IoT_e-book from blog series by Marie Martin

Jon Gettinger
Adam Hanft
Bob Harden
Brian James
Jeff Kaplan
Ariane Lindblom
Brendan O'Brien
Parker Trewin
Monetizing
the Internetof
Things
Perspectives from the front lines

01
CONTENTForeword
What Makes the ‘Internet of Things’ is Important
Taking Aim in the IoT World
Two Ways the Internet of Things Will Unlock Your Customers’ Revenue Potential
The ‘Not So Simple’ Truth of the IoT
Disruption of Capitalism and Other Challenges
Pitfalls and Perils on the Road to IoT Nirvana
Personalizing the Internet of Things
The ‘Reach Out and Touch Everything’ Era
Will Connected Devices Disconnect the Family?
What the IoT Can Learn from Nordstrom
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3
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5
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7
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04
06
08
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19
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26
28
31

02
The Arab Spring movement of 2011 grabbed
the world’s attention and was made possible by
the pervasive use of social media. The “Twitter
Revolution”, as it has been called by some,
fueled the rapid inclusion of participants in
protests, allowed the immediate dissemination of
information to the outside world, and thwarted
outdated suppression efforts.
It was fundamentally different from any
previous uprising in human history and it was
made possible by a confluence of technological
advances that included the internet itself, the
smart phone and, of course, Twitter.
No one could have predicted how these
technologies would end up serving as the
foundation for such seminal changes in global
human behavior.
The Internet of Things (IoT) represents
a similar example of how technologies can
come together in unpredictable ways to create
something new (e.g., the commoditization of RFID
and TCP/IP hardware, the prevalence of internet-
ready wireless networks, etc.). More importantly,
the IoT is enabling new business models that will
eventually cause societal shifts just as big as the
internet and the smartphone did.
At Aria Systems we spend a lot of time
thinking about the ways in which our technology
contributes to businesses seeking to capitalize
on the ever-changing ways to engage with
customers. Our collective interest in the IoT and
its organic overlay with a long list of monetization
models should be self-evident if you’ve been
reading this Internet of Things anthology series.
As We embarked upon this effort it quickly
became obvious that it would be a disservice
to our readers not to elevate our thinking. We
needed to go beyond what was strictly relevant
to the IoT’s capacity for monetization and include
perspectives that looked at the IoT from other
angles.
Foreword

03
The IoT is far more than just the promise of
new ways to make money. It will usher in new
ways that humanity can become socially richer.
And, like any major societal advance, it will also
usher in new challenges to be met and overcome.
Just as no one was able to predict the Twitter
Revolution in 2011, no one today can tell us what
the IoT will ultimately bring to the world. In this
IoT anthology, the best thinkers among Aria’s
experts drew upon their respective experience
and gazed into their crystal balls to offer food for
thought.
Seeing the colors laid out upon an artists’
palettes is not enough to predict what they will
paint, not even for the artists themselves. The
only thing we do know is that many “artists”
will avail themselves of the IoT “pallet”, and
masterpieces will be born. It’s only a matter of
time. Like you, we can’t wait to be there when
those masterpieces are unveiled.
In the meantime, we must quickly prepare
ourselves for a world that will be radically
different from the one we occupy today.
Foreword

