Industrial IoT, IoT Security
Article | July 11, 2023
Internet of Things, generally known as IoT, is a network of objects or things. Embedded sensors help connect and exchange data with other objects via the internet. IoT is often related to the concept of smart homes, including devices like home security systems, cameras, lighting, refrigerators, etc. With all this data being transmitted over the internet, it is easy for the data to be modified, deleted, or stolen, which can lead to an invasion, theft, etc.
IoT forensics plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity and security of the data being transmitted. Join us as we explore this fascinating web of devices and how you can get started in this vibrant field of forensics.
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Enterprise Iot
Article | July 20, 2023
If you’re struggling with creating a value proposition in volatile markets, you’re not alone. According to Neil Patel, 40% of marketers struggle to acquire leads by traditional marketing methods. As competition grows in each industry, even fairly monopolistic markets like tech are seeing rising competition in all areas.
To combat market uncertainty, as well as stand out amongst your competitors, you need a market strategy that not only offers a direction but actively targets your goals. A market strategy is your go-to plan when things get rough and it is a map for when the waters are calm. Moreover, marketers with a documented strategy are 313% more likely to report success.
We’re sure you already have a market strategy that is just right for you. But have you considered if it can be refined further? Thanks to emerging technologies like IoT, we now have access to the most mundane customer decisions that are taken on a day-to-day basis. This data is your ticket to a better market strategy without having to spend a bomb.
This is how you can refine your market strategy with the help of IoT.
Data-driven Decisions
The Internet of Things has offered us insurmountable amounts of consumer data. A caffeine brand can now access information such as what time consumers have coffee, whether it is at home or office, what flavors they prefer, how much they’re willing to spend on coffee, and what other alternatives they consume. This kind of data, collected on an IoT device such as a coffee machine, is instrumental in making marketing decisions. If you know that your consumer prefers to have coffee at work in peace rather than in a rush at home, you can target offices in the area with your product rather than targeting individual consumers.
IoT offers you the right information to make the right decisions. But you can also leverage this data to drive your market strategy. In the above example, the marketing team can account for campaigns geared towards workplaces based on the available data in the budget. Data-driven strategies prove to be more effective than otherwise, and as marketers, you must absolutely leverage any IoT data that may be relevant.
Respect your Customers
While IoT offers marketers a truly astounding amount of data, not all users are aware of what data is being tracked. This raises concerns for privacy and security among the users. Even though most of the users waive their rights to withhold the information when signing into an app or wearables software, they are not always comfortable sharing certain data.
As marketers, it is important to keep your practices ethical and legal. Using consumer data may be completely legal, but it is best not to offend your customers by overt use of data that they aren’t comfortable sharing. Make sure that the usage of data in marketing campaigns and strategy is limited to what data has been consciously shared by your consumers. This will bolster your goodwill, as well as make your customers trust your brand.
Offer Valuable Solutions
With the advent of Big Data and AI technologies, the internet of things is turning over a new leaf. As there is a vast amount of data that can be processed fast with AI, marketers can now target individuals rather than households or groups. With precise data available over consumer decisions and actions, it is possible to know if there are any unlikely customers that you have been ignoring so far.
IoT allows you to not only target these customers but also solve their problems. If we continue the caffeine example, the connected coffee machine can tell you when the coffee is about to be over, this can send you reminders to buy coffee, or in case of further automation, place an order on Amazon on your behalf. These solutions can be now hyper-personalized to suit individual needs through IoT.
IoT Based Campaigns
Your market strategy will have to account for campaigns throughout the year, but if you’ve noticed closely, the only marketing campaigns that gain significant traction are the ones that have a ‘wow factor’. A lot of marketers mistake the wow factor to be a subjective preference that customers have but it couldn’t be further from the truth. The wow factor is simply the effect produced when a business goes above and beyond to meet customer needs. IoT offers us the resources required to manufacture the wow factor in every single campaign.
A great example of this phenomenon is beacon marketing. Beacon marketing is considerably new in the marketing industry and uses Bluetooth technology to transmit information to nearby mobile devices. It is heavily used in retail across the globe and giants like Target and Walmart are already using the technology to market its services. Walmart places beacons in its lights across its stores and sends offers to its customers based on their location. It not only personalizes the shopping experience, but also saves a large amount of electricity bill for its stores.
Target Existing Customers
Many times, in a bid to appease new customers, marketers often forget about their existing customers. Your existing customers already know you, have tried your product or service, and are clearly interested in the product. A good product or service is often enough to keep the customers returning, but with the current levels of competition, customers often find themselves wondering if they should try new things. As a marketer, all you need to do is deter your existing customers from straying. You can do this by either providing an unparalleled service, which is quite unlikely in today’s market, or you give them a reason to stay.
