In order to drive the Flintstones car, we need to fit in a steering wheel, an engine, brakes, and various other integral components to get the car drivable.
Today our IoT Infrastructure is like exactly that. The end consumer has a Thing or a Device and to make that into an IoT connected device he needs to have an Internet connection, a Wifi, Integrated Hub, Sensors, Cloud, etc.
To further explain this here is an example – Why should a customer invest into diverse components for making his simple $20 bulb ‘Thing’ work through automation? Which defies logic. This unnecessary investment into diverse components just to get his $20 bulb to come on through another device makes no practical sense to him.
The Industry needs to educate and convince the customer about the compelling value proposition of adopting to the futuristic ways of managing various Things through automation and connectivity, else it will only be like driving a Flintstone’s car.
The reason for the IoT Industry to slow down is because no one has bothered to understand the pain-points of a customer and his ROI. Companies which are in diverse portfolio tried to develop IoT solutions peddling their age-old technology into this new sunrise Industry.
Moreover, the IoT Industry has not been able to come up with an end-to-end solution which is cost effective, ease of use, efficient and that which solves the pain points faced by customers. Some of the technology providers are trying to build the infrastructure even before they have built the customer confidence in the IoT Technology. This approach will not be successful in the connected world which is what the IoT is all about.
According to Gartner, over 6 billion Devices will be connected in 2016 and is expected to grow to 20 billion by 2020. Even though there is a huge potential for Automation, Connectivity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) which can be achieved only when the IoT Industry is able to provide Interoperability, Protocol Standardisation, Security, and End-to-End Solutions in a cost effective manner. The biggest lacuna in the system is the marketing inputs which is the missing piece in the IoT Industry. It all starts with market research…..
If not the world will still be driving Fred Flintstone’s Car.
