NEEO - The Universal Remote For All Devices: An Essay On Simplifying Control.

Could you decide the product name for innovation? It should be electrical product and haven't come out to stock. It should be Three kinds of innovation for product.

Allocation of Responsibility

Technology is the key aspect of the present generation. Today’s world is driven by technology. Technology made this world a better place to live. However, it also made the life of the present generation more complex and difficult due to its numerous approaches. It is practically impossible for the individuals to manage all the gadgets they are operating at the same time. Therefore, there is a need of some technological advances to get this issue solved. NEEO came to this point and introduced a remote sensor, which solved this issue of applicability largely.

Raphael Oberholzer and Oliver Studer founded NEEO in 2014. Their main vision is to reduce the complexity faced by people in using different electrical appliances such as air conditioners, televisions and mobiles. NEEO introduced a device, which will act as an universal remote to operate all the electrical devices (NEEO 2017). Therefore, there will be no more need of facing the difficulty of operating different devices at a time.

This report will highlight the SWOT analysis of NEEO to determine its competitiveness in the market. Marketing plans and assessment of the strategies of NEEO will also be discussed here along with the impact of this innovative idea on the common people.

The organizational structure will be divided in to four main departments. Marketing, technical, human resources and operations will be the four main departments. Team members will be allocated in the respective departments according to their expertise. Marketing department will be responsible for the promotional activities as well as the sales (Piercy 2014). Technical or engineering department will look after the hardware and the software of the product. They will work on the inputs given by the marketing team about the taste and preference pattern of the customers. This department will look after all the technicalities. Human resource department will have the responsibility of managing the employees in the organization. They will also look after the recruitment process in inducting right people for the right job (Breaugh 2017). Operations department will have the responsibility of managing the daily activities in the organization and will be responsible for the after sales service of the customers. 

Human resource executive will be responsible for the effective human resource management (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Market research will help the HR executive to determine the expectation of the customers and accordingly he can employ suitable people who can meet the expectations. Market research will also enable the HR executive to determine the standard salary structure in the industry. Thus employing right people for the right task will be the prime responsibility of human resource executive (Breaugh 2017). Another responsibility will be effectively managing the existing workforce by providing suitable compensation and other perquisites (Calder and Shah-Hosseini 2013).

Market research will also benefit the NEEO by providing the demand and expectation of the customers. Accordingly, NEEO can customize their product to meet the market demand. Market research also helps in gathering the customer feedback. Feedback from the customers will help NEEO to determine the shortcomings of their product and change it accordingly. It will enable them to determine the position of their competitors and the way to counter them.

Progress Report

NEEO has the diversified workforce, thus issues related to diversity create barriers in the management of the project. Team members are from different cultural and social background. Hence, they have different approach towards meeting the goal or objectives of the project (Barak 2016). Contradiction occurs to some extent among the team members. Lack of accountability is another issue in the project management. All the team members are being allocated respective jobs but lacks of responsibility of them affects the team performance. Another issue in the project management is the lack of coordination among the team members. Respective departments are doing their duties and managing their responsibilities but lack of coordination among them affecting the collective productivity of the organization (Heagney 2016). Therefore, singular approach and coordination among the team management is important for the effective project management.

Strengths

• NEEO universal remote is a one of a kind product having no close substitutes.
• Include the latest technologies available.
• Inclusion of touch screen interface will enable it to operate easily and more conveniently.
• Battery is being designed to last for several months in one charge. Thus, users are will be free from charging it on daily basis.
• Despite the lame and boring design of other universal remotes, NEEO came up with a very stylish and sleek design. This will help to be noticed more in the market.
• Being a luxury product, it has some extent of utility or necessity, which will attract more customers.
• NEEO being a startup, managed to convince the investors in the potentiality of their product. They have attracted good amount of investment.
• Comprise of more number of commands to be compatible with any available electric devices. NEEO have more than 30,000 pre-installed commands.
• Worldwide availability will help to cater to more number of customers. NEEO will be available around the world by paying the respective shipping fees.

