As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows and more products become connected and intelligent, the importance of strong partnerships increases.
Electrolux was at the world’s largest technology showcase, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The show attracted over 180,000 participants from 155 countries and 4,500 exhibiting companies.
Senior Electrolux managers including David Cronström, VP Strategy & Innovation, met with existing and potential partners, like Google.
According to Cronström, finding the right partners can create infinite opportunities to develop and accelerate innovation for both parties.
“At Electrolux, our ecosystem of partners ranges from world leading tech giants to smaller startups which provide unique experiences within specific niches such as assisted cooking”, says Cronström.
Voice and digital assistants on the rise
“The trend around voice and digital assistants is growing rapidly and making their way into billions of products,” shares Cronström.
In the US market, Electrolux was one of the first within the appliance industry to integrate Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa with our connected Frigidaire air conditioners. The Electrolux Group’s precision cooking brand, Anova, also works with both digital assistants.
Technology will improve the consumer experience
Cronström notes that, with connectivity comes great opportunities to improve the consumer experience through powerful technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), which includes, for example, speech recognition, natural language understanding, and machine learning.
“What touch screens did for the mobile internet is what voice and digital assistants have the potential to do for connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT),” Cronström says.
“It is making interfaces more accessible and interactions more natural, which ultimately leads to more rewarding experiences for our consumers.”
Upcoming launch
Electrolux will launch Google voice integration with its smart ovens in early 2019. “We’re very excited about our upcoming product launches which expands this partnership into the European market,” says Cronström.
Moving forward, the digital transformation of the white goods industry opens more value-added service opportunities for Electrolux when it comes to the entire ownership experience throughout the lifecycle of appliances.
“From predictive maintenance to enriching consumers’ experiences by leveraging connectivity and AI, our products can continually evolve to deliver even greater consumer experiences that shape living for the better,” says Cronström.
