Sagar Nikam

There is a looming concern that we might be entering into a new era of scarcity of natural resources. This has led to new terminology in the industrial world – the Circular economy. This led me to question – Is this something that also applies to product managers? Is it a new trend for product managers to build products for the Circular economy?

This blog targets a section of product managers who would like to build products from sustainability and economic models.

The world is moving towards a more sustainable future. Companies are making efforts to reduce carbon emissions while products are being built and consumed. The consumption of the goods creates an impact on the environment. The goods have a limited life after which they are considered waste. The waste is created by the goods which get disposed of by the consumers who have no value for it. The waste goes to landfills, in oceans, or is burnt. The negative impacts are not just limited to the waste itself, but it also impacts the resources that were used to build the product. There is a better way to

What is Circular Economy?

A circular economy reduces material use, redesigns materials to be less resource-intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products. (source: epa.gov)

Why Circular Economy is Good for the environment?

• Lower Carbon Emission : It reduces carbon emissions by reusing the existing products. Helps to reduce the pollution.
• New revenue models : Innovation and adaptation can lead to new avenue for diversifying the business and promoting new start-ups
• Financial savings and consumer empowerment from repairing goods

Circular Economy in the Digital Product space.

• Review – understand the needs and value addition by the product against the investment
• Reuse – Evaluate currently available solutions or solutions closer to the required product. Its sometimes economical to upgrade current product rather building new one
• Recycle – If you decommissioning any digital product – Evaluate if it can be used for something else or hand it down to startups or students for project experience and learning purposes 
• Rewire – Promote a culture and attitude towards Circular economy. 

Conclusion:

The circular economy is a great model to follow. We are the architects of the products, so it is up to us to build something better for the future.

I hope this blog post has given a brief idea about the Circular Economy and how it can be applied to the Digital space. The key takeaway is to start thinking about how your product can be reused, recycled, and re-engineered. Please feel free to contact us with your thoughts/opinions/ideas on this blog post.

Read the article on how to reduce Data Waste and build a Data-Driven organization

I would love to discuss this further. Feel free to contact me here