15
.
Nike+ has proven to be a hallmark of generating long-term value
using IoT in appropriate context. The Nike+ experience connects
shoe sensors, iPod and a web application to create a multi-
dimensional running experience which motivates new and seasoned
runners. The devices track user activities and help them achieve
their goals.
Types of Connected Solutions
Technically, there are three different types of connected solutions,
their nature depends on the goal of the communication stream in
the network
15
:
1. Between information from the physical world and
a touchpoint
Information flows from a physical, web-connected product to an
online interface.
Example: Withing Blood Pressure Monitor is an armband that
presents statistical health results in the iPhone interface.
2. Between a touchpoint and a physical product
Information flows from an online interface to a physical product.
Example: The Olinda Radio sends streamed music generated via
musical taste acquired from users online social network to a
physical radio.
3. Between a touchpoint and a touchpoint
The products don't have a direct information flow between physical
products and online interface.
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Example: When users get a Webkinz toy, they also get a code that
enables them to unlock a pet in the games online counterpart.
In the next few years, connecting and creating a meaningful
relationship between users and brands means blurring the lines of
advertising, product design and technology.
The product is the marketing, and the
marketing is the product.
Ted Booth, Managing Director at Method Inc.
23
.
It's not difficult to imagine an insurance company offering a single-
day car insurance, purchased via the vehicle's dashboard, with
prices set daily based on any number of factors (from weather
conditions to location or traffic levels).
Footnotes
23. Booth, T. 2013.The Experience
TellsThe Story. From Advertising
Products ToProductizing Adverts. n.p.
[pdf]http://bit.ly/1cThYZe
[Accessed:21 Feb 2014].
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All kind of companies, whether new or established, startups or
Fortune 500, business-to-business or business-to-consumer, in
industries from consumer goods to finance, can benefit from the
Ecosystem strategy.
This strategy will help companies achieve a longer, deeper, wider,
and more diverse share of user spending. Moreover, they can
increase the probability of long-lasting competitiveness for getting
and staying ahead in ways that make it difficult for competitors to
catch up.
Value is a complex concept that has a
multitude of faces; but perhaps in the overall
scene of the IoT there is value in the possibility
that it gives us to measure, manage and being
told if what we are doing is less efficient than
something else. Especially when effects are on
larger scales, such as the consumption of
energy, for example. So, when this value is
recognized it actually changes behaviours
If I know that I can take two minutes less
showering than usual, I can actually save
resources The IoT offers a possibility to not
only measure and track my personal
17
Breakthrough
Value
4
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18
information, but to act in intelligent ways.
So for example; how much I run, how much
sugar is in my blood, how much energy
I consume and gives the intelligent tools to
make good decisions about ourselves.
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Entrepeneur
15
.
In order to show the benefits, I have collected and synthesized the
value that this strategy can add to businesses and users:
Business Values
1. Companies become killer entrants when they open opportunities
in new markets or existing ones.
2. The product/service offers a potential shift of the revenue and
cost dynamics. Whereas a typical product might have one revenue
stream, a connected product can leverage multiple revenue
streams.
3. The product learns and improves from themselves, which
imply a long-term competitive cost advantage in the value chain.
4. Through captured data, companies identify patterns from the
past, and predict new aspirations and emergent behaviours even
before people become aware.
5. Companies market to users more precisely and directly via the
digital service itself.
6. The product/service/network can grow, expand and connect with
other solutions of the network.
7. Companies create a user lock-on by building trust with users and
having a memorable effect in the user's mind (this means that
users choose the company because of the ongoing superior value
it provides against the competitors).
8. By opening up the API to partners they continue evolving the
future of the company.
User Values
Lean thinking defines value as providing
benefit to the consumer, anything else is
just waste.
Eric Ries
24
.
1. The resulting information allows users to be more efficient and to
take better decisions in real-time.
Footnotes
24. Ries, E. 2011. The Lean Startup.
New York: Crown Business.
