Partners In IoT Ecosystem And Monetization
Over more than a decade, enterprises in any sector whether it is Automotive, Life Sciences, Consumer Products, Energy & Utilities and so on so forth have been digitizing their products to explore new avenues of consistent revenue. Revenue not only aimed from product selling but exploring new streams in managed services mode as well. This has led to opening a plethora of opportunities in IoT domain. The buzz word “IoT” or “Connected Devices” is the talk of the town and making headlines everywhere. In this article, we will discuss the prime role of a System Integrator and other players in the ecosystem which makes IoT works end-to-end. We will also try to define the best suited monetization model for all the players in the game. The article is catering to both Cellular and Non-Cellular IoT devices and a generic approach has been followed to understand the ecosystem at a high level.
Business Enterprises
With the potential and enhancement in IoT, the business enterprises have realized the importance to enhance products/services/processes as IoT enabled to grow their revenue. Enterprises are the main player in the whole ecosystem who are generating money being connected to end consumer whether it is B2C or B2B. Or they save cost by digitizing their process and increase margins. Any car manufacturer is a good example of business enterprises who implement IoT solution in their connected cars.
Connected Devices
These are nonstandard IoT enabled computing devices that connect wirelessly to the network. Connected devices have sensors to collect data and sends it over internet to other nodes in the network These devices could be fully automated or semi-automated.
Connectivity
It is an important element in whole ecosystem where connectivity to the device is generally provided by CSP (cellular IOT) as they can manage the roaming aspect. Lot of business enterprises have their own private network as well (using unlicensed spectrum – Cellular or Non-Cellular) OR high bandwidth internet for uses cases not requiring roaming. For example, connected cars uses connectivity through a CSP whereas as smart meter which is fixed can use any connectivity medium.
IoT Cellular Connectivity Management Platforms
When millions of devices get connected it gets cumbersome to manage the cellular connectivity to devices. These Connectivity Management platform solve the problem of roaming by having connectivity contracts with worldwide CSPs. Generally, these platforms provide connectivity management, SIM management & manage billings. Many of the platforms with their strong analytics, real-time troubleshooting and reporting tools allow complete visibility and control of IoT devices. These platforms are cloud based and provide SaaS to their partners in the ecosystem.
System Integrator
System Integrators are the key player in the whole ecosystem who develop IoT strategy for their enterprise customer. Generally, a System Integrator gets involve from the conceptualization and manage end-to-end integrations to the back-end systems till the solution goes live. The System Integrator is even responsible for an integrated managed operation by working with other partners as well. The complete offering/solution is developed by a System Integrator who works with ecosystem partners who provide applications, connectivity, device management, analytics tools, operations, etc. together in ecosystem to build a complete solution for the end customer. System Integrators can have their own developed solutions or can even work with one or more partners to build end-to-end offering/solution. System Integrators even could be responsible for sales towards the enterprise customer for end-to-end offering as per need of enterprise customer.
Business Model
It’s clear that the role of a System Integrator is prime who is defining end-to-end solution and also responsible for approaching enterprises customers. Most of the enterprise customers generally opt for a revenue share model wherein they look for partners who are ready to involve their skin in the game and share a pie of recurring revenue generated from end connected device or cost saving from internal efficiency achieved by digitization. This is best suited model for all the partners in the ecosystem as it is a consistent source of revenue.
Enterprises look forward to System Integrator as “One Stop Shop” who can define, implement and operate their end-to-end digitization. With 13.8 billion IoT connected devices in 2021 and is expected to grow 30.9 billion by 2025 end (source: www.statista.com), it is obvious each partner has millions to make in coming future. The biggest question to be asked is “How to decide the revenue share of each partner?” This is out of the scope of this article, but it is obvious the value which each partner brings to the whole ecosystem needs to be determined to decide their share.
Summary
The article is written with an intent to introduce IoT ecosystem partners who work in tandem to connect billions of devices together. The article doesn’t define any architecture for cellular or non-cellular IoT devices but describes the main partners in the whole ecosystem. There could be more partners in the whole ecosystem depending on the IoT use cases and requirements. One thing is sure IoT is there to grow and with 5G in it is changing the world we live in.
 (1).jpg)
