IOT devices brought about excitement for coders, business men, venture capitalists. The initial successes and failures showed a strong correlation between good data and IOT. And the ground rules to a good IOT solution remained the same as any other innovation/ venture. My 3 stage litmus test.
- Does the end solution solve a critical problem that requires multi-dimensional data exchange/ analytics?
- Will the solution be scalable with upstream and downstream applications?
- Will it allow enough scope to keep creating incremental customer benefits and hence enough product differentiation?
A bit woolly? Let us pick-up an example – a bracelet for old people to wear and click in case of an emergency –
- Test 1 – it solves a critical problem of healthcare so great. However –
- If it is an internet device to place a call then it is a small substitute for a mobile and is not simplifying much and will be substituted soon by more complex applications that can also call.
- If it places a call based on customer’s age needs and illness criticality and captures and transfers heart beats – then it is handling a lot of data and providing relevant critical care quickly.
- Test 2 –
- If it is a standalone device for calls only and no interaction with any other systems then doesn’t have much future.
- If it allows for API integration with insurance and hospital and patient data then it would be able run data analytics and provide outputs to doctors/ hospitals/ insurance companies to give precise solutions and save manual costs to iterate such data.
- Test 3 –
- If it is a standalone device that only calls then not much future.
- If it keeps storing data and tries to create correlations to build an ability to create solutions for pharmacology, hospitals and insurance then a scalable solution.
The approach will bring out the vision and the ability to innovate technology beyond the obvious. And hence have a shot at success!
(I have mentored a few start-ups and worked with a few).
Eyeful of Experiences 