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19
2. Users find products/services/experiences increasingly
customized for their needs, aspirations, habits, preferences,
mood, and location.
3. The service enables more shared knowledge and cohesion within
the community.
4. Users find it emotionally valuable to share and spread their
experiences with their communities.
5. Users could pay for service usage instead of product usage.
hyperalvaro.com
In this How to Guide, I will explain a methodology for defining,
designing, and developing connected products/services. The aim of
this method is to help teams become innovative by making a
Minimum Viable Product in a rapid design sprint of 5 weeks.
This method is the resulting process of working with a mix of tools
and exercises from different disciplines; these include Service
Design Thinking, Product Design, and Innovation processes.
I have arranged my advice in the form of something that innovation
teams can quickly work through to ensure that they can be well
prepared and organized to achieve a successful result. By no means
is this intended to be a definitive method. However, dipping into the
practical tips that follow should provide the team a structured way
of working.
I hope this method can help companies who want to take the path of
implementing and developing an Ecosystem of connected products/
services strategy.
It's not about making a new device, it's
about figuring out the interconnectivity
between the device, the platform, the
network, the user, the community, etc.
Aaron Dignan, Undercurrent
25
.
Before starting the project you can find some tips on How to prepare
the session in the Appendix section.
20
A Method
for Designing
a Connected
Product/Service
5
Footnote
25. Dignan, A. 2014. Digital Isn't
Software, It's a Mindset. [video online]
http://bit.ly/SlW8u1 [Accessed 3
May 2014].
hyperalvaro.com
Week One:
Empathize
Goal: To gain a deep
understanding of the
user and problem
space.
1
Step A Frame the context
It is important to frame the problem the group needs to tackle
correctly. This sounds quite obvious, but when the challenge is
wrongly formulated, incorrect input for ideation will be formed also.
In this step the team only needs to start framing the context while
exploring the situation. It's all about bringing clarity.
1. When the team starts the project it needs to identify who are the
most important users for whom the solution will be created, then
collect them into different groups. I recommend using a persona
document. Personas are fictional characters representing a
particular segment of society. Later on this exercise will help
generate ideas empathetic with user needs.
2. Depending on resources, rich insights can come from observing
and engaging with potential users during focus groups or one-to-
one interviews, in order to interpret what their aspirations are. In
case the team doesn't have this possibility, they need to go back
to existing research and make their own assumptions about what
are the users desires.

The term that describes this idea is known as Customer's Desired
Outcome
26
.
3. The team needs to adjust the Customer's Desired Outcome to
a market space where the company is perhaps not operating
right now.
I have written my advice in the Appendix section called Guidelines
for defining a new market space.
Example:
Brand
User
Customer's
Desired Outcome
Market space
Pedigree
Dog owner
Make the most of my relationship with
my dog.
Promoting better relationships between
people and their pets.
21 hyperalvaro.com
Footnote
26. Ulwick, A. W. 2002. Turn Customer
Input Into Innovation. Harvard
business review, 80 (1), pp. 9198.
Step B User activities
This is the beginning of the journey. The team needs to map
everything that is going to happen from now on.
1. The following process is known as the Customer's Activity Cycle
27
.
This tool is an existing methodology that helps to assess
opportunities for providing new kinds of value for the user. To
work with this tool the team needs to get a big piece of paper,
draw a big circle and divided it into three sections:
The first phase is Before (past): when users are deciding what
to do to achieve their desired action.
The second phase is During (present): when users are doing
what they decided on.
The third phase is After (future): when users are keeping their
desired action going by maintaining, reviewing, renewing,
updating, upgrading, and stopping it.
2. Now the team needs to write down all the activities that the user
does in his/her life in order to achieve the desired action. I
recommend to write one idea per Post-It Note and place each into
the three 'before', 'during', and 'after' areas. The only skills
required in this activity are common sense and empathy.
To facilitate Step D, it's better to write actions starting with verbs;
like getting a phone. Keeping each action abstract will help the
ideation phase.
