As mentioned before, massive IoT focuses a lot on connecting with things, finding and monitoring things. From these devices, we collect data. In the past, we collected data and built data silos for each application or system. But with IoT, we can mix and match, creating new use cases based on these three massive IoT device types.
Open mind
IoT opens a lot of new business models, and you should look at IoT with an open mind. I’ll share an example from the real world. A Swedish company designed a sensor. They wanted to measure how much water was consumed in public restrooms. The idea was to send the water consumption data to the financial department so they could keep track of how much water was consumed at water taps in public areas.
They did a first test installation, and everything worked fine. So they were happy, grabbed a flight back to Sweden and went to bed. Most likely had a very sleepless night because they were eager to see what kind of data these sensors were reporting.
The first drawback
The following day, they woke up and logged into their IoT platform. All sensors were reporting data as expected. But there was one sensor that didn’t report any water consumption at all. They got anxious and called someone local to visit the installation site and look. They opened the door to the toilet and realized there weren’t any lights on that toilet; the bulb was broken.
An open mind can change things
So with IoT, you can start imagining how to build a system. And in this case, they wanted to measure water consumption. But looking at it with an open mind, they have designed a system to predict whether the lights were working. And if you want to build a new business model, you could put two more sensors in this device. You can have a proximity sensor and a light sensor, and then you will have data to share with the cleaning company so you can sell information to them, and you can sell data to the company taking care of maintenance.
Let’s assume that 25 visitors go to the toilet, and that level triggers sending someone out there to clean the restroom. Or if someone opens the door and the lights don’t go on, something is broken. Or someone opens the door and doesn’t want to enter the toilet. It could be a trigger to send someone out there to clean as well.
As a bonus, you would know how many people went to the toilet without washing their hands. But that’s a side business that we need to treat confidentially. So with an open mind and IoT, you can create new business models and sell data to other stakeholders.