The IoT Revolution: Improving customer convenience & customer experience while reducing business cycle times and cost.

Topics covered in this blog:
1) The simple definitions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Telematics
2) Illustration of IoT personal and business devices, uses
3) IoT Trends
4) IoT Growth in Spend and Market Size
5) IoT enablers and why IoT has become so pervasive
6) How does IoT work
7) The benefits of IoT
8) The positives and negatives of IoT
9) The most Popular IoT Architecture Platforms in 2021
10) The 10 Hottest Industrial IoT Platforms Of 2020
11) The most Popular IoT Services Companies for 2021
12) Sample IoT Use Cases that illustrate the Customer Experience Benefits
• Customer, Personal IoT Digital Assistants Use Case Benefits
• Business, Fleet Management IoT Benefits Use Case:
• IoT Dashboard Example with Customer Experience Benefits:
13) How to get started in improving your IoT driven Customer Experience

A) Simple Definitions of IoT and Telematics:

One new term I keep hearing about over and over is the “Internet of Things”, known shorthand as IoT. I thought this was a strange term at first and was puzzled about what it stood for. As a result, I set forth to research the topic and create a simple definition for IoT as well as “Telematics” which is frequently mentioned in the context of IoT.

1) IoT Definition: IoT is short for the Internet of Things and describes physically connected objects, that contain embedded sensors, processors, software, and other technologies, and that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the internet or by other communications networks.

2) Telematics Definition: Telematics is the practice of sending, receiving, and storing information using telecommunication devices to control remote IoT objects.
In other words, and more put more simply, Telematics is the practice of managing information collected from an array of IoT devices (i.e., connected thermostats, GPS in an automobile, Alexa, Siri, etc.). For the rest of this article, IoT and supporting Telematics I will simply refer to as IoT.

B) IoT Trends and why IoT has become so significant:

1. With 1.3 billion projected subscriptions by 2023, IoT is about to experience another boost by the 5G technology.
2. By 2021, 35 billion IoT devices will be installed around the world.
3. The number of connected devices in 2021 will be 46 billion. (Juniper Research)
4. Households have ten connected (IoT) devices on average and will rise to 50 in 2021, (Economic Times)
5. Spending on IoT Endpoint Security solutions will reach $631M in 2021, (Gartner)
6. The Smart Home IoT market will grow to $53.45 billion by 2022, (Statista)
7. Worldwide IoT spending surpassed $1 trillion in 2020 alone, (Sdx central)
8. Companies could invest up to $15 trillion in IoT by 2025, (Gigabit)
9. The biggest reason for IoT investment is cost-reduction, (IoT Analytics)

1-4 above, source: https://techjury.net/blog/how-many-iot-devices-are-there/#gref
5-9 above, Source: https://findstack.com/internet-of-things-statistics/

 
C) What has made IoT possible:

The next set of questions you might have are:

1) What are the driving forces behind all this IoT growth?
2) Why has IoT usage grown so much now?
3) What has enabled IoTs to be integral in almost everything we do, touch, etc.?

The simple answer is that the rapid increase in technological capabilities, miniaturization of devices, increased computing capacity and 24x7x365 high bandwidth are the enablers. The real reason is that this drives multiple win-wins including the decreased business cost and cycle times coupled with increases in accuracy and customer experience delivery. The chart below sums up these trends very succinctly.

D) How does IoT work

IoT systems consist of web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems (that include processors, sensors, data storage/management hardware, and communication hardware, to collect, send and act on data they acquire from the surroundings where they are embedded. IoT devices either share the sensor data they collect to the cloud to be analyzed or the data is made available locally to be analyzed.

In certain instances, these IoT devices communicate with other related IoT devices and act on the information they compile and aggregate from each another. These IoT devices perform most of their own processing and decision making without the need for human intervention, although persons can interact with the devices to either install them, provide updated instructions, or access and monitor the data associated with the systems they are overseeing and/or controlling.

E) The benefits of IoT, the IoT Revolution

Never has there been such a win-win enabled by technology than with the explosion of the use of IoT. Businesses win by enabling greater efficiency and accuracy while driving costs and time to market simultaneously lower. At the same time, companies can increase the ease of doing business with them through increased customer convenience along with increased customer experiences (marketing, sales, customer service, products, services, etc.) by having greater IoT enabled insights into what customer really need and want. The following chart captures some of the IoT enabled win-wins both for business and customers.