Thankfully, targeting existing customers is much easier than targeting new ones. You already have their data over their preferences and habits. If you know that a certain firm updates their applications every second quarter, you can send them offers just before the second quarter starts and remain fresh in their memories when they decide to make the decision.
Allergy medication Zyrtec leveraged IoT when targeting their existing customers with a voice-enable application. Its users could just ask the application about the daily allergens and pollutants in their area so they could prepare ahead. The app offered a powerful solution to its users while making great use of its brand image and retaining almost all of their existing customers.
Leverage New Technologies
We have already discussed several complementary technologies to IoT that can help you make the most out of your market strategy. AI and Big Data are some of the strongest allies for IoT that can help change the norms across industries. But even limited technologies like voice-enabled applications, QR scanners, beacons and so can open up a lot of opportunities for marketers.
Consider adopting some of these technologies such as geofencing which are inexpensive and effective at the same time. Burger King is a great example of using geofencing for marketing. Geofencing is a technology wherein you can transmit messages or information to mobile devices within a certain area. Burger King set up their geofences across all McDonalds in the UK and as soon as anyone entered within a 500 m radius of a McDonald’s outlet, they received Burger King coupons and directions to the nearest store.
Case Studies
There are a lot of examples of IoT being used to enhance strategies or campaigns. Some of these examples are given below.
Diageo, a whisky brand in Brazil innovatively used IoT to run a father’s day campaign. They encouraged men to buy whisky for their fathers and placed a QR code on their bottles. Once the bottle was received, the fathers could scan the code which would play a personalized father’s day message by their sons. This concept was so loved by people in Brazil that Diageo saw a 72% sales uplift in the two weeks leading up to Father’s Day.
South East Water, CRM leveraged IoT by building an end-to-end IoT ecosystem powered by IBM’s Maximo. This helped them roll out an app that offered near real-time insights into customer requirements for over 80 engineering teams. This alone helped them ensure higher customer satisfaction and accelerated access to critical reports by 99 percent!
Uber and Spotify rolled out an IoT campaign together wherein you could access your Spotify playlists through the Uber app and once you were in an Uber, you could play whatever you liked through the app and it would play on the car’s speakers. This increased customer satisfaction for both Uber and Spotify users.
There are several examples of using IoT in marketing campaigns, and there is never a dearth of ideas. However, in order to appeal to your unique customer base, you need to innovate your product with IoT.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IoT strategy?
IoT Strategy refers to an organization’s strategy to inculcate IoT in their business, whether as a marketing tool or as an integral part of the process.
How does IoT affect the marketing industry?
IoT offers a lot of insights and resources to marketers which helps them target their customers better and optimizes any marketing efforts, thereby effectively obliterating traditional marketing practices.
What is the best internet of things marketing strategy?
There is no one IoT marketing strategy that fits all businesses. Each business needs to identify its customer requirements and strategize accordingly.
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IoT Security
Article | June 28, 2023
5 years ago, when we forecasted that the IoT platforms market would have a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35%, we wondered if our growth projection was unrealistically high.
5 years later, it has become apparent that the forecast was actually too low. The IoT Platforms market between 2015 and 2020 grew to be $800 million larger than we forecasted back in early 2016, resulting in a staggering 48% CAGR.
Comparing what we “knew” back in 2016 to what we know today provides some clues as to why the market exceeded expectations so much. 5 years ago, no one really knew what an IoT platform was, let alone how big the market would be, which business models would work, how architectures would evolve, and which companies/industries would adopt them. The only thing that was “known” was that the IoT platforms market was a billion dollar “blue ocean” opportunity ready to be captured by innovative companies.
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Enterprise Iot
Article | July 6, 2022
The nature of digital and physical security is evolving as a result of cloud-based IoT software, which enables both security components to be combined and used to exploit data better.
Commercial use of cloud-based IoT software is possible, and cloud-based solutions have some advantages in the area of security. IoT technology, which is essential to this development, is driving worldwide development in many areas and revolutionizing daily operations for many businesses.
Data is essential to success in almost every sector, and security is no exception. To better understand what's going on in your business, you can combine cloud-based solutions that contain all the information on a single interface. For instance, integrating security camera feeds with cloud-based access control systems enables real-time visual identification verification.
The Impact of Combining Physical and Cyber Security
Combining digital and physical security, often known as security convergence, helps optimize IoT and cloud-based security systems. A cloud-based physical security system needs cybersecurity software to guard against internet flaws and intrusions. Similarly, physical security measures prevent sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands. Teams for physical and cyber security might combine to provide a more comprehensive action plan. The more seamlessly all physical and digital security components are linked, the more secure and future-proof a commercial system will be.
When organizations use IoT technology, cybersecurity is a significant concern. However, by combining physical and digital security, organizations can make sure their cloud-based systems are well protected from vulnerabilities. In addition, the security and IT teams will also be better able to manage the evolving security landscape when the organization combines physical and digital security ideas.
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