According to IDC, IoT spending is set to explode over the next four years and will reach an estimated $1.4 trillion by 2021, with significant investments made right across the landscape including in hardware, software, services and connectivity. However, this level of investment isn’t a guarantee for instant success.
Recently, a survey from a leading tech vendor revealed that despite many positive projections about the future of IoT the reality revealed that many projects (60 per cent) fail at the proof-of-concept stage, with only 26 per cent of companies claiming to have an IoT initiative that they consider to be a complete success.
Woolnough commented: “There is no denying the scope of possibility within IoT and if investment continues at the current level then the rate of success for projects will undoubtedly start to increase, but in reality many are still ignoring fundamental flaws in their design process by failing to grasp the importance of app usability.
“By way of an example, the enterprise’s ability to leverage IoT in the workplace presents huge opportunities in terms of efficiency gains, communication, data capture, as well as opening up new revenue streams. But equally, the enterprise also has a long history of poor app engagement and unless these applications are intuitive and well-designed employees will not use them as a matter of habit. Because of this it is unsurprising to hear that so many fail to make it past proof-of-concept.
“It’s imperative that companies investing in IoT get to the root cause of this by understanding the behaviours that drive engagement, and this can be done by leveraging habit-forming technology.
“Habit-forming technology identifies the triggers, actions, rewards and the investment an individual makes in an application, and from this it allows us to then identify the hooks that keep people coming back again and again. In doing so, it allows us to build more intuitive platforms that can drive greater performance and engagement amongst users.
“As a concept IoT is still in its infancy and because of this the rate of success for projects will always be scrutinised, but that’s not to say that simple measures cannot be taken to address glaring flaws. Considering this, the companies that are able understand behavioural engagement patterns, and then create engaging mobile applications, will be the ones who will capitalise, allowing their projects to move beyond the proof-of-concept stage and ultimately, provide the success and returns desired by their investors.”