F) The Balanced Positives and Negatives of IoT

To not just present benefits of implementing IoT in the above chart, I also developed the following chart to show additional IoT positives balanced with negatives. For example, for business the benefit is the decreased maintenance cost and equipment downtime, while a negative is the risk of hacking and hijacking of IoT devices connected data and systems, etc. for both customers and businesses.

G) Most Popular IoT Architecture Platforms in 2021

Here is a list of the most popular IoT platforms In 2021 from SoftwareTestingHelp.

1. Google Cloud Platform
2. OpenRemote
3. IRI Voracity
4. Particle
5. ThingWorx
6. IBM Watson IoT
7. Amazon AWS IoT Core
8. Microsoft Azure IoT Suite
9. Oracle IoT
10. Cisco IoT Cloud Connect
11. Altair SmartWorks
12. Salesforce IoT Cloud

In the article from SoftwareTestingHelp, (source: https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/best-iot-platforms/), there is a detailed description for each platform as well as high level pricing for each platform.

H) The 10 Hottest Industrial IoT Platforms Of 2020

If you’re a larger industrial company, you’ll also want to view this list of top enterprise level IoT platform providers listed below:

1. Altizon Datonis
2. Amazon Web Services IoT (also on the most popular list in G, 7) above
3. Flutura Cerebra
4. Hitachi Vantara Lumada (Listed in Gartner’s “Leader” Quadrant)
5. IBM Watson IoT (also on the most popular list in G, 6) above
6. Litmus Edge
7. Microsoft Azure IoT (Listed in Gartner’s “Leader” Quadrant)
8. Oracle IoT Cloud Service, (also on the most popular list in G, 9) above
9. PTC ThingWorx (Listed in Gartner’s “Leader” Quadrant), also on the most popular list in G, 5) above
10. Software AG Cumulocity

Source: https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/internet-of-things/the-10-hottest-industrial-iot-platforms-of-2020

I) Most Popular IoT Services Companies for 2021:

Enlisted below are some of the most popular IoT Software Solutions and Services Companies worldwide.

List of Best Internet of Things Companies

1. ScienceSoft (USA & Europe)
2. iTechArt (New York, US)
3. Oxagile (New York, US)
4. Indium Software (USA, UK, Singapore)
5. Softeq (Houston, Texas, USA)
6. Style Lab IoT Software Company (San Francisco, CA)
7. HQ Software Industrial IoT Company (USA & Europe)
8. PTC (Boston, Massachusetts)
9. Cisco (San Jose, CA)
10. ARM IoT Security Company (Cambridge, Cambs)
11. Hawei (Shenzhen, Guangdong)
12. GE Digital (San Ramon, California)
13. Bosch IoT Sensor Company (Farmington Hills, MI)
14. SAP (Walldorf, Germany)
15. Siemens IoT Analytics Company (Berlin and Munich, Germany)
16. IBM (New York, U.S.)
    Source: https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/top-iot-companies/

I would also add to the top of the list Tata Consulting Services (TCS) as a company who excels in IoT strategy and integration consulting.

J) Example Companies Going all In on IoT

While there are many companies embracing and adopting the concept of IoT, one stands out in particular. Honeywell has made IoT a centerpiece of their future company strategy and has developed a new IoT platform called Honeywell Forge. You may have seen some of the ads they are currently running online, on cable channels and in print. Honeywell plans to roll out versions of this IoT platform for the airline, industrials and buildings verticals.

I interviewed with Honeywell a while back for a Director of Customer Experience position and was impressed at how passionate they are was about IoT and how well they understood that it enabled much higher levels of customer experience. Other companies who have introduced IoT platforms include GE, Siemens and Johnson Controls (competitor to Honeywell).

