IoT is a real phenomenon which continues to transform enterprises, cities, farms, industries and many more. Typical IoT environment is a complex set-up as various components need to come together to make sure technology works, so you can collect the data you need. I have been a sales person in IoT industry for more than 5 years. I have been working globally with many different countries, companies, cultures and backgrounds. I have seen companies transforming themselves, by the help of IoT and also many failed projects. Today I will try to sum-up which are the main drivers behind a successful IoT venture.
In essence, there are 2 types of IoT projects; Strategic or Tactical IoT. Strategic IoT projects are typically driven by the top management, linked to other parts of the organization and have a bit more clear business case behind. Where else Tactical IoT projects are usually driven by business units, executed mostly by internal resources and not linked to the overall business goals.
Both Strategic and Tactical IoT projects may or may not succeed depending on the ambition levels. However, I challenge my customers to think about their core business and how IoT can enable improvements on it. At the end of the day IoT is not what you are good at. Why not outsource the tech and focus on business value and data monetization. At the end of the day, you will collect a lot of sensor data and you need to have a plan how to monetize it. If IoT does not improve your core business, it will eventually fail because the underlying tech-ecosystem is rather complex and IoT requires continues vendor/technology/strategy improvement.
Now from pure technology perspective, the successful projects all had some common footprint behind; all IT systems (ERP, CRM, Billing, etc) are involved, over the air access, security and high availability are required. Dont be afraid to spend a bit more Capex to save a lot of Opex later on. You must build your IoT topology based on flexibility and adaptability as new standards, tech components and regulations will fade in.
Keep the long story short, IoT is a fast changing, rather complicated ecosystem. Therefore you need external know-how and consulting partner who will help you build budget, data monetization and manage operational aspects. Your vendors must provide world-class support, integration and implementation help. Do your homework and get ready for vendor and technology immaturity. Assess vendor and tech continuously. Last but not least, contact Tele2 IoT so we can bring world-wide best practices and know-how.
Alper CELIK
Global Sales Manager
IT - Telecom Business 