IoT is currently leaving the state of proof of concepts and is happening in big scale. After helping our customers execute IoT projects for over a decade, here are three short tips if you are about to start your connectivity journey.
1. Business case
There may be many reasons why you are investigating the possibility to make your products connected but without a solid business case, it will be hard to execute the project. What are the main use cases that the customers are willing to pay for? What are the services that can reduce cost and maintenance for you? Always start here, with a solid idea about use cases and business cases and the rest will follow. Simple as it sounds, this is where many IoT projects fail.
2. Strategy
When you have an idea about what to do, it is time to investigate how. It is easy to jumpstart the project to solve the main use cases. But taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture now can be a good investment. Are there more products down the line that would benefit from connectivity? Can you build a reusable platform that reduces cost and risk in the coming projects? What part do you want to develop on your own and what can be bought off the shelf? Making good design choices now gives you a successful long-term strategy where all your products can benefit from connectivity.
3. Integration
Making a product connected does not automatically make it smart. The real benefit often comes when integrating and sharing information with other systems. The first idea is often to build something new end-to-end. But is this really what you and your customers want? Instead of creating everything on your own, check if your product can be integrated with existing systems. This might lead to better user experience and lower costs.
If you have any questions about your upcoming IoT projects, don´t hesitate to contact me and my team at Scionova.
// Peter Fredriksson, co founder of Scionova