What Makes the ‘Internet of
Things’ is Important
By Brendan O’Brien
ere at Aria Systems, we live and
breathe all things related to
monetization via customer care
and relationships. We live in a
world where recurring revenue
management is becoming a dominant theme.
Lately there’s been a natural gravitation to
the Internet of Things/Internet of Everything,
and the synchronicity between the business
models the IoT produces and how Aria is
serendipitously designed to support all of it.
Simply put, we want people to think a lot about
the new age the IoT heralds. To that end, this
post is the first in a series intended to explore
the monetization of the IoT in some depth; i.e.,
the Monetization of ThingsTM
.
We thought it wise to begin by discussing
something that, while arguably quite basic, is
such fertile ground for idea generation that it
almost can’t be discussed enough: Why is the
Internet of Things important?
In general, the IoT promotes a heightened
level of awareness about our world, and a
platform from which to monitor the reactions
to the changing conditions that said awareness
exposes us to. And, like the advent of the
internet itself, the IoT enables a myriad of
applications ranging from the micro to the
macro, and from the trivial to the critical.
Since we’re focusing here on why the IoT
is important, let’s turn our attention to the
“macro” and the “critical” first, and look at
some provocative ideas that are already in
development across the globe.
Smarter Natural Disaster Management
The ability to accurately predict the onset of
conditions that promote forest fires before
they get out of control (or even begin), allowing
containment teams to respond more quickly
and first responders to rapidly manage targeted
evacuations. This same concept applies equally
to the smarter detection of and reaction to
H
Monetizing the Internet of Things
“… the IoT
enables a myriad
of applications
ranging from
the micro to the
macro, and from
the trivial to the
critical.”
04

05
“… the IoT
promotes a
heightened level of
awareness about
our world, and
a platform from
which to monitor
the reactions to
the changing
conditions that
said awareness
exposes us to.”
mudslides, avalanches, earthquakes and other
natural disasters.
Smarter Urban Management
Cities and counties automating traffic
management that effectively notices and
governs the flow of traffic based on ever-
changing conditions; parking applications
that intelligently guide cars to open spots,
eliminating wasted time and energy and
dramatically cutting back on emissions;
automating utility consumption, generation
and distribution on a grand scale, all with an
eye to the mitigation of waste that far exceeds
the capabilities of existing systems.
Smarter Healthcare
Wearable devices that detect a host of health
problems, potentially before they even occur,
and immediately administer life-saving drugs
or deploy emergency responders with detailed
information placed instantly in their hands or
alert family members as-needed.
The ideas above barely skim the surface
of the deep sea of possibilities afforded
by the coming IoT age, and they all share
a common (and not accidental) adjective
here: “smarter”. If “smart” is defined by the
confluence of access to information and the
ability to utilize that information in meaningful
and appropriate ways, then the promise
of the Internet of Things is, simply, a much
“smarter” planet that keeps us safer, balances
the personal good with the greater good, and
improves humankind’s chances at providing a
more sustainable legacy for future generations.
Author Bio
Brendan O’Brien , Co-founder and Chief Evangelist at Aria Systems, has been in the
subscription services business for over 20 years, and is recognized as a pioneer and
thought leader. In 2002 he introduced the world to Cloud billing, and has innovated
database-driven, enterprise-grade web applications for companies ranging from
Medical Manager to Wright Express, and LaserLink. All this before the concept of
“Cloud” was even on the horizon.

06
TakingAimintheIoTWorld
By Jon Gettinger
“...the loT will
continue to drive
the growth of
recurring revenue
businesses
across multiple
industries.”
e are at the beginning
of another explosion in
information applications. This
one is being driven by small,
intelligent sensors that can
precisely measure and communicate stuff like
temperature, position, movement, light and
chemical traces. These connectable sensors
are reliable, manageable and affordable
enough to be within reach of both businesses
and consumers.
This entire sensor universe (and its
associated infrastructure) is referred to as the
Internet of Things, or IoT. It is, in essence, a
new type of platform with astounding breadth
and complexity. According to industry research
firm Gartner, by 2020 there will be a staggering
26 billion of these connected objects, more
than three times the number of smart phones,
tablets and PCs combined.
Early adopters are already using the IoT to
deliver valuable new services. Major vendors
seeing another internet-sized opportunity
have begun laying the Cloud foundation for
the impending gold rush. For me, I like to think
about the IoT combined with powerful mobile
devices and fast, anytime/anywhere networks.
Now that is a platform that can cause some
serious economic disruption across many
industries!
Some businesses are delivering solutions
that are much closer to what their customers
actually want. For example, rather than sell
you an air conditioner, I can now sell you a
service that keeps your building between 68
and 72 degrees year-round, or warn you of an
impending heart attack. Other businesses are
using the IoT platform to become dramatically
more efficient. Why stockpile unnecessary
material when my partners can now precisely
monitor my consumption and increase or
decrease delivery as required? Turbo-charged
supply chains. The possibilities are astounding.
The effect on marketing will be staggering.
Let’s take a look at just one important activity:
connecting with qualified buyers, what is
W