Example:
Before
During
After
Looking for a puppy to adopt.
Taking my dog to the vet.
Giving away puppies after my dog gives birth.



22
Footnotes
27. V, Ermerwe, S. and Ra. 2000. How
Increasing Value To Customers Improves
Business Results. Sloan Management
Review, 42 (1), pp. 2738.
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Week Two:
Define
Goal: To transform
research into
insights.
2
Step C Filling value gaps
This step takes time. The team needs to be persistent and
meticulous.
1. Write down every action performed by all actors involved:
people, spaces, organizations, etc., and the resources of value
users are willing to exchange: knowledge, money, time, emotions,
services, etc.
2. Looking now at the whole network, the team needs to identify
user pain points and unmet or emerging needs, also known as
value gaps:
All things user do not want
Things being done expensively.
Things not done.
Things done badly.
Things that waste their time or energy.
Every value gap has to be highlighted and clustered. A good tool
to identify value gaps is the Value Proposition Canvas
28
.
3. Good ideas come from provocative prompts. All value gaps need
to be synthesized into multiple How might we (HMW) questions
for each insight, maintaining focus on innovative ways to help
the user.
How might we is a creative problem-solving tool that IDEO usually
applies for their business design challenges that encourage
creativity through positive language
29
.
How
Might
We
Provides the creative confidence needed to
identify and solve for unmet or emerging
needs.
Encourages creativity.
Signals that the team is going to collaborate
and build on each others ideas to find a
solution together.






Example: How might we help a dog owner have immediate and
ongoing feedback around the needs and emotions of his/her dog?
4. Before the ideation, set aside a clean space and write down all the
HMW questions. Select one which inspires the team and which is
not too narrow or too broad.
23 hyperalvaro.com
Footnote
28. Osterwalder, A. 2012. Test Your Value
Proposition: Supercharge Lean Startup
And Customer Development Principles.
[online] Business Model Alchemist.
http://bit.ly/1d0F809 [Accessed 21
Feb 2014].
29. Berger, W. 2012. The Secret Phrase Top
Innovators Use. [online] Harvard
Business Review. http://bit.ly/
1coiOzA [Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
Week Three:
Ideate
Goal: To uncover
unexpected areas
and move beyond
obvious solutions.
3
Step D Idea generation
Now it's time to create solutions for the problem framed by the
focus question. In order to create breakthrough value, the question
needs to be answered by keeping the user at the centre of the ideas.
To encourage creativity during the session, the team might bring in
random influences to prompt for original ideas.
IDEO Method Cards
30
is one of several examples of creative tools that
the team can use during idea generation
31, 32
.
1. Create as many ideas as possible, exploring a range of different
solutions. Dont stop until the group has fully exhausted the
possibilities.
2. Take the ideas, mix and combine them to generate new ones.
Every member should build on other's to create better ideas.
3. The participants can then cluster ideas into bigger and better ones.
Step E Idea selection
1. Capture the ideas in structured templates. The use of templates
is recommended to provide focus and enable comparability
between alternative ideas. Write them in a format that includes
the users, actors, actions, and ways of exchanging resources.
2. Once all the ideas are collected, the team has to select the best
idea.
The team can use a selection method which suits best for their
requirements.
Examples for selecting the idea include choosing the most
disruptive, most practical, and most voted ideas.
Another more complex method is to select ideas depending on
the user's motivation for exchanging resources. To do that, all
ideas must be organized and prioritized from most to least
important, depending on whether the user would be motivated to
exchange. This is a simple way to predict where the revenue
resides and to visualize business potential.
24 hyperalvaro.com
Footnote
30. Ideo.com, 2014. IDEO Method Cards.
[online] http://bit.ly/1lMsRTF
[Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
31. Plattner, H. 2014. Ideate Mixtape.
[pdf] Institute of Design at
Stanford. http://stanford.io/
1kH7TEs [Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
32. Sherwin, D. 2010. Better Ideas Faster.
How To Brainstorm More Effectively.
