Index measures companies’ readiness for IoT projects

A new index wants to help measure the readiness of organizations to adopt Internet of Things projects. The IoT Readiness Level (IRL) proposed by Eseye, a provider of connectivity solutions for IoT, aims to assess the maturity of projects and the technical and operational readiness to implement them.

According to Eseye, the IRL draws on its knowledge and experience with thousands of IoT devices and connectivity projects to create a comprehensive assessment covering all aspects involved in the adoption of IoT solutions, from infrastructure and connectivity to data management. In addition, it is based on the principles of NASA’s Technology Readiness Level (TRL), considered the gold standard for measuring the maturity of new technologies.

Eseye’s expectation is that the IRL application can provide each customer with a personalized assessment, showing exactly how their IoT readiness compares to market best practice and similar projects in their area of operation.

“We recognize that each IoT use case is different from the others and that many of them face difficulties in successfully implementing an IoT solution. This is due to specific challenges related to devices and projects, as well as the lack of an objective industry standard. Our IRL Index uses a set of detailed metrics to provide, on a scale of 0 to 9, an objective assessment of each organization’s capabilities,” says Nick Earle, CEO of Eseye.

The results of each assessment enable the creation of a tailored programme of services aimed at taking the client quickly to a higher level of maturity, allowing project goals to be met and return on investment to be achieved early.

Eseye is also offering a new subscription-based service offering called IoT LaunchPad, which includes customized IoT services for each project to reduce costs and failure risks and deploy IoT devices faster. LaunchPad services include everything from device design or redesign (for existing models), engineering development, technology integration, device testing and validation, and certification support.

The IRL Index assessment is now available on the Eseye website for companies of all company sizes by appointment.

Are IoT projects maturing?

It’s no short list of IoT projects that report failures causing wasted time and money. According to a 2020 Beecham Research report, 58% of companies considered their IoT projects unsuccessful. Some projects were failing before they even went live – half were in the pilot or test (proof of concept – PoC) phase, while another 35% were in the first stage of deployment.

Particularly striking in the responses above was the high expectation in enabling new business models, a goal that was hardly achieved. In addition, many of the other targets were also not met at the respective level of expectation. These results suggested that the complexity of IoT solutions had been underestimated, according to the study.

In 2023, Beecham Research again conducted a similar survey to that of 2020, with the same question to respondents, namely how they viewed their IoT projects. The following charts show a marked improvement over three years.

In the 2023 survey, another alternative response was introduced – ‘Too early to tell’. Beecham Research’s conclusion is that the ‘wave’ of success’ was higher and trended to the right compared to the 2020 results, meaning that there was significant improvement but with more to do, mainly going beyond initial cost reduction targets to introduce new business models and generate new revenue streams.

The study cautions that Figure 3.13 and 3.14 should be interpreted together, but the latter refers to responses from those who rated their IoT projects as almost or completely unsuccessful. The data shows that ‘Generate revenue’ and ‘Enable new business models’ were particularly unsuccessful. These outcomes typically take longer to emerge. In contrast, ‘Reduce Costs’ and ‘Improve productivity/efficiency’ are generally faster benefits to achieve and therefore scored slightly better.

One cannot help but comment on how the success of IoT projects was specifically addressed in the Beecham Research survey, as shown in the image below. This is important as it shows the criteria that was used to determine success or otherwise.

What to do to succeed in IoT projects

There are some measures that can help ensure the success of such initiatives, especially useful for those who are not tech-savvy but are responsible for approving and overseeing such projects. These measures were recently listed by the Forbes Business Council:

1. Clearly define objectives, resource allocation and how results will be measured;

2. Form a team with adequate knowledge, as IoT projects usually demand various specialized knowledge and skills in the areas of devices, gateway, networks, cloud platforms, security, among others;

3. Bring together knowledge and capacity needed also in the field of peripheral IoT devices, such as sensors, controllers and meters, that collect data and send it to nearby gateways;

4. Implement robust security measures, as IoT devices and systems are also vulnerable to cyberattacks, not to mention the collected and transmitted data that needs to rely on authentication, authorization, and encryption solutions;

5. Plan how to scale up the project in the future, as some implementations may even have to deal with millions of devices and large volumes of data at the same time;

6. Prioritize the user experience, thinking about maximizing efficiency and optimizing the experience;

7. Understand all financial options, as each provider will charge a separate margin or fee, not to mention coordination challenges and inefficiencies.