GUEST POST by Sara Carter

Sara Carter, an experienced tech expert who established her blog, Enlightened-Digital, to share her passion with others around the web. After 15 years in the industry, her goal is to bring information on all technology to the masses. Her philosophy is to create each article so that anyone can understand the content, whether they are a consumer or technology expert.

How businesses can use the IoT to save money and make more

Businesses are always looking for ways to be more financially fiscal and make more money in the process. By utilizing technology, such as the Internet of Things, they are able to collect more information that can help them execute better business strategies. According to a study by DHL, they predict that the IoT will save businesses $1.2 trillion in productivity costs alone. With this in mind, companies are looking towards the IoT for data collection and insights to help turn data into money by taking advantage of usage intelligence, feature-based packaging, and flexible consumption.

Usage Intelligence for a Better Business

Every company, no matter what they sell, is always focused on the consumer. Whether they offer a product or a service, their number one priority is the target audience. This means that businesses should know how a customer uses their product, what they think about the brand, and their commentary for ways the company could better their experience. With usage intelligence, the IoT allows companies to gather actionable data-based insights in real time.

The data they gather will help them save money and generate revenue. Thanks to the insights they themselves create, they are able to create a laid out plan for how to better market to their audience in each phase of their product development. For example, in the development phase, they can make improvements based on data for their next model. In the sales phase, they can discover new leads as well as new marketing plans for advertising. In the support phase, they can use the insights they’ve gathered to help them customer service-wise. This will help them save money when it comes to A/B testing to know how to cater to their customers. Rather than hiring big agencies to run testing, or trying out tactics oneself, companies can now use the data and insights they have collected thanks to the IoT technology.

Feature-based Packing for Flexibility

There are very few companies these days who have a single product available and the IoT can impact the bottom line when it comes to flexible offerings. By using the IoT to collect information about what customers really want in their products, they can offer more fluid options when it comes to configuring product availability and enabling or disabling features. Through this method, businesses now can offer the same product in many different ways. This allows for more versions, different price points, and less effort put into new product production all helping the company save money, while also make money.

Many tech companies are offering options like this today. For example, Apple has done this with their products, including the Apple Watch. With newer generations, individuals can now pick and choose which features they would like incorporated into their product. The Apple Watch, for instance, can come with or without cellular and internet service, and offers the option to add-on features as the owner sees fit. This helps attract buyers and saves Apple money by not forcing them to make more products; even though they might still choose to.

*Accent Systems also offers customizations with all their products.

Flexible Consumption based on Need

Consumers these days are extremely cautious and are more likely to research a product before they purchase. That being said, they are more choosy when it comes to things they will buy and they do not want to pay for more than they need. The IoT is helpful in this area, for it can tell what consumers are really looking for in their products. Recognizing that not all consumers are looking for the same offerings. With this in mind, companies have turned to flexible consumption to help earn more revenue with new customers.

By using collected insight, businesses are now offering the ability to pay for their services based on need. Similar to the usage intelligence and feature-based packaging, flexible consumption uses the data collected for what companies choose to offer in this way. Rather than improve the next generation of offerings, they instead allow consumers to choose to pay for only what they need with a pay as you go pricing. This will help companies save money by catering to those who only are interested in parts of the product, instead of leaving them to take their business elsewhere.

As mentioned, the IoT is one of the most resourceful technologies for companies to use for data collection and driving monetization. Turning this data into revenue is not always straightforward and can often have a learning curve when it comes to proper implementation. However, if companies let the data speak for itself and keep the customer in mind, they will continue to save money and find success.

Accent Systems is a global provider of innovative enterprise IoT solutions that offers a variety of standard products and develops tailored IoT solutions for third parties.