Chris Beanland - Getting IoT into the Hands of 150k Customers - British Gas' Hive
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British Gas have been one of the most longstanding supporters of IoT and smart home technology. But how you build and manage an effective ‘start up’ team within a huge corporation? And what does it take to get hardware into the hands of 150k consumers
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Chris Beanland - Getting IoT into the Hands of 150k Customers - British Gas' Hive
- 1. 1 The Hive Journey Chris Beanland, Head of New Products Hive
- 2. 2 What is Hive? Why Hive? What have we done so far? What were/ are the big challenges?
- 3. 3 What is Hive? Why Hive? What have we done so far? What were/ are the challenges?
- 4. 4 A new sub-brand of British Gas A B2C business Operates as an independent technology start-up Focus on the Connected Homes/ IoT market Launched in October 2013
- 5. 5 ADD IN THE PIC WE HAVE FROM TAMMY OF THE OFFICE
- 6. 6 What is Hive? Why Hive? What have we done so far? What were/ are the challenges?
- 7. 7 Customer expectations have changed70% of UK consumers have smartphones 1 in 3 ebay purchases has a mobile touchpoint Innovation and technology is touching all industries 60% of web traffic through smartphones and tablets
- 8. 8 IoT is expected to be a growth market
- 9. 9 Hive brings significant benefits for British Gas New revenue streams Improve capabilities (mobile, app, software, hardware) An engaging product, not a commodity Opportunity to provide value to a customer A natural extension in the energy vertical
- 10. 10 What is Hive? Why Hive? What have we done so far? What were/ are the challenges?
- 11. 11 Connected Homes in British Gas But first, how do we operate?
- 12. 12 We have started with something close to our core business
- 13. 13
- 14. 14 Innovative new brand Dedicated developer teams App, software and hardware expertise Expertise in mobile Lean development of products c.12 million customers 7,500 trusted engineers Fit 100,000 boilers a year And 100,000 heating upgrades Experts in British central heating We work closely with British Gas
- 15. 15 Hive Active Heating The new heating control for the modern customer
- 16. 16 Consistent, frictionless, simple integrated customer journey Choice Using SupportingInstalling
- 17. 17 A new sub-brand and tone of voice TV marketing went live in January 2014
- 18. 18 We have a strong UK retail presence Award winning packaging
- 19. 19 There are now over 150,000 Hive homes in the UK
- 21. 21 What is Hive? Why Hive? What have we done so far? What were/are the challenges?
- 22. 22 New business and model New & unknown competitors Fast moving consumer product Low level of awareness Higher levels of risk and uncertainty Reliant on tech as an enabler Experimentation & iteration Large current revenues Stable business model & products High levels of awareness Clear value drivers Known competitors Slower moving environment Lower reliance on technology Two very different businesses
- 23. 23 The market has its own challenges Still a high degree of uncertainty Customer awareness and understanding Security concerns/ fear of the unknown Battery life, what is the minimum? Interoperability
- 24. 24 The market is moving fast and we need to stay ahead ? ? ?
- 25. 25 Thank you for listening take control of your heating visit hivehome.com
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon Thank you for having me My name is Chris Beanland and I currently Head up New Products for BG Connected Homes A brief background on me. I joined Connected Home in Feb 2013 as Head of Commercial just as it was starting up as a business and there were probably around 20 or so office staff. So I have been with it almost since the very beginning. In fact previous to that I worked on BG’s Connected Homes Strategy For the next 15-20 mins I want to share some insight into what British Gas, the ex-public sector utility, is doing a bit differently in the UK
- New British Gas business unit created in Q4 2012 Located central London >100 people Commercial, product management, marketing, sales, customer services and software development
- British Gas Connected Homes was set up just 2 years ago It had to be set up differently to the core business because the markets and business type are so different. British Gas has a stable known market whereas the Connected Homes market is nascent, uncertain, but expected to be high growth About 18 months ago we launched Hive a customer centric sub brand focusing on the connected Home and a business unit working in a very different way – very much a start up in a big corporate
- We are all aware of this as it is by no means new so I wont labour the point, but it is a very important continuing trend Go through stats
- Forecasts that is will reach billion or even trillions by 2020 Who knows how big it will be but there are certainly all the elements that suggest this market is going to grow.
- Cannot underestimate the power of having positive customer touch points, today the only real touchpoints are us asking for money or customers complaining
- We are a small business and have to move fast We use customer development coined by Steve Blanks and agile software development. This allows us develop great products, minimise waste and develop quickly Speaking to customer is really important and in fact this week, other than today I will just be talking to customers. We don’t outsource it and just look at a presentation made by someone else
- It isnt pretty, but most importantly it isnt easy to use There are many customer who just leave their heating on all day because they cant programme it and they don’t want to come home to a cold house. In my view we have are sponsibility to help those customers to prevent them wasting money
- To put it into perspective we were shocked to learn that over 45% of customers who were surveyed who went on holiday in Dec and Jan left their heating on for ten hours per day and 10% left it on 24 x 7 On average customers can save £150 just by not heating an empty home
- The mobile device. Simple easy to use and a beautifully designed application Hive let's users control their heating and hot water wherever they are Set a schedule Turn heating up and down Turn off to frost protection And we have just added geolocation....
- But having a great thermostat product isn’t enough, the customer journey has to be brilliant We give our customer choice, they can buy from retail, our website or from British Gas and they don’t even need to be with British Gas. Hive is open to everyone Our engineers are the experts in the home and have our customer interests at heart so they offer a seamless installation journey Then of course we have exceptional support where we have the Hive Way: our hive helpers own each customer query that comes in to ensure that they can resolve it first time and leave the customer happy with their issue or question resolved
- Slightly odd and believe me it seemed bizarre as I watched the creative come together but it has gotten incredible cut through Whether people love it or hate it it is remembered, and Hive is now far better know across the UK
- In many retail stores including Apple and currys, where special connected homes departments are being created and trialled We expect Q4 for be a very interesting time for IoT and Connected Homes and we will be right at the forefront of that
- In 18 months Hive has grown to be one of, if not the, leading connected homes and smart thermostat business in the UK. We now have over 150000 customers in the UK We have done this by putting customers, like Alan here – our 100 thousandth customer, at the heart of everything we do
- But more importantly our customers are telling us they love it: People cutting their usage by 20% and savings ££££s Comments about it being a great invention and never coming home to a cold home And then of course feedback on our overall product ad service which they love
- Hive and British Gas are 2 very different business. Yes they compliment each other, but this also throws up some big challenges Being a small start up in a multi billion pound company isnt always easy and it can get lost The leadership has done a great job of giving Hive the focus it deserves, you have to believe that is your future
- There are still a lot of unknowns in the market, which is challenging environment to work in Typical customers don’t know these products exist. We live it everyday and forget not everyone had Connected homes or IOT google alerts In product testing it is clear there is an element of mistrust around technology that touches the home and customers lives so closely Seems minor but battery life is a real challenge, long battery life means bigger products which normally means uglier or more intrusive in the customers eyes And of course the big one – interoperability. HomeKit, Thread, All seen alliance, Interconnected alliance, zigbee, z wave, blue tooth lite. Nothing has been defined here and it makes it tricky for customers
- Where's it going next? - We will have more products, which you may have already guessed seeing as we have a job title Head of New Products - goal is to give consumers a simple product, which they love because it makes life easy - and once they have it, they don't know how they lived without it. You need to find those use cases that give you product market fit - We will keep the the reassurance of a brand which sits within the fabric of Britain but is forward-thinking and innovative