Everyone is excited about IoT, it is potential and the promise of billions of connected devices including trillions of dollars in the business. But many are confused about how to start their IoT venture.
Here are my suggestions:
- Start by finding the right vertical, market segmentation, and customers that have the right mindset to change and money to invest in their digital transformation journey i.e. customers that are WILLING and ABLE to spend money on IoT.
- Find their business case and pain points to solve
- Check your strength to deliver the solution based on the following IoT value chain. Note that there is no single company can deliver an end-to-end solution. Even big companies require smaller companies to support their delivery ecosystem.
Select one (or more) of the value chain and be very good in delivering that “chain”:
- End-device components
- End devices and sensors
- Embedded operating systems
- IT, network, and OSS infrastructure
- Security
- IoT Middleware
- Cloud infrastructure
- Analytics applications
- Visualization applications
- Management and applications enablement software
- Service providers
- Vertical products and solutions
- System integrators
Which part of the Value Chain Makes Most Money?
All part of the IoT value chain makes money, and the best part of it can be delivered as an end-to-end solution rather than individually. Some parts of the value chain like the electronics or devices might have less margin but they can make up with high volume.
The software part such as applications and analytics can have good margins too. The IoT platform has continuous recurring revenue via subscriptions and licenses.
B2B IoT projects can be huge but the same cycle can be very long between 6-12 months period. Thus, regardless of which part of the value chain you choose, it’s important to get your customers as early as possible to make yourself known in in the industry.
[Source: IoT in 2021]
Trackbacks/Pingbacks