K) Sample IoT Use Cases that illustrate the Customer Experience Benefits

1) Customer, Personal IoT Digital Assistants Use Case Benefits:

The user of at home personal digital IoT assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and Samsung’s Bixby have exploded in the past 5+ years. They have enabled an entire new level of convenience for consumers. The increased customer intimacy and insights gathering comes with the potential balanced decrease in privacy. Users of digital personal assistants are generally aware and ok with this tradeoff due to the delivered convenience and enhanced customer experience. The chart below illustrates a sample of delivered customer experiences based on the potential to learn about users/customers and the enabled delivery of great customer experiences based on leveraging these enhanced insights.

2) Business, Fleet Management IoT Benefits Use Case:

The user of IoT in fleet management has also increased dramatically in the past several years. The use of these fleet management IoT solutions have enabled an entire new level of convenience for both their business users as well as the customers they serve. The chart below illustrates a sample of delivered customer experiences based on the potential to learn about users/customers and the enabled delivery of great customer experiences based on leveraging these enhanced insights.

3) IoT Dashboard Example with Customer Experience Benefits:

Source: https://www.sisense.com/dashboard-examples/manufacturing/iot-live-energy/

Above is a superb example of an IoT insights power management dashboard created via Sisense, a company that “Builds custom analytic experiences” and “Embeds actionable intelligence anywhere.” to “Transform the way you work.”

In this power management example, the Sisense enabled dashboard displays all the performance measures associated with the IoT monitoring devices such as the following:

1) Device A, B, C Power usage, voltage, frequency, and current
2) Average Power by device (A, B, C)
3) Energy Consumption over time by device (A, B, C)
4) Current over time by device (A, B, C)
5) Voltage over time by device (A, B, C)

In this example above, a customer user can remotely monitor systems and proactively watch for performance measures that show power supply or regulation degradation. In times past, instead of the IoT performing the monitoring, the monitoring would instead have to be accomplished by sending a person to manually monitor 3 devices (Device A, B, C) on a periodic schedule to ensure they are operating correctly and to manually intercede if they are malfunctioning.

In the same manner that businesses have benefitted by an increase in convenience and business (B2B) customer experience, IoT has enabled the consuming public to be able to interact with their vehicles, home security systems, personal assistants, smart phones, etc. to also improve their lives through increased convenience and improved personal (B2C) customer experiences. Smarter IoT devices become smarter in automating tasks, maintaining our needs, preventing malfunctions and breakdowns, ensuring we get what we need when we need it, increasing our safety and security, while bring us life’s needs at the sound of our voices while going about our normal routines.

L) Summary

1. IoT stands for the “Internet Of Things” and is simply smart devices that monitor, control, and interact for a variety of functions that collect and transmit data from an array of IoT devices through telematics.
2. IoT has emerged as one of the fastest growing technology segments in the last several years and will continue this pace of massive growth for the next 5-10 years.
3. IoT rapid market diffusion has been enabled by even smaller and more powerful device level processing capacity, aided by IoT enabled cloud technology.
4. IoT has been embedded in almost every aspect of our day-to-day lives including cars, homes, critical infrastructure, personal wearables, etc.
5. IoT has delivered a tremendous amount of benefit to businesses in terms of reduced cycle times and costs.
6. While IoT has delivered many benefits, there are a set of downsides to IoT that must be considered and actively managed like the increased risk of hacking and hijacking.
7. While many businesses would point to the reduction in costs and cycle times as the major business case justification, the common denominator for both business and consumers is the increased convenience and improvement in customer experiences.

The bottom line for IoT is, as stated by the title of this article simultaneously improves customer convenience and customer experience while simultaneously decreasing business cycle times and overall cost. This statement clearly sums up why we are in the midst of an IoT revolution and why the market for IoT has and will continue to experience explosive growth.

M) Need help getting started in improving your IoT driven Customer Experience?

If your organization is seeking a proven resource in measuring and improving your customer service and experience via IoT, then give me a call or e-mail me at 518-339-5857 or stevenjeffes@gmail.com

Lastly, this is just one article of 50+ articles I have written on customer strategy, customer experience, CRM, marketing, product management, competitive intelligence, corporate innovation, change management – all of which I have significant experience in delivering for Fortune 500 companies. In fact, my blog is now followed by nearly 106,000 world-wide and was just named one of the top 100 CRM blogs on the planet by Feedspot, alongside Salesforce.com, Infor, Microsoft, SAS, etc. – Reference this informative site here: https://blog.feedspot.com/crm_blogs/