by Angela Guess
Derek Peterson recently wrote in IoT Agenda, “The internet of things is a seductive world. Once product designers imagine the possibilities of making ordinary objects into internet-connected objects, it can suddenly seem that there’s no product that couldn’t be improved by becoming an IoT device. Yet it can be easy for companies to get caught up in developing IoT products just because they can without first asking honestly whether they should. While there are certainly a host of situations in which creating an IoT device does make good business sense, there are also several reasons to put the brakes on an IoT project and reexamine whether making a device connected is really the right path to pursue. Here are four common business situations when the internet of things isn’t the answer to your design and business challenges. See if you recognize your business in any of them — and get ready to ask the right questions to find out whether adding IoT capabilities to your next product is the right next step for your company.”
Peterson’s list begins: “(1) When products lack compelling use cases or business cases. Today, almost any device or product could potentially be a connected, IoT device. A car? Of course. A lawnmower? Sure. A cat litter box? Why not? Yet the ‘Why not?’ question is an important one to take seriously — and many business get caught up in the potential possibilities of IoT devices too much to take a step back and honestly address whether making a product into a connected product creates sufficient value to justify the cost of development, troubleshooting, prototyping and bringing it to market. An important question to ask is, ‘What additional value does being an IoT device deliver to the user?’ In the case of the connected cat litter box, perhaps the box could send users an email when a cleaning is due … but that’s probably also an ‘alert’ that a user would be aware of using the good old sense of smell. The point is, do an honest assessment up front to make sure the payoffs of developing a connected device are there for both the user and the business.”
Photo credit: Flickr/ MowT