The Internet of Things is expected to be the defining technology trend of the next decade and will impact virtually every vertical industry and permeate the vast majority of business processes. The market potential of the Internet of Things in India alone is expected to reach USD 9 billion by 2020. With this, the IoT units in India can also see a rapid growth of 31 times to reach 1.9 billion by 2020. “If you think that the internet has changed your life, think again. The IoT is about to change it all over again!” - Brendan O’Brien, Chief Architect & Co-Founder at Aria Systems.

However, designing a successful IoT strategy could be very challenging for even an enterprise that have been successful in rolling out complex supply chain solutions or an enterprise application integration projects. According to TELE2, here are four steps which can result in a successful IoT implementation:

Develop a Short and Long-term Strategy

As both types of goals (short and long-term) are crucial, Enterprises must develop both short- and long-term strategic goals associated with the adoption of IoT technology.  Also, carefully understanding the unique characteristics of IoT will help businesses align their strategies and operational tactics.

Explore, Understand and Select IoT Ecosystem Partners

Businesses might need various services including solution integration, application development, application hosting and others to implement and manage an IoT solution. Hence, they will need help from technology and services partners that have already deployed IoT solutions, but choosing the right partner will make all the difference.

Develop an IoT Proof of Concept (POC)

Creating an IoT proof of concept (POC) is a critical step in the IoT deployment. Therefore, business needs to complete a POC to maximize the success of an eventual pilot project and minimize any technology risks early in the development process.

Launch an IoT Pilot Project

This step combines all the aforementioned steps so as to launch IoT. Tele2 recommends that an enterprise follows these four guidelines for their pilot IoT project:

First, limit an IoT pilot project in scope and scale.

Second, implement the IoT technology solution with properly scaled back-office application integrations.

Third, institute a change management program associated with the IoT pilot project.

Fourth, measure the impact that the IoT pilot project had on business processes and the business overall.