The migration of services from hardware to software is the new normal today. The reason being the physicality of products often makes the handling difficult. The functionality of a product often is not user friendly and lacks product innovation. Businesses are aiming to replace hardware services with those of software to;
Challenges of Physicality:
Hardware designing nowadays is a lot more challenging and complex task for engineers. Considering the cost of raw material or the electronic components is skyrocketing, the embedded system software seems like a more viable option. If the electronics are to suffer an increased cost, the suppliers would ultimately shift to other businesses. For instance, in the automobile industry during the last decade, a 20% jump in prices of electronics was seen. As an implication, the net price of the automobile surges exponentially. The increase makes it hard for businesses to make a sale and for consumers to buy the product.
Point of Differentiation:
When businesses talk about differentiation, they mean more value and uniqueness in their product relative to their competitors. The software takes precedence in offering higher value by offering more reliability, safety, affordability, portability, and higher user experience. It is the experience that sells the product. For instance, a plasma TV is a hardware used for streaming news channels and all sorts of content. Your phone could be turned into a TV and offers more streaming options, real-time, and amplified experience. The plasma TV would cost you thousands of dollars, require space to be set up, electricity to run on, and cable services. Whereas the video options on your mobile phone are not bound by those constraints.
Product Malfunctioning:
In a situation when a malfunction occurs, hardware needs to be fixed and could not be updated to a better version. Software on the other hand could be updated to a better and improved version mostly free of cost. The software revolution is not a new one but a complex process. Hardware design services offer limited scope, limited options to experiment. The more one tends to experiment, the higher the risk of functionality, and the greater is the cost. As far as software up-gradation is concerned, a lot of programming and coding do occur behind the scene, but it usually is a one-time investment. The functionality aspect offers a unique user experience and interactive design.
A scientific calculator costs you a considerable amount to carry out intelligent functions. A scientific calculator could also be downloaded on your phone or computer free of cost. The results of both would be the same and the user would be bearing less cost in the form of a digital calculator. Whilst a physical calculator requires space, the electronic one will not.
Security Matters:
Another challenge with the hardware services is the rising security concern. There would always be a threat of theft. Be it an automobile, any manufactured good, or an electronic device, you as a user would always run with the security and safety issues. Virtual products or the ones existing on the net rarely undergo the same concerns. For software that is more like an electronic or digital property, the security would not be that big of a deal. The fact that software “lives on a digital space” highlights its security strategy in terms of its value offering.
The prevalence of digitalization signifies how quick the migration of physical beings to virtual or digital ones is likely to occur. Physical objects do present themselves with a lot of utility and usefulness. Their inevitability is undoubted however, hardware design services are now gradually becoming obsolete. The software services are the future.
Tech Bytes 