IOT SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT Best Practices

2 | IoT Solution Development — Best Practices

The market for IoT applications continues to experience explosive growth. Its expansion is driven by falling hardware and network costs, the proliferation of cloud-based platform tools for application development and data analysis, and the value extracted from successful IoT implementations. As new applications are deployed, the market becomes more and more innovative in identifying new uses.

Current predictions state there will be somewhere between 18 and 26 billion IoT devices connected by 2022 and that this number will continue to grow at a 21% annual growth rate fueled by the development of new applications1. AT&T and Verizon have launched their LTE-CAT M1 networks and with the existing GSM networks supporting NB-IoT, the infrastructure is in place to enable this growth.

IoT Solution Development – Best Practices

3 | IoT Solution Development — Best Practices

As rosy as the outlook for IoT is, not all implementations are going smoothly. A recently released study2 on the Internet of Things has some interesting findings including:

• 74% of companies felt they were unsuccessful with their IoT initiatives

• 60% stressed that IoT initiatives often look good on paper but prove much more difficult to implement

But companies aren’t giving up:

• 64% said that learning from their stalled initiatives helped them to accelerate their IoT projects

• 61% said they have barely scratched the surface of what IoT can do for their businesses

• 73% said that data from their IoT initiatives is improving their businesses

For the companies that felt they’d been unsuccessful, the lack of success wasn’t due to technology but rather the lack

of in-house IoT expertise and human factors like culture, organization, and leadership. Another driving factor was a disconnect between internal IT teams and business operations.

At Vertix, we have seen these and many other issues contribute to the lack of success of IoT projects. Here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid when pursuing IoT implementations, whether developing an IoT application for general release or implementing an IoT solution for your business. Understanding and avoiding these mistakes will build a solid roadmap for deploying an IoT solution to market.

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01 Focus on the solution, not on technologyToo often we have seen people get excited about a new buzzword which makes them think about how they can deploy the latest technologies in their companies. We see this now with people asking about LoRa, Sigfox, and NB-IoT. This almost always leads to poor implementations. Start with a business case centered around the issue you’re trying to solve and develop your requirements. This approach will lead guide you to the right solution based on the right technology. The solution itself, the devices, and the applications may only be available on one type of technology. Today, there is no consensus on connectivity technology and it appears that no single standard will dominate.

02 ROI is the keySure, pilot programs and market testing can help you get smarter about IoT and create positive press, but no IoT solution can truly be considered a success unless there is a return on investment associated with the implementation. Many IoT implementations fail on this benchmark for a variety of reasons. Numbers don’t lie. If there is no ROI, you need to rethink what you are doing and how you are doing it.

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03 Start with securityDon’t tack security on at the end of the design cycle. Security as an afterthought tends to be simplistic and often the solution isn’t sufficient. Understanding and implementing security (like data encryption) at the beginning can prevent costly retrofits after deployment. Also, don’t assume that because each vendor says their piece of the solution is secure that the entire solution is secure. Validate it and make the vendors validate the entire solution.

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04 Not everything needs to be connectedWhen developing your business case, you need to ask what really needs to be connected. After a thorough analysis, many companies realize that the answer is ‘not everything.’ Too much information can be as crippling to an initiative as not enough data. Data overload can also cause poor business decisions by over-analyzing information that has no direct impact on your business needs. Spending time and resources is costly and many enterprise

systems are not built to scale for the increase of data. Appropriately limiting the scope may enhance the project ROI and reduce complexity.

05 Make sure it scales and your business systems can handle itThe beauty of IoT lies in its low cost and potentially large number of data points. This can fundamentally transform the way you do business and/or interact with your customers. Some implementations can include many thousands of devices. As such, it is important to ensure that the technology solutions and the associated architecture can scale accordingly. Don’t just trust manufacturer specs, get them to confirm and guarantee specifics around scalability as well as the expected performance at that scale. Make certain that IT is involved heavily in the solution deployment and that they review other impacted systems for their ability to handle the increased demands.

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06

Be mindful that things changeYour applications’ requirements are going to change in ways you cannot anticipate now. As a result, it is important that you consider future flexibility in the solutions you design. Once you start monitoring and tracking things, you will inevitably find new ways to further evolve your business and new data points to include. These changes are generally good as they futureproof your platform and improve the ROI. Expect and embrace this change and build your applications flexibly to accommodate them.

07

Don’t assume you know your end customer’s requirementsYou may have a perspective or a knowledge of certain technologies that your customers don’t have. As a solution developer you may think that the solution you’re putting together addresses all the business requirements it is designed to handle. However, any customer-facing solution should involve the end customer in its development. Get them involved, understand their needs, and jointly analyze the details of the problems they’re looking to solve. Ask for their requirements to make certain you’re developing to their specifications.

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08 Be aware of data ownership and its constraintsAs a developer, even if you contractually own the data generated from your IoT solution, it really is your customers’ data and you need to treat it as such. This is also true for an enterprise. You may not be able to sell or disclose it without permission and therefore need to have the right data security and disclosure procedures in place to protect it. This doesn’t mean you can’t use the data for your own analysis to determine how well the solution is working and to identify ways to can improve speed or efficiency. Ensure that you have a clear understanding with your customer regarding the ownership, use, and protection of data from the solution.

09 Be agile, fail fast Yes, you do need to walk before you run, but the faster you sensibly iterate, the faster you generate ROI. There are many lessons to be learned from failures. Remember that up to 60% of companies have initiatives that stall at the proof of concept stage and only about 25% of companies believe they achieved complete success in their deployments2. This shouldn’t dissuade you from moving forward with your initiatives, but rather reinforce the importance of careful planning, structured execution, and post mortem analyses to drive improvements.

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10 Hackers are interested in everythingThe Target hack reminds us that a seemingly insignificant system (in this case, a building management system) might lead to hidden backdoors into the main corporate network. Additionally, there are vicious botnets that attack specific devices with known vulnerabilities. A recent botnet, JenX, is an example. It has inherent automation and uses hosting services to scan for vulnerable devices rather than spreading from device to device. Take precautions. Segment your network to protect your legacy systems. Always monitor your networks for these kinds of risks and attacks.

ConclusionWhile we have limited this list to 10, there are many more important points to consider in evaluating, designing, building, deploying and operating

IoT solutions. Many of the studies available cite lack of knowledge or expertise when taking on initiatives like these. Partnering with an expert can complement your company’s capabilities and greatly improve your chances of success.

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References

1. Ericsson: “Internet of Things Forecast”. https://www.ericsson.com/en/mobility-report/internet-of-things-forecast

2. Cisco: “Connected Futures Cisco Research: IoT Value: Challenges, Breakthroughs, and Best Practices”. https://www.slideshare.net/CiscoBusinessInsights/journey-to-iot-value-76163389

About Vertix ConsultingWe are a highly specialized consulting firm that provides pragmatic and actionable insights on the most critical issues faced by providers and consumers of telecom, media services, and technology.

At Vertix, we pursue our collective passion for helping carriers, OEMs, tower companies, MSOs, network services vendors, equipment suppliers, and telecom and technology consumers resolve their most complex strategy, sourcing, and deployment challenges. From helping a carrier deploy a 4G network to negotiating an IoT services contract for a client in the manufacturing sector, we cover the entire TMT value chain.

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