User experience challenges for Internet of Things

It’s time that we start seeing the fantasy movies because what is shown in sci-fi movies and fantasy films, that is actually getting true in last decade with the advent of technological advancement every day.

Things around us are becoming smarter than ourselves. Consider phones for instance. Thinking about it in a particular perspective, it’s rather disturbing than fun. After all, it’s a technological progress and in this regard, IOT (Internet of Things) is not an exception. IOT is already here and it is going to be the thing next.

Internet Of Things is a phenomenon in which objects and people are provided with different identifiers and capability to transfer the data across a network without a human to human and human to computer interaction. However it is booming right now, the tech companies are working on interconnected smart devices for quite some time now. This is the reason a variety of innovational products at each technological exhibition is offered. The development of IOT is going at a rapid pace and will grow more in the coming years and subsequently all of us will be accessing it.

As working for people on their user experience, there are some challenges that they are faced with:-

Connectivity Problems

Let’s face the first and the foremost thing that IOT can’t work without an internet connection, because it is the very reason how the data gets transferred between gadgets besides human intervention, irrespective of whether it is wireless connection or not. However most of the devices which work today operate through Wi-Fi.

Think of the time of Smartphones and desktops. We all go through connectivity issues, bad connection problems during a video call for instance, slow browsing sites, application crashes, and etc. however annoying it is, we all are used to it. It is not something we expect from our toasters, garage doors and room lights. User experience in web browsing is very different from that of everyday things. When we turn the lights off, we can see the instant result.

But it is different when the connection is weak at the very moment because then it takes a couple of seconds or even minutes for the lights to go out. May be you can’t open the fridge because the connection is down. With the initial generation of IOT, there will be such kind of problems and users have to be ready for the same.

Connectivity issues are going to have a compelling impact on the overall feel of IOT and since it technical issue, nothing much is there that we can do about it.

Issues with Numerous Interfaces

There are still many queries and hurdles for the IOT to get into consumer market since the concept of IOT has been around for quite a time now. There are many devices connected and it is a problem because when operating individually they come out as smart and useful but not as a team. You cannot hold control on your IOT gadgets collection from one place and make them harmonize all the data. If you own a smart car, a thermostat and a fitness tracker, you should be having 3 different mobile apps for each one of them.

You cannot set up rules to adjust the temperature of the room as per the fitness tracker data or start your car at once the door of the car is locked. This breaks the user experience of IOT products. This type of user experience may in fact make our lives more complex, despite of the purpose of smart devices was to make the life of users easier.

There are some programs in the area which allows interoperability among most of the gadgets of IOT.

Conclusion

The best way to envelop all the issues related to IOT is to be in user’s shoes and experience IOT the way a typical user would do. Through the use of this method, you will be able to find out main points which need to be fixed. And also discover how the user experience can be improvised.

The article is written by Tanuja Dongre, associated with SureVin, one of the leading service providers of BPO, ITES, Skill Development, Digital Solutions & Marketing, Data Enrichment & Management Services and HR Consultancy to our clients.