[e-book] http://slidesha.re/Oo2ab6
[Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].
Week Four:
Prototype
Goal: To gain a
deep understanding
of the idea via
experimentation.
4
Innovation is 1% inspiration and
99% perspiration.
Thomas Edison.
Step F Concept creation
At this juncture, the team needs to think about how to make the idea
happen. The team doesnt know if an idea will work until they make
it real.
1. Knowledge gaps always exist, so the team needs to identify
research evidence, if possible, to substantiate the legitimacy of
the idea.
2. Map the user experience in a Service Blueprint
33
. This technique
shows, from outside-in, the journey of the user through different
touchpoints that afford and characterize his/her interactions with
the business.
A few questions to consider at this stage:
How much is the user concerned about the value gap?
How would the solution change user behaviours?
How could the solution continue evolving in the future?
How could the solution allow others to develop and enhance it?
What kind of issues would make the user return the product?
What would be the return process?
How can the business support the user?
What would make the user more likely to use the product?
What would make the user share his/her opinion?
How would the business know if the user is satisfied?
Are there products/services likely to be used in conjunction
with the solution?
Which touchpoints (devices, web interfaces, mobile apps,
appcesories, etc.) are involved in the delivery of the products/
services?
3. After developing concept and communication flow, storyboarding
could help the team to solicit external feedback, generating
conversation about potential problems and opportunities. When
asking for feedback, they should ask for two things that people
liked and one thing that could be improved.
The idea should be presented clearly to avoid being lost through
bad communication. Sometimes teams waste weeks recovering
from side effects of have poor communication.
25 hyperalvaro.com
Footnote
33. Risdon, C. 2011. The Anatomy Of An
Experience Map. [online] Adaptive
Path. http://bit.ly/1iIdnNw
[Accessed 21 Feb 2014].
Step G Interaction design
1. Here the team has to specify and design for the touchpoints they
selected in the previous step.
Consider...
How much learning should the product/service take from the
users end?
What emotions should be experienced?
What kind of perceptions could best be utilised to stage the
experience (visual, pressing, smelling, imperceptible, etc.)?
How would the solution interact with other products/services
of the company?
How could data be designed and presented clearly?
How could data be used to make the solution more effective?
What could be sensed, tracked, categorized, and interpreted?
Is the tracking, sensing or organizing performed by conscious
decision of the user? Or should it be totally automated?
26 hyperalvaro.com
Week Five: Test
Goal: To improve the
solution iteratively
(prototype, test and
improve).
5
Step H Rapid iteration and improve
Testing is a crucial moment to take before the company will make
big investments. Market testing, financial modelling and
implementation planning are time-consuming and expensive
activities that should only be invested in opportunities with genuine
value creation.
This is all about learning quickly from rough prototypes and
embracing failure in order to improve the solution.
1. Make a real version of the idea. The barrier to physical
prototyping is now so low that sketching in electronics is very
achievable. Lo-fi, cardboard, hacked products, Arduino,
Raspberry Pi are all good options for prototyping the concept.
Consider this...
What level of detail is required for testing?
Which elements of the solution could/couldn't be tested?
2. Test the solution with real users. Put the prototype in users
hands and dont explain everything (yet). Then carefully listen to
all the qualitative feedback they have.
After a few rounds of testing, if the team got everything right, they
should have a MVP of a user-centric connected product on the
way to creating a new market space for the company.
Congratulations!
Example: Recently, Philips developed Hue, a connected lightbulb
set. Understanding why consumers would want a connected
lighting was the first major step to building a great platform. In
the early phases of the project, the Hue innovation team identified
hundreds of use-case scenarios, which were repeatedly explored
and tested until four user value propositions (ambience creation,
security, biological benefits, and gentle reminders) were
identified. These value propositions, not the technology itself,
established the direction for product development efforts.
