IoT benefits for SMBs:
7 Ways to Boost Your Business and ROI

Today, companies are pressured by both management and customers to provide higher-level products and services at a lower cost by only using available resources. To retain a competitive edge, stay efficient, and grow profits, companies also need to constantly innovate.
Now, the best strategy to do just that is to invest in the development and adoption of innovative technologies in order to streamline new business capabilities. The Internet of Things is among the best cases of such technologies. Deciding what particular solutions to use, how to most properly implement them, and when to apply them to get the results you want may be tricky, more so if a company lacks proper expertise.

In this article, we will tell you about the benefits of IoT in the industry, how to monetize IoT, how to reach for bigger business opportunities, and more.
IoT and ROI: 3 Steps to Produce Real Profit
Any company investing in the Internet of Things needs to deliver measurable ROI, and fast. In most cases, ROI means cost savings, although cost savings are only one part of the ROI equation. The IoT-related ROI can be both direct and indirect. The Internet of Things is a great tool for boosting income and avoiding many unnecessary expenses. But the technology also helps reach a new level of workflow performance and customer satisfaction, opening new opportunities to gain profits.

Currently, 77% of SMBs operating in heavy manufacture and production fields have adopted IoT solutions of a certain sort. And for the vast majority, the main goals are to streamline business performance, efficiency, and competitiveness.

These 3 pro tips can help companies create a compelling business case for the Internet of Things:


1

Focus on ROI and monetization


So, who is going to benefit from IoT? First of all, established companies. Yet those market players hassling to adopt IoT approaches may not understand well enough the major benefits of IoT. One can see the underlying advantages by investing in them to specifically bring growing profits and IoT cost savings. This can be achieved by streamlining production aspects and smoothing out maintenance costs with the help of IoT solutions. By demonstrating the IoT's ability to create a wide range of new opportunities to develop new markets, generate the best IoT project ideas, and improve services, companies can establish a direct link between desired ROI and this innovative technology.


2

Start with a proof of concept


Many companies are just starting their first IoT project right around now. Businesses shouldn't give up on smart prototyping. By showing the IoT success and value of early initiatives, organizations can lay the direction and foundation for an ever-growing IoT strategy that delivers better results based on actual returns and early PoC assumptions.



3

Don't underestimate the importance of skills


Companies face a major challenge in hiring employees with the skills required for the success of the Internet of Things. These skills include cyber and hardware security, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data visualization.

Rather than just hoping that the skill deficit will have little effect on whether the IoT implementation process is successful, companies need to make sure they take IoT skills into account when retraining and hiring employees. They need to recognize that these skills will become more important and more valuable as the Internet of Things evolves, and grows.

By following these three tips, organizations can help unlock extensive IoT business opportunities.


Three steps to unlock extensive IoT business opportunities
7 Benefits of the Internet of Things for SMBs
As you can see, the employment of new trendy solutions seems to pay off well in the modern market environment. IoT is an exceptional “new tech”. Let’s take a look at some evident reasons as to why IoT delivers ROI.

Business intelligence in real-time

Having access to real-time data on all design or organizational processes allows complex preventive actions to be carried out holistically. By monitoring critical assets, maintenance can be carried out in advance to avoid difficult situations, and production processes can be made more efficient and accurate.

What's more, measuring critical data points in a network of sensors located at key points on assets allows all relevant teams to be notified of project and asset statuses. They can then know if they need to change certain processes or take action, and whether they need to act in the future or immediately.

This technology is also increasingly being used to support the collection, analysis, and reporting of data to make decisions that improve productivity.

Cut costs

Interconnected devices, or IoT access points, enable thorough real-time maintenance of work processes, data assets, and remote monitoring points, helping boost service quality, prevent unforeseen events and accidents, saving costs throughout the life of projects and reducing maintenance costs over time.

Industry analysts estimate that process tracking and monitoring give a 10-12% overall performance boost, which makes business operations more cost-efficient and profitable in the long run.

Think of an IoT application that could give you data points from an industrial tank such as liquid level, temperature, abnormal or sudden change alerts. If your employees can remotely monitor their installations and are sure that they will receive a notification in case of any problems, your business will function seamlessly.
7 Benefits of the Internet of Things for SMBs
Increased income

Efficiency is the foundation of productivity enhancement that drives the revenue of SMBs. One method of employing IoT to boost company efficiency is to minimize cumbersome, repetitive tasks. For instance, in agricultural management, equipment and crops can be monitored remotely in real time, saving tons of time and unnecessary effort for farmworkers. A similar practice can be employed in the widest range of fields where object tracking and hardware maintenance are required.

At the same time, cloud-based IoT infrastructures help conveniently tie up in-house workflows, making business operations mobile, more accessible, and closely managed (which also helps optimize workflow downtime and better handle urgent tasks).

Big data can also help track the performance of manufacturing supply chains. You can monitor delivery systems and monitor products and inventory to stay ahead of demand. Also, many of the benefits of IoT software adoption have an indirect effect: increasing the productivity of your workforce, leading to lower overall labor costs.

Increased user satisfaction

Many people think of the Internet of Things only as sensors and wireless devices interacting with each other, though in reality, this is not the case. Real-time data accumulation sources are true goldmines for business improvement. To get a better understanding of their customer base, companies can track and analyze customer activity and their traits and common decision-making patterns, to increase the quality of service. The only other major thing is the ability to conveniently view all the tracked info, which is why an IoT software interface is the crucial component of any IoT application.

Diversified brand and increased competitiveness

Regardless of what your business specializes in, leveraging  IoT platforms to smooth out key business activities and provide access to new data or applications for users gives you a competitive edge. For instance, if you can finish a full-scope project on budget and faster with an accurate, real-time IoT monitoring solution that helps prevent incidents, you will become the leader in your sector. An IoT solution would also increase the reliability and value of your offer to customers, encouraging them to choose your company over others.
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Reinforcing future prospects

With a sturdy IoT software foundation, in addition to a competitive edge, a company gets a great driver of future innovations as the IoT system can be expanded over new departments and cover more workflow processes. An opportunity to further integrate more advanced solutions with the IoT infrastructure gives extensive scaling prospects. 

All in all, you’re investing in innovative technology, one in which business efficiency is well-proven by a growing number of companies and entrepreneurs.

Boosting tactics

Knowing your staff as well as knowing your hardware - all of its daily performance ins and outs - means knowing your business. And with such knowledge in hand, you can better gather workflow insights and put them to use during business optimization brainstorms.
Conclusion

The Internet of Things (IoT) is having a huge impact on the technology landscape. According to IDC forecasts, there will be 55.7 billion connected devices in the world by 2025. Users, businesses, and entire cities are increasingly adopting smart technologies and real-time IoT applications to save time and make money with IoT.

However, real ROI comes in when you can quickly develop applications that deliver complete solutions. To learn more about how to create an IoT application that will generate a return on investment, feel free to contact our team of experts. We help companies implement the enormous potential of the Internet of Things and assist you in starting large-scale IoT projects when you lack the experience to get them right.
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