4 Misleading IoT Vendor Claims You Shouldn’t Fall For

Sometimes people exaggerate a little when they get excited about an exciting technology or a new software product. While many companies make large investments in technologies for the internet of things (IoT) and the industrial internet of things (IIoT), it’s possible that some of the high numbers of billions of dollars are overstated. That’s understandable. The IoT is still building momentum, and the potential benefits of connected devices and the intelligence outcomes from all the data they generate are likely to be substantial.

However, we should draw the line when it comes to discussing solutions that are meant to enable companies to create results from the IoT. That’s where misleading claims and incomplete approaches to business insight are unhelpful.

1: When “out-of-the-box” isn’t anywhere close

Have you heard the term “out-of-the-box” lately? As a customer, you know to expect that a solution can be deployed quickly, or that, as soon as you implement it, you can use it to perform a certain task.
If only that were true. As we hear from companies, so-called “out-of-the-box” IoT solutions are often not like that at all. They require lengthy, costly deployments, maybe supported by coding, and it can take weeks or months before you can use them as you hoped to. Bringing machines or other items online can take laborious, customized configuration.

Not so with innius, our IoT solution. We can truthfully claim out-of-the-box readiness for it. You don’t need to perform any lengthy configuration, and certainly no coding, to take this IoT platform into production. For most machines, it takes a couple of hours for us to get them connected and generating data about their performance and status. We guarantee two weeks or less for even the most complicated industrial assets. You can be on your way to performing proactive maintenance and letting engineers and customers collaborate on new features very quickly, so make sure everybody’s ready to jump into action.

2: Don’t let them charge expensive startup fees

Remember how the cloud was supposed to help you save money and make it much easier to manage your expenses? Companies we talk to want to take advantage of subscription programs, which allow them to manage their costs in a predictable, controlled manner. This ease of economy is one of the promises of the cloud. However, not all IoT vendors let you take advantage of their cloud-based services without paying a hefty startup fee, which you don’t always hear about until you’ve made your vendor selection. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.
In contrast, you don’t pay a startup fee for innius. Your monthly subscription pays for the service. That service covers an unlimited number of users. We would do our customers a disservice if we were to nickel-and-dime them or revert to hefty old-school, upfront charges.

3: When “real-time” is limited to a certain device, it’s delayed

When it comes to such accomplishments as “real-time visibility,” you can easily find fudging or inappropriate exaggeration. For example, some IoT products will provide real-time data, but to see it, you have to be at a machine terminal. There’s no transmission or alert sent to your mobile phone, tablet, or computer. Roaming and mobile machine stakeholders can forget about being informed in anything close to “real time.” They can just hope that the machine operator or maintenance tech who’s looking at the terminal keeps them appraised. That sort of arrangement could greatly restrict the value of the data coming from your machines, along with your ability to act on it.
We feel that mobility and the IoT complement each other. When you use innius, you can always see real-time data on your phone or other preferred device, no matter where you are.

4: Data needs to help you achieve desirable outcomes

Finally, what’s the point of generating IoT data? In spite of what some vendors state, there is not necessarily a benefit in being able to gather and see data. Your IoT solution vendor should help you make sense of it with practical, usable tools that provide context and perspective. Collecting data is not like collecting art.
innius comes with intelligence built into it, such as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and other metrics out-of-the-box. That’s meaningful real-time visibility you can rely on and take action. We want you to be able to translate data and solution capabilities into tangible results such as higher performance levels, more service agreements sold, or product innovation that generates additional revenue.

Would you like to see how innius works? At innius we offer a free evaluation of your OEE monitoring needs with one of our manufacturing experts. Contact me and I’ll get it set up for you.