27 hyperalvaro.com
Final Thoughts
This project has allowed me to delve into an innovative subject in
which I am personally interested. I decided to write about this topic
because although there are some very innovative companies who
are putting the Ecosystem concept into practice, at the time of
writing, it was not possible to find any available material which
discuss what is driving the need for change and the value for
developing this strategy along with IoT.
Personally, I predict that market leaders will only include companies
who are brave enough to believe in change favourable to users as
their unique raison d'tre. Therefore, companies shouldn't stop their
relationships with users after purchase, but instead engage with
them; they shouldn't think about product category, but about value
gaps instead; they shouldnt blindly follow technological hypes,
instead they should put the strengths of digital logic at the heart of
their strategy; they shouldn't believe that strategies that worked so
wonderfully in the past will continue working in the future, instead
they need to create innovation-driven growth businesses again and
again; and they shouldn't do the same for a long time, rather they
should dare to provide a holistic user experience through new
markets. Companies who accomplish these rules are those who will
enjoy a sustainable profit growth and who will initiate potential
change in society.
I would like to see this book as the first step toward a dialogue. I am
aware that there are many open questions after reading, so my
intention is improving it with the feedback from my readers. I hope
this book becomes a helpful, collaborative guide to opening
companies eyes and waking them up from lethargy.
hyperalvaro.com 28
No company has ever succeeded in innovation just by following the
best practices of its sector. Companies need to explore new territories
in order to create new-growth businesses again and again.
I encourage you to research outside of this paper about disruption,
transformational change, and the latest examples of how digital
mindset is changing the world. You can find some good readings in
the Further Reading section that will hopefully stimulate your own
theory.
Below, I will summarize five essential points companies need to
consider when they decide to implement an Ecosystem strategy and
design digital solutions which are potentially disruptive:
1. Learn how digital can transform the industry
The term digital disruption is used in professional literature only for
the last couple of years
34
. No matter how analog the industries are,
its rapidly transforming them left and right. In fact, digital
disruption's power multiplies precisely because it can apply to
industries that are not even digital. Media publishers, travel
agencies, photography companies, the music industry, etc. It is not a
question of whether it will happen or not, but when and who will
cause it.
To act disruptively, companies must not simply use digital-physical
systems to improve todays products/services/processes; they have to
understand how digital can add new value, and how they can attract
new users by designing a new value exchange in the digital space.
Example: Google and Nissan claim their driverless cars are just five
to six years away. When driverless cars become common, not only will
they change commuters experiences, they are expected to reduce the
frequency of traffic accidents, to improve the density of road use, to
smooth subsequent planning for maintenance and new road
construction, etc. Overall, driverless cars will radically disrupt the
shipping and logistics industries, fleet services, public transportation,
taxicabs, rental cars, agriculture, mining industries, etc.
2. Be patient for growth but impatient for profitability
Companies have two options when they seek to build new-growth
businesses: low-end disruptions or disruptive solutions.
Low-end disruptions take an existing market with incremental
innovations, stealing low value users from the market dominators.
These solutions dont create new markets, but they can create new
growth. Incremental innovations are easy for competitors to respond.
29
Appendix A

Guidelines
for Creating
Disruptive
Solutions
A
Footnotes
34. Van Nouhuys J. R. 2014. Short Fuse,
Big Bang: 4 Ways That Digital
Disruption Will Change Your Industry.
[online] Whiteboard. http://bit.ly/
1rQgGVM [Accessed 3 May 2014].
hyperalvaro.com
30
Disruptive solutions don't limit opportunities to the category in
which the company currently compete. The company looks at threats
in other industries in which it intends to dominate users activities
and spending. These solutions can't get big very fast, and often,
disruptive solutions initially result in worse performance compared
to established products/services in mainstream markets.
In the study Value Innovation: the strategic logic of high growth, Kim &
Mauborgne identified that companies tendencies towards user and
demand driven innovation strategies resulted in them investing 86%
of their work in low-end disruptions, but only generated 39% of
profits. On the other hand, disruptive solutions which accounted for
the remaining 14% generated 61% of profits
35
.
