A short time ago I received a call from a local farmer with a problem. He wanted to measure the temperature in his orchard and receive an alert before his delicate fruit flowers would freeze during a cold spring night, so that he can go outside and light the torches. In theory, an ideal and relatively easy IoT LoRaWAN use case and still a case bound for the IoT graveyard.
Why?
Out of our experience, a large number of IoT projects fail and almost all of them for the same common reasons. A general mismatch of technological complexity and customer expectation, versus the willingness to invest (enough project budget) combined with ever-evolving technology.
This situation is not limited to small projects and individuals such as our farmer. Another recent example came from a startup in the logistics sector that contacted us to help them in the development of their smart waste management solution. This startup was overwhelmed by the technical convolutions of the IoT stack needed to support their smart case. They wanted to focus on their business case without managing the IoT technical nitty gritty.
The ugly truth about IoT. A large number of IoT projects fail and almost all of them for the same common reasons.
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One of the complexity hurdles when starting with an IoT project is certainly the setup and support needed to combine all the different components. This translates into high consulting efforts by the solution provider. By making IoT more accessible and reducing the complexity of those projects, we should automatically reduce the related costs and we might even open the field for many more IoT business cases that have not been economically feasible before. This is an important step towards the broad market application of IoT.
Acquisition-, Consulting, Setup-, Administration- and Support time result in higher costs for the IoT platform provider and therefore in higher prices for the client. Reducing complexity is therefore not only relevant for the solution provider or innovator, but by enabling the use of IoT software tools in self-service, and by providing services such as automated billing, the customer acquisition efforts and expenses can also be reduced to an absolute minimum.
The akenza platform enables seamless integration with LORIOT allowing for minimal complexity and maximal automation. We proceed as far as offering LoRaWAN Networks as “Connectivity as a Service”, facilitating the seamless usage of local LORIOT Networks. This enables LORIOT network operators to better commercialize their LoRaWAN networks by offering LORIOT connectivity through akenza to a broader public market.
In the case depicted above, this means that our local farmer could directly start building its smart use case on akenza based on a local LORIOT network operator; without subscribing to a separate contract for the connectivity, without the need to code and completely in self-service.
Making IoT more accessible and reducing the complexity of the projects will allow to automatically reduce costs and open the field for many more IoT business cases that have not been economically feasible before.
click to tweet.
Connectivity as a Service, self-service features and simple onboarding processes are only the first steps to support innovators and companies in their IoT journey, foster a bigger adoption of IoT-based solutions
...and lead those projects out of the IoT project graveyard into success.
