Monetising the IoT
In the not-so-distant future, IoT systems will act like social networks, with billions of connected devices communicating with each other, open sharing of information and unparalleled collaboration between products, services and organisations.
There will be literally millions of opportunities for everyone to monetise their own goods and services and make profitable choices resulting in ROI.
But before you take the leap and invest in complex IoT technology, it would be wise to analyse the impact such an investment would have on your top and bottom line.
We’ve come to learn that IoT has the capability to transform companies from being makers of products to service providers which has opened our eyes to previously untapped revenue streams and opportunities to collaborate.
Wonderous promises of greater efficiency and productivity, reduced downtime, increased profitability, enhanced customer satisfaction…
The big question is, how does the vast and visionary IoT fit into our humble business and how do we ensure that an investment will deliver ROI?
That’s where good old-fashioned planning comes in. Design a strategy, analyse your data, look out for quality issues, design flaws and trends. Decide what your long-term goals are, how you could improve your service, identify where your weaknesses lie, is there an opportunity for innovation that you previously overlooked, so on and so forth.
Here’s an example of how IoT transformed a service we’re all well acquainted with, General Electric Power and Water, the world’s premiere alternative fuel generator provider.
The company’s generators are connected to an IoT platform that monitors the health and status of the machines and provides a remote access service.
The historical data from the generators notifies General Electric about emerging indicators of future failures and helps them predict when the machines require maintenance thereby reducing the number of visits to service the machines. They’ve saved a hefty $800k in customer service costs and reduced their onsite repairs by 50%!
To be frank, investing in IoT technology isn’t some futuristic concept you can put off for another five years, it’s so tangible and results driven that if you want your business to stay ahead of the game, or even just keep up, you best get to analysing the ROI of IoT.
