Connected living tech service providers may be feeling giddy right about now. According to IHS, the global market for smart home was worth $14.7 billion in 2017 - a significant jump over the previous years. It also predicts that in 2025, 10 percent of global households will be smart homes. Here’s the thing, though: How can providers benefit long-term from connected living tech in the IoT era - or, in other words, go beyond one-time purchases to achieve solid and lasting revenue streams?
The answer, according to many experts, lies in partnerships, tie-ins, and collaborations. Here are four ways service providers can speed up mass market adoption of - and increase revenue streams from - IoT smart devices:
Partner with customers by offering integrated services
Many customers are not technology oriented and may feel overwhelmed when installing their devices or integrating devices from different manufacturers into a single system. Providing them with installation, integration, and follow-up services and support raises customer satisfaction and earns brand loyalty by ensuring that when a technical problem occurs, they’ll know where to turn to to get the needed support. More importantly, it leads to new business opportunities for service providers as these satisfied customers now see them as true partners.
Collaborate with complementary capabilities and interests
No service provider can provide the entire value proposition to advance mass market adoption of smart home tech. By partnering with a number of complementary verticals - insurance, energy, security, telcos, retailers and healthcare - providers are combining the capabilities of different vendors to create values perfectly suited to target customer groups. For example, these verticals can now use connected technology to prevent risks, resulting in lower premiums and fewer claims (insurance), save on power usage (energy), boost a healthier lifestyle for lower long-term medical costs (healthcare). It’s a win-win all around because these alliances provide these verticals with a new way to increase their market share, while giving consumers a big reason to choose a specific smart home service provider who offers them these needs-specific incentives.
Tie in voice interactivity
Add value, widen and deepen customer engagement, and expand business opportunities by enriching offerings with smart speaker options. Adding voice technology as a premium option within an existing security system or creating a new connected living solution around it delivers real personalization and the added convenience of hands-free control. No worries if customers forget where they put their mobile device - they voice their command to make it happen. Tie in voice interactivity and add your name to the list of providers already offering and profiting from it.
Work with data analytics
After all is said and done, what truly enables recurring revenue and real profit in IoT? It’s data, and service providers who can collect and analyze data (and innovate accordingly) will win the long-term profits game.
Here’s why. Using data analysis to learn user behavior and preferences and monitor product performance will help providers come up with better products, remotely discover and fix problems, reduce warranty claims while increasing customer satisfaction, prevent future glitches and anticipate service needs. Just as important, having critical customer data on hand makes for more effective target marketing and development of highly customized offers and incentive programs. Data itself can be monetized for an additional line of profit.
In the IoT era, enrich the smart home consumer experience...and enrich your bottom line.
About the author: Rafi Zauer is head of marketing at Essence. Essence delivers smart living and smart care solutions. Its WeR@Home technology delivers comprehensive, profitable home safety, security and management solutions for service providers, retailers, insurance companies, telcos, and more.
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
