Developers that understand how to improve their products with
Even with a great product and a strong market, product developers often worry that the competition is getting an edge by adding connectivity first. The top success factor is delivering a differentiated product with unique customer benefits and superior value. In today’s interconnected world, linking products to a customer’s digital world is one of the best ways to differentiate.
Product developers may know their product well, but those who are nervous about successfully adding IoT capabilities often seek engineering services so they can build the products their customers truly want. Exploring many of the pitfalls companies must avoid when selecting an IoT partner can help prospective product developers avoid losing time and money as well as brand-damaging false starts.
Risks When Choosing an IoT Solutions Provider
This whitepaper illustrates seven possible developer/provider—client relationships that should be avoided when deciding on an IoT provider:
1. IoT Providers that Forget the Customer
should first and foremost be about your customer, not about you. What value does IoT add for your customer? What benefit do they get compared to your unconnected products? How do you improve the user experience for your customers by adding IoT?
2. Choosing a Web Developer Instead of an IoT Provider
Everyone is getting on the IoT bandwagon, including web developers. But web development is not the same as IoT development.
3. Choosing a Narrow Expert
IoT is a new and burgeoning field with many candidate technologies to consider. You need a partner that has sufficiently broad experience to tap into the best of class approaches for your product.
4. Choosing an Artist, Not an Engineer
Good product design marries form and function. You need a partner that can not only provide a beautiful, clean user experience
5. Choosing Lowest Rate rather than Lowest Cost
It’s important to choose a provider that can work within a budget—even if they charge on a T&M basis.
6. Giving your IoT Provider a Blank Check
If you choose an undisciplined IoT provider, you’ll get an endless parade development, but never actually finish the project.
7. Choosing a Partner Who Can’t Scale Up
Don’t be fooled by a prototype mobile app or simple cloud-based demo.
IoT has opened up a whole new level of product design and interaction. Anything that can be connected to the cloud inevitably will be. But that doesn’t always mean it should be.
Delightful products aren’t going to create more problems than they solve. Along with solutions, they offer a meaningful experience that a user can appreciate as valuable. For someone to take interest in manufacturing those products, they also need to fit into a sustainable plan. The right IoT provider can help product developers build that plan.