To Deliver IoT for Every One, Let’s Start with Simplifying Software Development

It’s been over a year since I wrote about making IoT accessible to Every One – so where are we today?

Here’s the good news:

• Connectivity is cheaper than ever and the options available continue to grow

• Sensors and hardware continue to become more affordable 

• Data analytics tools are becoming more sophisticated and vertically-oriented

• A recent survey done by Eclipse Foundation indicated that commercial IoT deployments continue to grow at a steady pace (but are still not ramping to the hype levels previously predicted).

• The ROI on IoT investments continue to improve, with more than 40% of businesses reporting multiple positive outcomes from their IoT investments, including improved business controls and business processes, as well as identifying new products and services. 

And the not so great news? Implementing an IoT project continues to be technically complex and requires significant investment in time, resources and skills. A recent article estimated that more than half the cost of developing an IoT project is in software development (that’s just the cost of development and does not include on-going maintenance) and data storage, which if you use the cloud can add up to significant recurring costs.

Given these barriers, it’s not surprising that a recent survey found that less than 10% of small businesses and less than 30% of middle market companies have adopted IoT technologies. Yet these are the very companies who could benefit the most from the efficiencies and cost savings that IoT can deliver.

The Three Main Challenges With IoT Software Today

Today, there are a number of IoT software solutions available for data collection, monitoring, visualization, and storage management. So why are IoT solution developers struggling with them?

· Complexity. Most IoT software today have become cloud-based one-size-fits-all solutions. Built to address the needs of large customers such as the fortune 500s with sophisticated requirements and thousands of developers, existing IoT software solutions quickly overwhelm small teams of IoT solution developers at small and mid-market companies.

Many solutions require that developers use a specific type of network protocol, programming language and spend significant time in configuring multiple services and API layers. On the other side, there are several open source software solutions. While it is cheaper to get started with open source software, it takes significant time and resources to qualify, modify, stitch and integrate discrete open source components from different authors into a cohesive solution, productize it and the support it in the field.

· Lack of Control. Most commercial IoT deployments require control over their data. The vast majority of today’s IoT data management and integration solutions require that data be stored in the software provider’s cloud.

· Recurring and Never-ending Subscription Fees. The vast majority of IoT solutions today are SaaS based, requiring that IoT solution developers and their customers committing to never-ending monthly subscription fees that can quickly add up.

The Three Things IoT Solution Developers Want in a Software Solution

· Configuring, Not Coding. For small and mid-market companies with small teams, speed and efficiency are the competitive advantages needed to stay relevant in the marketplace. A ready-to-deploy software solution that can be configured and adapted to the IoT project at hand allows them to capture opportunities quickly, without spending thousands of man hours in custom software development.

· Data Control. Not all data needs to be in the cloud. More importantly, today’s IoT solution developers and users want to be able to control where, when and how long their data is stored and used.

· Cost Simplicity. Remember the days when you just paid for a software license once and kept using it for as long as you wanted? You didn’t have to worry about losing access to everything when you cancelled the subscription Also you could upgrade when you actually wanted and needed to.

JEDI One for Windows, Linux and Mac: Affordable, Accessible and All-in-One

In December 2019, we introduced JEDI One for Raspberry Pi, which was the industry’s first affordable and easy-to-use IoT software solution for Raspberry Pi innovators and those looking to explore what types of IoT ideas they could come up with.

This week, we launched the next chapter in the promise of easy-to-use, affordable, and accessible IoT software solutions: JEDI One for Windows, Linux and Mac. Designed for the field application engineers, developers and solution architects on the frontline of creating and deploying IoT projects, JEDI One for Windows, Linux and Mac enables them to quickly bundle comprehensive data collection, visualization, and monitoring into any IoT project in minutes. No more libraries to build or maintain, no custom APIs or software to write, no new programming languages to learn and you maintain control over your data – where and when it goes, where its stored and for how long.

What’s even better? The cost. Download our free version (no trial period, it’s just free forever) or purchase a premium version for the one-time license cost of USD $79.

So what are you waiting for? The time for IoT for Every One has arrived...join us and let us know how you’re doing and how we can help you be successful.