Weaknesses

• Price is on the higher side restricting the opportunity to cater to larger audience. It will be projected as a niche product.
• Objective of NEEO is to provide relief to the users from the difficulty of operating different devices. However, to operate NEEO remote, customers again have to get accustomed with it. Customers may be reluctant in accepting a new device to operate their existing ones.
• NEEO is a startup. Therefore, it will take time for them to garner the desired brand identity. Without having recognition in the market, it will be difficult for them to market their products.
• Market is limited because; customers having more and diversified devices will only be interested in universal remote. Customers having less devices to operate will find no use of it.
• As discussed earlier, NEEO being a startup do not have the presence around the world. Thus, customers buying it will find it difficult to access to the service centers for repairing.
• Electronic devices are not full proofed to any technical snag. Therefore, any technical snag of NEEO will garner negative word of mouth. This will affect their probability of business.
• NEEO does not have any close substitutes, however, it have distant competitors, which offers universal remote in more competitive prices.

Opportunities

• Being a one of a kind product, NEEO have the whole market to utilize. Potentiality is much higher for them.
• More devices are being introduced in the market and in the coming years, this will increase. Therefore, people will feel more need of universal remote in managing all these devices.
• Garnering word of mouth that is more positive will enable them to venture in to other devices in the coming years. Diversification policy can be initiated.
• Adding more features in their existing product will increase the utility and the customer base.

Threats

• Distant competitors can introduce similar products in more affordable price. It will create a challenge for NEEO.
• Dependency on the investors can create barriers in daily activities. Unwillingness of the investors in investing may lead to crisis of capital.
• Different organizations from telecommunication sectors and other sectors can venture in producing universal remote. This will affect the market scenario of NEEO.
• Electronic device manufacturers may become reluctant in having compatibility with the universal remote. The utility of NEEO will get damage for this issue.
• Disadvantages for being the innovator will also applicable for NEEO. Late entrants in the market will only imitate their products without incurring any research and development cost.

• Diversifying strategies should be implemented in earliest in order to minimize the business risks (Rothaermel 2015).
• Pricing policy should be in such a way that is will help to gain price leadership in the market (Varian 2014). Aggressive pricing policy will enable NEEO to cater to more number of audiences.
• Extensive promotional policies should be implemented in order to gain more brand identity and brand exposure (Zhurkina, Ukhanova and Nikishin 2015). It is important to increase the recognition in the market.
• Products should be always be updated technologically and by the compatibility with newer products. It will ensure to fulfill the current expectation of the customers.
• Ensure hassle free support for the customers. Good after sales service will help to gain positive word of mouth from the existing customers (Klaus and Maklan 2013).

As discussed earlier, today’s scenario is much complex than it was a decade ago. With more and more inflow of new technologies, more devices are being introduced in the market. Therefore, there is a need of some solutions to manage all these complexities. Majority of people use several devices from television to mobile phones. It will control all the operations of the devices with just one command. Thus, it can prove beneficial for the users. Keeping in mind the convenience of the users, NEEO came up with long lasting battery, which will last for several months in single charge. In the coming days, more features and variables will be introduced according to the acceptance in the market. Touch screen has been added for more convenience of the users (Neumann and Neumann 2014). All the latest devices are compatible with NEEO. Thus, customers will not find any issues to use it with newer products. It is been shown in various research surveys that, customers prefer more products having holistic approach. They prefer products, which will reduce the usage of different products. Therefore, NEEO will be that desired product which will help in operating different devices simultaneously.

Customers always tend to accept the products, which will help in easing their life. Thus, NEEO will have these competitive advantages to attract the customers. However, every product should have some functional and aesthetic qualities in spite of its utility to attract customers. NEEO have less number of physical buttons compared to other universal remote. It is being seen that majority of the buttons in the remote are of no use to the customers. Therefore, NEEO have only the most frequently used buttons such as volume keys and power buttons. Touch screen is being provided to conduct more tasks and operate it more conveniently (Neumann and Neumann 2014). NEEO uses operating system of their own rather than using any third parties’ operating systems (Lister 2013). Their operating system is more energy efficient and responsive. Another aspect, which makes NEEO unique from other traditional universal remotes, is the facility of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Already, NEEO has more than 30,000 data of command in its server and it is growing. Therefore, it will perform more diversified tasks than other conventional universal remotes.

