Internet of Things platform software is an emerging market with many types of buyers, from central IT to various lines of business. They all have different objectives, project types and criteria for success. This makes it challenging for service providers to set a simple and constant set of criteria for their products.
The rapid evolution of IoT platforms has been driven by technical and business requirements of enterprises. IoT platforms continue to rapidly evolve and vary by industry, region and emerging standards. It would be really difficult for a service provider to fulfill every requirement of all industries and regions.
IoT Solutions and Offerings
As an IoT solution provider, these are various options you must evaluate before choosing the list of offerings you want to give your customers.
Deployment Models
A deployment model should provide an enterprise with improved visibility into the activity and status of all of their connected devices. As mentioned before, it is impossible for a single IoT platform to fulfill all the requirements of an enterprise over many criteria. But the least it should be able to provide is a gateway to better surveillance and control of the devices.
For example, BC Hydro deployed 1.8 million smart meters and smart grids across seven Canadian provinces. They reduced theft by 75%, which translates into savings of $330 million in meter reading and $224 million in self-service tools.
Integrate Third-Party Hardware and Software
Enterprises have various devices and software on different platforms. They need an IoT solution that can integrate and configure most of them so they do not have to employ a third type of service to do that.
Industry Expertise
As one company cannot manufacture every kind of product, one IoT solution cannot apply to every kind of company. As an IoT vendor, if you have previous experience of working for or under some industry, there is a big advantage. Organizations within the same industry or working on similar types of projects will prefer your services as you already have an idea of their work and what infrastructure they have. With proven capability, enterprises are confident that you can understand their problems better.
Support Capabilities
Large enterprises have their business spread over a large geographical area and need support in each of them. It will be of a great advantage to them if a service provider is able to support their systems in all of those areas. Smaller companies, on the other hand, do not need large geographical support and can benefit from reduced costs of IoT service providers who only provide local support. Choose your niche wisely.
Scalability
An IoT solution needs to be scalable otherwise it will not be able to accommodate future expansion when there is a shift in technology. Longevity and durability are cornerstones of a scalable IoT solutions and all service provider should make sure of it.
Many IoT solution providers are startups that have sprung up lately as the technology finds more buyers. There will be a lot of competition and the ones who ultimately emerge as leaders of tomorrow will need to know and use these criteria as tools to reach there.
