An IoT maturity model and tips for IoT deployment success
What makes one IoT initiative more successful than another? There are many answers to that question.
In its “IoT Research Study 2019,” Nemertes took the following stance: Organizations deploy IoT for one of three main reasons: They want to generate new revenue, either in the form of creating new business models, improving the revenue generated by existing lines of business or attracting new customers; they want to reduce the cost of operations; or they want to improve business processes to perform the same functions faster, better or at a lower cost.
In other words: IoT success means new dollars, saved dollars or improved processes.
The study looked at 403 organizations across 13 countries and a range of sizes and vertical industries. It asked participants whether or not they had an IoT initiative that they considered successful. For those who said they did, Nemertes drilled into the specifics: What was the goal of the initiative? What was the design? How long did it take to deploy? How many IoT devices did it include? And based on the success metric identified by the participant, what tangible success did it generate?
The research found that successful IoT initiatives, which accounted for about a third of respondents, generated at least $2.5 million in new revenue, saved at least $1.2 million in costs or improved business processes by 35.5% — depending, of course, on the goal of the participant. These respondents represented the 67 percentile of all participants who provided details of their success. That is, participants who achieved these goals were more successful than two-thirds of all other participants. We selected the 67 percentile — as opposed to, say, the 90 percentile or the 75 percentile — based on natural breakpoints in the data. There was a clear cluster of data points in the top third. But that’s not the interesting part. What’s interesting is what these successful companies did differently from less successful organizations. Nemertes compiled these results into an IoT maturity model that companies can use as their roadmap to success (see figure). The maturity model comprises four levels: unprepared — the organization lacks tools and processes to address the IoT initiative; reactive — the organization has platforms and processes to respond to but not proactively address the issue; proactive — the organization has the tools and processes to proactively deliver on the issue as it is currently understood; and anticipatory — the organization has the tools, processes and people to handle future requirements.