The aim of the Ecosystem strategy is to use the benefits of disruptive
solutions the cheaper, simpler, and more agile ideas to create
new markets for users who are looking for new ways to solve their
problems.
3. User-centric solutions come from user-centric
companies
Clearly, transformational change can be hard to spark and achieve.
There are two main reasons companies resist the user-centric
change. The obstacles are rooted in business and human nature;
like employees come and go, budgets typically go to what's already
proven, people are paid to hit certain revenue targets, etc.
36
.
To create and implement a user-centric company, where everything
is based on user needs, it needs to rumble through the company
from the top down, with strong support from senior management.
4. Disruptive solutions require a different process
When companies have a single process for all the various forms of
innovations, the output of the process looks like something done in
the past. Disruptive ideas stand a small chance of ever seeing the
light when they are evaluated with the lens of a company whos used
to identifying and shaping incremental innovations.
The process of disruptive solutions relies more on pattern
recognition rather than on data-driven market analysis. After all,
markets that do not exist can not be analyzed. Even when numbers
are available, they are never clear.
5. Design for help, not for change
Most companies who want to launch a new product/service, define
markets in terms of product categories, demographics, etc. When
Footnotes
35. Kim, C. W. and Mauborgne, R.
2004. Value Innovation:The Strategic
Logic Of High Growth. [online]
Harvard Business Review. http://
bit.ly/1iWvQIJ [Accessed 21
Feb 2014].
36. Shapiro, A. 2013. Users, Not
Customers. New York: Portfolio/
Penguin.
hyperalvaro.com
31
companies only apply these marketing segmentations to their
strategies, they have a potential risk of not designing a solution
which fit users' lives. If a product/service requires a behaviour
change but only partially unlocks the problem, it risks being beaten
by competitors in the long-term.
What companies need to do is dig deeper into users' lives and
understand them in every minute detail. Sometimes society is not
prepared enough to adopt a huge change. That's why a sense of
correct timing is really important. Coming back to the
aforementioned example of Apple, the iPad may look like an
overnight success story; but it actually traces back to a failed
product in the early 1990s. Apple refined its technologies and
launched it when the world was ready for a tablet solution
37
.
The ultimate goal, therefore, is not to create a great solution, but to
develop a great solution that solves the problem users are willing to
pay for.
Footnotes
37. Honan, M. 2013. Remembering The
Apple Newtons Prophetic Failure And
Lasting Impact. [online] Wired.
http://wrd.cm/1rQgK7Z [Accessed
21 Feb 2014].
hyperalvaro.com
Tips
1. Get the right people for the team. The team needs to be a mix of
creatives, analytics, makers, and a subject matter expert. In terms
of team size, aim for a maximum of about eight participants. The
more people involved, the slower and lower the productivity.
2. Be clear with the aims and deliverables. Have a conversation with
the owner of the challenge to understand expectations. Identify
what success looks like from both a rational and emotional
perspective.
3. Trigger ideas with inspiring stimulus for the room; use posters,
video, music, etc.
Common issues and solutions
1. Misinformation. Before starting, the team needs to collect all
possible information about the user. If there is a lack of
information, several problems can occur:
Assuming a marketing segmentation model. This will not help
determining what is valuable for the user.
Assuming that the team is accurately representing the actor.
Assuming that everyone has the same level of access to the
technology.
2. Participants cant grasp the method. Prior to starting, it's
important to demonstrate the tool with a simple warm-up example.
3. Risk aversion. Make it easy to take risks in a safe way.
4. Participants arent willing to collaborate. Good ideation requires
an open and collaborative atmosphere. Illustrate the difference
between positive behaviours such as building on each others
input (yes, and), and destructive behaviours such as rejection
and judgment.
5. Low energy levels. The dynamics of time, tiredness and
engagement can introduce erratic elements into the ideation
process. Take a break and recommend participants get some
fresh air.
