Top 5 Areas Where Companies Want IoT Solutions
Top 5 Areas Where Companies Want IoT Solutions
Applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) are widespread. Technology gurus say it’s billions and billions of connected devices that make IoT so ubiquitous and powerful. Regardless of the greatness of IoT, the question should be how much of it is relevant to enterprises. Here are the top five areas where companies want IoT Solutions.
Consumer adoption of IoT does not depict the actual opportunities of IoT for enterprises. Even among consumers, health trackers, and smart thermostats account for a considerable proportion of connected devices. So what kind of solutions can we expect in enterprise IoT?
Custom IoT solutions can help enterprises to increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, improves operational efficiency, and gain a competitive advantage.
Top 5 Enterprise IoT Opportunities
Below are the five modest but essential use cases of Enterprise IoT that can lay the foundations for more massive ecosystems in the future.
#1 Optimizing Energy Usage and Increasing Sustainability
IoT has made it possible to make our buildings and workspaces more energy-efficient and sustainable. With IoT, we can save up to 25% of energy expenditure.
With occupancy sensors, we can figure out the number of people present in the room, and based on that, we can adjust the lighting or temperature in a room or a floor.
Moreover, we can also manage lighting and temperature remotely using enterprise IoT solutions. It will not only help us save money but also protect the environment
Using the same sensors, we can also determine which meeting room is currently free. It can improve the efficiency of universities and businesses for up to 40%.
It can also reduce hundreds and thousands of dollars of building maintenance expenditure. Sensors can also detect gas and water leaks and can foster preventive maintenance for HVAC systems.
#2 Track Assets and Inventory
There are a few enterprise IoT solutions that help you to track all the assets, including medical devices, vehicles, other equipment, and even monitor trash.
Knowing where particular equipment is, in real-time, can save a colossal amount of time of an employee. For example, it can help nurses to hunt down the right equipment in no time, which can sometimes save lives.
Asset trackers can also help to reduce the risk of theft, which can increase staff productivity. The location of all the assets can be determined using sensor networks.
Hoteliers can apply such a sensor network to identify the location of luggage, housekeeping carts, room service food trays, and more. Healthcare providers can encompass blood pressure monitors and other medical devices.
#3 Increase Security and Build Compliant Environments
IoT and sensor networks can help increase the security of a building. For example, in a hotel, these smart devices can be used to ensure the water and air quality standards, monitor dumpster and recycling bins, provide automated pest traps, discover activity in an unauthorized area, or detect trespassers. It can also reduce the swimming pool maintenance cost by determining the amount of chemicals required in real-time.
#4 Deliver Excellent Customer Experience
Bringing value to customers is at the center of every business. Enterprise IoT sensor networks, analytics, facial recognition, etc. can help you to understand consumer behavior and habits, which would help you make future business decisions.
Using these technologies, building something as simple as a loyalty app can transform customer experiences. You can determine rewards for your customers by offering them perks such as fewer wait times, special entry pass, and more.
With Enterprise IoT solutions, you can deliver excellent customer experience by providing the right products and services at the right time and in the proper context.
#5 Identify Consumer Behavior and Pinpoint Opportunities
Enterprise IoT and Big Data analytics have helped us to conduct more targeted ad campaigns and promotional events. It has helped businesses in upgrading, upselling, cross-selling, and more.
With Big Data, we can now determine the exact place on a mobile app or a website where a consumer clicked or visited. Based on that data, we can send them personalized offers and discounts.
Such activities can increase sales and generate higher revenue as well as loyalty. It is called “customer fingerprinting,” which can be used anywhere, including airports, retail stores, hotels, and coffee shops.
6 Techniques to Make Enterprise IoT Cost-Effective
#1 Don’t look for the latest tech
Enterprise IoT implementation does not always require you to use the newest tech. Based on your application and use case, if it does not demand the latest tech, it is recommended for you to use old tech.
This technique will not only help you develop your applications faster but also make it cost-effective. It is recommended not to use the latest tech until required.
#2 Start Small and then Scale as needed
People usually think that the implementation of IoT always has to be a massive one, which is not valid. You can start with basics and have a small infrastructure in the beginning.
Once you successfully implement a small scale project or prototype, you can go ahead building a big one on the same foundation you built the smaller one.
#3 Make dumb things smart
Eating a low-hanging fruit is easy, so do that. Focus on how you can make your current “non-smart” processes smart. As a business, you first need to focus on deploying the pocket-friendly infrastructure.
Leveraging the power of Big Data analytics, even though you start with smaller applications, you will be able to deliver a fantastic experience to your customers.
#4 Use low-cost networks
You can reduce the cost of the IoT infrastructure is by reducing the power of your IoT network. Using LPWAN or Low Power Wide Area Networks can reduce the operational cost by a significant amount.
In IoT, sometimes building your own private network can reduce the development cost instead of using existing networks such as cellular networks.
#5 Balance Cost vs Security
Security is one of the biggest concerns of enterprises when it comes to implementing IoT to their business. Also, that is one of the costliest element in the entire IoT ecosystem.
Usually, opensource networks carry a permanent threat with them since they are less expensive or in some cases free. However, security concerns will always be there regardless of the price. Hence, you need to add additional security layers to your network for better security.
#6 Account for all the value IoT providers
The best thing about implementing IoT is that it is an investment that never fails to give high returns in the long run. Regardless of how much you invest in IoT, it is undoubtedly going to provide you with returns.
IoT increases productivity by enabling remote monitoring and control of various business operations and processes. It saves costs by turning off electricity when not in use.
Predictive maintenance can reduce the number of repairs and hence save revenue. Geo-location and beacons can help you with personalized marketing to consumer products, which can help to increase sales.
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