The Physical Web

Preparing for the data tsunami

This is part two of the article that we posted a few days ago. In that article, we discussed the potential impact of low cost signaling devices on the global supply chain. We expect the cost of the tags when produced at scale to be pennies. Even low value, low margin products can be tagged. This will be a disruptive technology to value chains for many Industries. The Physical Web is coming soon.

Google coined the term Physical Web in 2014. They announced their vision for an economy where everything is interconnected. It was more vision than capability then. The Internet of Things (IOT) is the common term today, but we are still partial to PW. Afterall, the majority of the GDP is comprised of the sale and distribution of physical product. If we can connect the physical to the digital in an affordable and effective manner, we open a vast array of new opportunities.

Let's start with the simple case. By tagging every product in a store with a unique ID which advertises itself on a regular cycle, we have gained great visibility to the status of our inventory. If these same products can provide us with their real-time movement and other data, such as temperature, we have an even greater opportunity to remake the demand and supply chains of our operations and to serve customers more intensively. Of course, this requires very low-cost tags that can be pervasively deployed, and applications (think ai!) which ingest and rationalize those signals for human consumption. The effect is to bring page views, ads, browsing, clicks, and shopping cart additions of online experiences into the physical store. And it can all be done while preserving privacy and avoiding adverse ad placement. With low-cost battery-free tags, the Physical Web is on steroids.

That's why we are keeping an eye on developments.

One hurdle, of course, is the delivery of flexible tags at scale. These 'nano computers' will need to be commercial grade, and be able to withstand a range of environmental conditions without fail.

An even bigger hurdle is rethinking the value-chain so that the technology can be adopted and leveraged with optimal market impact. Everything changes. With the Physical Web, companies should use the opportunity to not rework, but to replace old processes built on assumptions that are outdated. We are entering an era of a genuine real-time economy. With immediate transparency on inventory levels, customer demand, sales trends, price sensitivity, spoilage, shrinkage, and other key operational factors, whole new processes must be created for marketing, sales, customer service, delivery, and warranties. Companies will need disciplined change management to transition the organization and retrain the workforce. In addition, capabilities in AI and machine learning become paramount to handle effectively the tsunami of data.

A revolution has already arrived with conversational ai, but other changes on the horizon will require continued forward thinking leadership. Your products will be calling soon. So, give us a call first and let's discuss the opportunities.