Author Bio
Jon Gettinger, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Aria, has over twenty
years experience working in the software industry with more than a decade in
executive roles. He has been involved with the SaaS business since the very
beginning when in 1998 he founded a company that delivered SaaS testing
solutions for web businesses. Most recently, he was the head of marketing at
Fortify Software prior to their acquisition by Hewlett Packard. He believes in the
transformative power of IT, the genius of molecular gastronomists, and in the
mysterious force that is the Rule of Three.
07
“According to
industry research
firm Gartner, by
2020 there will be
a staggering 26
billion of these
connected objects,
more than three
times the number
of smart phones,
tablets and PCs
combined.”
referred to in marketing as “targeting”. A large
portion of marketing dollars is wasted when the
wrong offers are made to the wrong people at
the wrong place and time. Better information
about the buyer fixes this problem and gives
businesses like Facebook and Google, with their
vast warehouses of user data, the ability to
command top-dollar for their advertisements.
The IoT will generate an enormous, truly
unprecedented amount of precise information
about buyers and their needs.
It’s a marketer’s dream come true. And it is
easy to see how, with all this additional data,
the IoT will have a dramatic impact on both the
economics and performance of targeting.
Better targeting means new market
opportunities for services. Many of the
problems IoT entrepreneurs will go after will
be recurring in nature, so I expect the IoT
will continue to drive the growth of recurring
revenue businesses across multiple industries.
Better targeting also gives vendors the ability
to more precisely price and package their
wares. More agile vendors will take advantage
of this to expand into new markets, or steal
market share from competitors.
This is great news for us at Aria, as we are
focused on helping customers implement
sophisticated monetization strategies and
adapt them to go after new opportunities. As
we have seen with past technology waves,
there will be many new options for marketers.
The next few years should be very exciting
indeed! I’m looking forward to the ride.

ver the past few years, there’s
been a lot of hype about the
Internet of Things (IoT) and its
massive potential to change
how we live, work and conduct
business. From wearable devices to smart
appliances that share information via sensors,
it seems that every company is embarking
on a bold Internet of Things strategy. In fact,
nearly three-fourths of enterprises believe
that IoT solutions will create new business
opportunities and bolster existing offerings.
By 2020 the IoT will produce an estimated 50
billion connected devices, and IoT solutions
will generate $7.1 trillion. Yet the current
reality paints a very different picture: Most of
the IoT use cases today are focused on cost
reduction and efficiency – and only 13%
of IoT use cases between 2009 and 2013
targeted revenue growth or innovation.
So, how will companies drive future revenue
growth from the Internet of Things?
While we are still in the early stages of the
IoT, many compelling use cases are emerging
across various industries. Several of these
use cases create new ways to drive growth
and profitability from existing customers.
How? The Internet of Things simply
O
“With the rise of
the Cloud and big
data, we are now
able to collect and
aggregate more
information about
customers than
ever before.”
08
TwoWaystheInternetofThings
WillUnlockYourCustomers’
RevenuePotential
By Ariane Lindblom
Show Me the Money:

09
“The Internet of
Things simply
represents
another “smart”
endpoint to
better understand
customer
behavior, value
sentiments
and product
consumption.”
represents another “smart” endpoint to
better understand customer behavior, value
sentiments and product consumption.
With the rise of the Cloud and big data,
we are now able to collect and aggregate
more information about customers than ever
before. Once companies have reliable real-
time, context-aware data feeds from multiple
product sources collected over time, they will
shift how they do business with customers
even more rapidly.
Ultimately, the IoT will change how
companies bring new “value” to products
and services, engage their customers and
drive future growth strategies.
To make this shift, companies need to take
a different approach – think differently – and
focus on services rather than products. Using
specific use cases, here are two primary ways
the IoT will help drive customer growth:
1. Moving from Products to Outcomes
Combined with the Cloud, the Internet of
Things is already changing business models
and related product offerings. One of the
biggest shifts has been the move from selling
discrete products with attached services to
selling complete “outcomes”, or Outcomes
as a Service (OaaS). Think of OaaS as simply
a product wrapped in a service-based SLA or
goal.
One great example of OaaS is a leading
commercial air conditioning company that’s
leveraging usage analytics and the IoT to
charge for and deliver outcome-based air
conditioning that focuses on specific energy
consumption targets and temperature SLAs.
The days of selling an air conditioning unit
and simply hoping that the customer will
have the desired experience are now long
gone. Other OaaS examples include
preventative maintenance services, such as
anticipating the wear-and-tear of a device,
or creating product education services based
upon usage and adoption patterns.
The healthcare and medical device
industries are key verticals that stand to
benefit tremendously from the IoT. Even
today, a number of medical device companies
are developing greater connectivity in order
to improve communications between health
care providers and patients while also
providing real-time monitoring of patient
health through bedside diagnostics.
The list of new business models enabled

10
“Ultimately,
the IoT will help
companies create
more sustained
value by moving
from a one-time
“initial sale” focus
to an ongoing
relationship with
customers.”
by the IoT is endless – asset sharing,
verticalization, advanced telematics and
connected cars, home automation and more.
Net-net: With new insight into how customers
are using a product or service, combined
with other data sources in the Cloud,
businesses have new ways to deliver value to
customers and monetize solutions.
2. Deepening Customer Relationships
By bolstering traditional sales acquisitions
and customer support, the Internet of Things
has become a new frontier for CRM. In order
to minimize churn and create life-long
customers, the IoT places a greater emphasis
on ensuring that customers derive ongoing
value from a product or service across the
customer lifecycle (onboarding, adoption,
renewals and expansion). The first sale
initiated by CRM is now the starting point for
the IoT across the customer lifecycle.
By connecting the dots and aggregating
data from the IoT with other valuable
customer data in the Cloud, companies are
better equipped to engage customers. Here
are some use cases that demonstrate how the
IoT can be leveraged to drive deeper customer
relationships and loyalty:
1. Combine usage behavior with other
customer history to predict and prevent
churn
2. Recognize buying behavior to adjust
merchandising and align with local
preferences
3. Deliver customized offers at the perfect
moment (e.g., when a customer enters a
store)
4. Manage inventory volume based upon
demand and purchases (Amazon does this
today!)
5. Understand product usage and trends
to improve future product development
efforts
What’s next for the IoT in today’s enterprise?
While the IoT holds broad appeal across
every branch of enterprise, its effect on
how companies manage their customer
relationships will be priceless. Ultimately,
the IoT will help companies create more
sustained value by moving from a one-time
“initial sale” focus to an ongoing relationship
with customers. The specific effects will

11
“With new
insight into how
customers are
using a product or
service, combined
with other data
sources in the
Cloud, businesses
have new ways
to deliver value
to customers
and monetize
solutions.”
Author Bio
Vice President of Solution Marketing at ServiceSource, Ariane Lindblom is
an experienced global manager, strategist and marketer practiced in all
aspects of customer acquisition, including segmentation, sales strategy,
solution selling, product marketing, lead generation, sales enablement
and account management.
be felt in how companies go to market and
leverage their CRM systems and other data to
better understand and engage with existing
customers.
How will your company leverage the IoT to
better engage your existing customers?
How will you integrate IoT processes and
information into your front office systems to
deliver a more compelling experience?
If your business is customer-centric, it’s
time to incorporate the IoT into your long-term
strategy. Your viability may depend on it.