32
Appendix B

How to Prepare
the Session
B
hyperalvaro.com
When a team wants to define a new market space for a company,
they need to think outside-in; this means not only looking at what the
company is doing now, but also at opportunities related with the
Customer's Desired Outcome. The team should start asking
themselves:
What business is the company in?
What businesses could the company be in?
What is going to change in the next 5 years?
To define a new market space, I recommend considering the
following
37, 38
:
1. Take a fully integrated view of the user
Market spaces are articulations of results that the user wants. They
are not products like cars, but activity arenas like personal mobility;
not personal computers, but global-networking capabilities; not
sneakers, but healthy lifestyles.
2. Look for arenas that are greater than the sum of
the core items
Market spaces absorb a higher proportion of the user's activities and
consequently, spending. And the user's spending for activities often
exceeds the spending for concrete products/services.
3. Find market spaces with growth opportunity
over time
The market space in which Lego is working with is family edu-
tainment. Working with the MIT, Lego has brought together virtual
and physical worlds. Using Legos interactive software, children build
a model and program it to act a certain way. The goal for Lego is to get
an increasing share of the user spending over their lifetime, as
usually children become young adults and then parents.
4. Stretch the market space across activities
As example, cleaning is only one market subspace of home-care
management. Here Unilever would be able to extract yet more value
from the user because once they have locked onto cleaning
management, the company will be able to move into more spaces
related to saving time in the home; like gardening, security, do-it-
yourself, decoration, insurance, shopping, etc.
5. Look across complementary products/services
If you want to watch a movie at the cinema, the costs babysitting and
parking are both factors that affect the value of this action.
33
Appendix C

Guidelines for
Defining a New
Market Space
C
Footnotes
38. Kim, C. W. and Mauborgne, R.1999.
Creating New Market Space. [online]
Harvard Business Review, http://
bit.ly/1iXsZ3a [Accessed
21 Feb 2014].
hyperalvaro.com
34
Untapped value is often hidden in complementary products/services
where the competitors converge. Companies can create new market
spaces by absorbing the peripheral needs before, during, and after
the offering is used to reduce user pain points. It's key to keep the
vision in the context, not just in the product/service.
hyperalvaro.com
Further Reading
Connected by Design: Seven Principles of Business Transformation
Through Functional Integration by Barry Wacksman and
Chris Stutzman.
The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically
Successful Businesses by Eric Ries.
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and
Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne.
Business Model Generation: A Handbook For Visionaries,
Game Changers, And Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder and
Yves Pigneur.
Experience Design. A Framework For Integrating Brand, Experience,
and Value by Patrick Newbery and Kevin Farnham.
Meta Products by Sara Crdoba Rubino, Wimer Hazenberg and
Menno Huisman.
Smart Things, Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design
by Mike Kuniavsky.
How To Spotify Builds Products by Henrik Kniberg.
The 10x Workshop by Joanna Beltowoska.
What Hackers Should Know About Design Thinking by Chris Dannen.
hyperalvaro.com 35
About the Author
lvaro Rojo is a friendly Spanish living in overcast London. Strategist
with 7 years of experience generating ideas at the intersection of
advertising, business innovation, product design, and technology,
lvaro is passionate about helping companies create meaningful
value. He has worked on both agency and client sides across Spain,
Italy and the UK.
alvaro.rojo@hyperisland.se
@hyperalvaro
hyperalvaro.com


This book was written in February 2014 and edited in May 2014.

Design by Mia J. Chuang.
Illustration Credits
Cover Science by Fabricio Marques
Chapter 1 Brijan by Brijan Powel
Chapter 2 Cuadros by Natalia de Frutos
Chapter 3 Maze by Julian Bailly
Chapter 4 Leather by Claudio Guglieri
Chapter 5 Geometrica by Guy Moorhouse

lvaro Rojo 2014. All rights reserved.