Stuck in IoT Proof of Concept (POC) Mode
Stuck in POC mode!
Anyone that has been involved with IoT for some time knows
that most IoT projects start as a Proof of Concept that in the great majority
of cases never evolves to full-fledged business implementations. It is called ‘Stuck in
POC’ mode, an all too common ailment in the IoT industry. What are some of the
reasons for this? Let us look at a few.
Exploratory Projects: Projects like these are often
started with the best intentions – let us put together a small team to explore
IoT and what it can do for our business. The problem is that these projects are
seldom staffed with the complete IoT stack expertise (Thing – Connectivity –
IoT Cloud – Apps) and are underfunded from a lab and equipment perspective,
leaving some engineers with limited resources to try to bring up a proof of
concept that has no resemblance to a complete IoT solution.
Proper Budgeting and
Staffing: When a new product or system development project is started,
proper budgeting is key. If started as a new strategic program focused on IoT, multi-year
multi-million budgets must be approved and in place. No one would launch a
relatively complex product and system startup with $300k in funding. IoT is no
different and the only way to get beyond POC is proper funding and staffing.
Organizational
Alignment: Unless broken out as new strategic business initiatives, IoT
must be aligned with current business organizations whether Lines of Business
or Strategic Business Units and be part of regular business planning cycles.
Only then will a business be forced to make all the decisions and resource
allocation in line with bringing up a new initiative and taking it through
development, manufacturing, organization support, marketing and sales all the
way out to successful product launches and sales growth.
IoT is a Life Cycle Business?
For nearly all companies, IoT means building a new type of business, one that
is an ongoing operation from product design to deployment all the way to the
end of the life cycle of the product. For consumer products this can mean years
after the product sale, for industrial products it can be decades. The most
telling example is that a company suddenly finds itself managing the
connectivity and data flow to and from thousands or millions of products. The
upside of this is the tremendous amount of valuable information and insight
that is derived from the use of products and all the applications they serve.
Stuck in POC mode results from starting IoT efforts without
a clear long-term strategy for IoT that is aligned in Strategic and Business
plans and supported by proper budgeting and staffing. Properly planned and
executed, no IoT project should be in the POC mode for more than a couple of
weeks on the road map to a pilot project.
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