When it comes to the internet of things, connecting devices is just the beginning. We’re in such a rush to create smart homes, smart stores, and smart cities that we’re often failing to consider what we’re actually going to do with all that data being collected.
Simply having it stowed away and ready to use when needed is great and all, but if you don’t have a smart strategy for how to not only analyze and interpret it, but also put it to proper use, then you may end up creating a connected ecosystem without a real purpose.
Kevin McCaffrey, the founder and CEO of Tr3Dent, recently spoke in an interview with StickyMinds about the current and future value of IoT devices. Similar to agile, software teams want to plant the seeds for future success and prepare themselves for when something like IoT becomes essential.
But McCaffrey cautions corporations about wasting that valuable data.
“Companies still need to understand how to use, analyze, and interpret the data. They need to figure out how IoT services can be monetized, what partners are needed for success, and what value an IoT-enabled service or product will bring to the end-user, etc.,” he explained. “The success of an IoT service or product is more dependent on business-related factors than the technical aspects of IoT. The companies that build their solutions from the outside-in will have a greater chance of success.”
And that’s the key—the technical aspects are important when it comes to setting things up, but without a business-oriented mindset and actual solutions to your problems that leverage the mountains of data, you’ll be left without any true results.
Again, relating everything to agile, you can try to make your developers and testers work more closely together and iterate as early and often as possible, but if you don’t have a clear idea of why you’re going that route and how it’ll improve your unique project/team, the value isn’t there.
What are some actual real uses for IoT data? McCaffrey has a few in mind.
“My particular interest is in the companies that are using IoT, AI, and other technologies to transform their business models,” McCaffrey continued. “For instance, today we are seeing more traditional product companies switch to platform business models, enabling them to offer their product(s) as a service.”
Data without a plan is like gas without a car. It’s good to have, but without a vehicle to use it, you’re not going to allow your team to get to where it needs to go.