Project Management Issues

NEEO will perform all the basic tasks of a remote such as, determining volume and switching on and off the power connection. Apart from this, it will perform other tasks such as, maintaining the temperature of the air conditioner and receive or end the incoming call in the mobile phone. Applicability of NEEO covers nearly all the type of available electronic devices in the market.

From the aesthetic point of view, NEEO is far ahead in the competition. Most of the traditional universal remote are lame and dull looking. Therefore, they do not garner any aesthetic value to the customers (Melchionne 2013). However, NEEO has changed the whole scenario by introducing a remote with having sleek aluminum body and narrow bezel touch screen. It can be compared with the designs of the leading mobile phones. This aesthetic value added an extra competitiveness to the product. The first impression of the customers by seeing the product will be positive. Customization options will be added in the later stage to give the customers option of designing their own NEEO (Pollard, Chuo and Lee 2016). Customers will have the options of different colors, textures and design of the buttons to choose. This will provide more exclusivity to the customers.

Today’s generation is much concerned about the environment. They are well aware about the environmental impact of the product they are using. Therefore, NEEO also has the plan to introduce more environment friendly products (Haws, Winterich and Reczek 2013). It is being suggested that solar panel should installed on the back of the remote in order to charge it by solar energy. More energy efficient batteries interface and operating system will be introduced later. It is also been in the consideration that hardware should constitute recycled materials without compromising its quality or aesthetic value. Manufacturing facilities will be environment friendly, compatible with different environmental laws (Gillespie 2014). Added advantage of meeting all the environmental norms is generating goodwill or reputation among the customers. It will helps in the branding of the products.

Initially, NEEO will be marketed as a niche product for the higher end customers. It is for the reason that during the initial stage of any one of a kind product, the buzz around the product is more. Thus, to utilize that buzz or interest, premium pricing will be implemented during the early stage. Another advantage of this policy is that, niche or exclusive product always attract more interest from the masses (Choudhary 2014). It becomes a status symbol for the people. Exclusiveness will become the prime criteria for the people rather the price and features. Thus, after some years of introduction, pricing strategy will be implemented and more affordable price will be offered (Boone and Kurtz 2013). It will increase the market share of NEEO. Therefore, at first, only the higher end customers will be targeted and gradually, more segments of the customers will be catered. Customers using different types of devices will only be the target customers of NEEO.

In later stage, more variants of NEEO universal remote will be introduced in order to cater to different needs or requirements of the customers. Some customers may require universal remote only for televisions and air conditioners. Therefore, charging extra price from them for providing remote sensor for other devices is not a sustainable idea. Moreover, many corporate offices may need it only for operating all the air conditioners. For them, operating the mobile phones with the universal remote is of no use. Thus, more variants of NEEO will cater to these requirements. It will also enable the organization in competitive pricing of the product by offering only the required feature. In the later stage, variants will be introduced for the middle level of the pyramid (Atkinson and Brandolini 2013). Variants of NEEO will be compatible with the most used devices of the middle class families. Therefore, the price will be low and the huge number of middle classes can be attracted.

Conclusion

Having analyzed all the aspects of the NEEO, this report concludes that there is a huge market opportunity for NEEO for being a one of a kind product. It has some weaknesses and threats that need to be overcome. However, proper and effective implementation of all the discussed strategies will help them to gain a sound foothold in the market. Strategies for customer acquisitions are also been discussed here. These strategies will help to cater all the segments in the market. NEEO is already a good and potential product. The only requirement for it is having extensive promotional policies to aware the customers about it. Another aspect to be fulfilled is increasing the presence in the global market. It will help in increasing the recognition and as well as providing the customer support more effectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that proper implementation of all the strategies will make them a prominent player in the market.

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