Earlier this month, I had the chance to attend an online lecture with Prof. Dr. Schellnhuber, founder of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. His key message to SAP was to ensure digital technologies are utilized to reduce the effects of climate change and that SAP should act as an enabler for other companies.
Along these lines, SAP already works with several customers. In this blog, I would like to take you with me to a South Korean start up that approached us as they wanted to rethink the way things are done to reduce pollution, save resources and put people at the center of what they do. We were happy to support them in this process and deliver the right technology to help them run at their best and achieve their vision.
Air pollution is a growing problem in 80% of the world’s mega cities according to the World Health Organization. Polluted outdoor air seeping into the home also compounds the problem of air pollution generated from indoor cooking, both resulting in poor household air quality that affects the health of its inhabitants.
Clair a company based in South Korea that manufactures and sells air purifiers wants to address this issue with its vision ‘Clean Air For All’. The company is globally recognized for its filter patents that produce higher filtration efficiency than other existing filters.
To innovate on their existing service, Clair partnered with SAP AppHaus to redesign their business model through a customer-centric approach.
Together, they identified what a regular day in the consumer’s household looks like, their lifestyle and their tech-savviness and then quickly came up with initial ideas for new services. But to understand if they were solving the right problem, Clair needed to hear first-hand from their customers – the result an IoT enabled air purifier and a customized filter subscription service that runs on SAP Internet of Things. Moreover, with the customer data collected, Clair will be able to offer predictive maintenance for their devices by reading and analyzing the data transmitted from the sensors. Furthermore, Clair may improve user experience through feedback from customers by leveraging SAP Qualtrics.
Using Clair’s smart air purifier, customers can now easily check the indoor and outdoor air quality real-time and see when the next filter replacement is due. Customers will receive alerts and can order new filters with a one-click-deliver scenario. The data driven service offerings address societal issues in several areas:
Customer / Consumer Centricity
The new digital service offering has a positive impact on consumers:
- Real-time insights into air quality through custom app
- Actively self-manage air quality to ensure a healthy living environment
- Educating and promoting relevance of good air quality
Resource Scarcity
Creating an intelligent product is one way to use resources most efficiently:
- Replacing filters only when needed
- Service filters only when required to minimize waste and spare part usage
- Predictive services minimize product returns
- Targeted customer visits from service personnel due to product insights
- Maximized product lifetime
After the successful co-innovation journey with SAP, Clair is one step closer to achieving its vision ‘Clean Air for All’.
