While the Internet of Things (IoT) is making life easier and data collection more abundant is it really creating a profitable market? We’ve already discussed how IoT is revolutionizing the manufacturing sector and cities, and now we explore who will make money from it all.
The first and most obvious answer is the retailer selling the actual devices. Just outside of San Francisco both Target and Sears have showrooms displaying everything from baby monitors to washers and dryers for your connected home. In addition to featuring the latest products, Sears is also betting on making money from the set up of these devices and educating customers on the possible benefits.
The real selling point though for these products is not the cool factor to control your thermostat from your phone, but the energy savings that you can receive. For the eco and cost conscious consumer, this is a real pain point that can be leveraged for increased sales.
On the other side of spectrum of monetization is the actual data derived from connected devices. This goldmine of information could be essential to marketers, for example. With such data, marketers can refine who they target and how. They can also use IoT to push out campaigns. Maybe the most important and profitable way to use this data is to determine how the consumer utilizes the product to create even more IoT products to sell.
According to a recent article:
Yes, there are many companies that can offer a piece to the IoT puzzle, but only those companies that can offer a complete end-to-end IoT solution will be able to profitably benefit from it.
The future is unclear on the profitability of IoT. So far there has been some success in the selling of the actual devices and the data they provide, but whether or not a company can figure out how to completely monetize and profit from IoT is what we’ll have to wait for.
Need to make sense of all this and how it can be a benefit to your business? Contact us!
