Deeply understand aging in place as well as accompanying social issues.

Accenture Industry X wanted to develop IoT design concept relate with social issue and team was focusing on elderly care since this becomes serious social issue in some countries. Also, This can be all of our problem some point, so it can create deep empathy with people as well.

Team explored what people struggled with at home elderly care for both caregivers and elderlies to define main issues:

Aging at home strains relationships and increases stress for both parents and caregiver. Parents want to maintain their sense of independence and caregivers are incredibly stressed and isolated often left alone to care for their aging parents. The result is a diminished quality of life and subsequent deterioration of their relationship.

How can we effectively resolve this problem through physical product and system?

Create deeply empathizable storyboard based on “Our Story”.

To understand critical issues of elderly care, team did on/ offline research and interviewed with both caregivers and elderlies.

Based on interview and research results, team explored various possible family stories regarding at home elderly care and created storyboard based on the most common ordinary family story. This storyboard was basically all of our story that can happen for now or near future.

The key problem from storyboard was the communication.

There was gap between caregiver and elderly along each others.

For the elderlies: Dignity, autonomy, independence, social and family engagement is most important value for their living.

However, for the caregiver: Medication adherence, activity level, peace of mind and avoid burnout is most important things along with their parents.

These gaps were creating lack of communication and huge misunderstanding between them. based on this founding, bring back them under same umbrella of family conversation to avoid misunderstanding was main subject of this project. It should also maintain all important values that both elderlies and caregivers are thinking for their better living.

Design for whole family.

How to impactfully improve family communication maintain connection without misunderstanding? This was main challenge of design development for both digital and physical.

To achieve main challenge, team was established subjects that this new product should provide:

• Conversational tool first, health tracker second.

• Checking-in instead of checking-up.

• Fostering a connection in the moment.

• Being part of the family conversation.

• Universal usability for whole family members.

UX and ID development was proceeded based on realizing these subjects.

Fabricating 3D printed prototypes and appearance model to evaluate form and aesthetics including CMF.

Team fabricated 3D printed prototype to evaluate overall form and scale with internal evaluation group.

Team was proceed design refinement based on internal evaluation group’s feedback and fabricated appearance model including real CMF to evaluate overall physical product design even more detaily.

FireFly: Ideal elderly care solution that link and tie all family together.

Under the FireFly system, all family members will have same wristband as one team. This is not for elderly and specific caregiver. It’s for whole family.

The FireFly is providing simple, but emotional check-in communication between family members: If you want to send check-in message to your family, you can simple touch your wristband. Your firefly will fly to your family’s wristband with beacon. Your family’s wristband will grow and tighten with warm temperature like you are hugging them.

The FireFly wristband health monitoring sensor is providing caregivers useful everyday health info of their parents such as activity level, sleep behavior and critical injury alert like falling.

The FireFly hub is also providing another way of family communication: Your son and daughter simply text to their grandma and grandpa same as texting with their friends. The FireFly hub will translate text to the voice message. Grandma and grandpa can simply talk to response. Now, The FireFly hub translate it as text and send it to their grandson and daughter. This can realize more often communication with family. The FireFly hub also provide useful alert such as medication remind to keep your parents stay healthy and safe.

FireFly: New way of family communication and care.

The FireFly is providing new way of family communication to avoid misunderstanding from lack of communication. The FireFly system is providing more often and easy communication to stay your family together. It’s simple check-in based communication provide less stress, but more emotional communication than check-up based communication.

With the FireFly system, all family members are now one caregiving team. You will never burnout and stay in piece of mind under the FireFly smart monitoring system.

Open and show new business opportunities regarding social issue.

Accenture industry X was showcased the FireFly to potential client who can be interested with network based elderly care system such as: Verizon, AT&T, Philips, Siemens and etc.

They were highly interested of The FireFly's approach and had more deep conversation with some of them regarding tech development to realize the FireFly in real life.

The FireFly also showcased in several Accenture’s internal events to spread its innovative thinking to the wide Accenture divisions.