12
The‘NotSoSimple’TruthoftheIoT
By Brian James
“It’s anyone’s
guess how the IoT
will ultimately be
used to effectively
connect an
unbelievably
broad range of
devices.”
he Internet of Things is exciting.
By connecting machines, objects,
agents (aka “things”) via the
internet so that systems work more
effectively, people will have the
information they need to make better decisions
and improve their quality of life. Sign me up.
But with such a big promise one thing
is clear: the IoT will be anything but simple.
The IoT will be more complicated and chaotic
than we expect. Innovation and competition
will play out across devices, services, apps,
platforms, standards, monetization models,
geographies and users to name just a few.
The fact is, the IoT is kind of like the pony
express was when it was first launched: it
worked better than what we had, it underwent
a lot of changes, and consumers won while
business fortunes rose and fell. It’s anyone’s
guess how the IoT will ultimately be used to
effectively connect an unbelievably broad
range of devices. For example, CellNet, a
Silicon Valley darling back in the late 90’s,
did “electronic meter reading” before the IoT
had any collective consciousness. CellNet has
been acquired multiple times, and finally,
electronic meter reading is now commonplace.
But CellNet struggled for years, and I still don’t
have an app that enables me to engage my
family in reducing electricity usage. We do
have far fewer meter readers.
Last week Nike launched its IoT device, the
FuelBand App for Android, to the headline,
“Pigs Fly, Still Can’t Put Their Flaps Toward
NikeFuel”. But wait – didn’t Nike throw in the
towel on its FuelBand device in April of this
year, having not achieved its ambitious goals?
Is Nike in or out? Or just doing it? Is Nike selling
devices, apps or an experience? It’s unclear.
For consumers the IoT is about better;
for businesses the IoT is more complicated.
Each needs to identify how it will deliver
competitive advantage – which may mean
more or less consumer choice. For example,
I’m still waiting for Sirius XM to offer traffic
updates on demand. I don’t want to pay a
monthly fee for stuff I don’t use regularly. But
is paid-on-demand traffic viable when free
T

Author Bio
At Aria, as the Sr. Product Marketing Director, Brian James packages platform capabilities
and helps customers understand the power of recurring revenue and how it can effectively
drive innovation, efficiency, and greater revenue growth. Brian has been helping companies
use technology to drive innovation and efficiency for over 20 years at small and large
companies including Accenture and Oracle. With leadership roles in product management,
marketing, consulting, strategy, and implementation Brian brings a wealth of experience to
Aria Systems and its customers.
13
“By connecting
machines, objects,
agents (aka
“things”) via the
internet so that
systems work
more effectively,
people will have
the information
they need to make
better decisions
and improve their
quality of life.”
traffic maps are available on your smartphone?
Or will “distracted driving” laws favor one form
of distribution over another? For businesses
the IoT is anything but simple, even after the
technology challenges.
Apple just launched the HomeKit to
connect “home things” including thermostats,
door sensors and cameras together. They are
one of a myriad of companies vying to be the
new standard, and have entered the fight for
one or more standard connecting platforms.
Prepare yourselves for dizzying competition
and rapid innovation.
One thing is clear: The IoT vendors who
have clarity of purpose and unprecedented
flexibility, agility and speed are going to be
more effective at establishing an IoT presence.
Why? Because they will be more responsive
to the needs and desires of their market and
customers. Period.
I recently came across the “Air Quality Egg”
which monitors air quality wherever you put it.
Great idea, but what happens when I put my
“Egg” in a box along with some car exhaust and
smoldering leaves? That action would skew
the data and therefore skew Air Quality Egg’s
learning. So it’s important that companies not
only collect the data, but understand what it
means to their market now and in the future.
If companies are going to take advantage of
the biggest market opportunity we may see in
this lifetime, they will need a well-thought-out
plan for how and with whom they will compete.
They’ll need to decide whether they will compete
with the device, the service(s), the app(s), the
platform(s), the standard(s), the monetization
model(s) or combinations of these.
The simple truth of the IoT is that it isn’t so
simple. But it will be big, it will be exciting, and
anyone can be a part of it.

14
DisruptionofCapitalismand
OtherChallenges
By Brendan O’Brien
“No technological
shift we have ever
witnessed will
bring as much
disruption with it
as the IoT…”
In all systems, great change is always
preceded by great disequilibrium.
For the past 20 years or so, everyone who
knows me has eventually heard me spout
the line above. It’s something in which I firmly
believe, and it doesn’t take much pondering
to come up with anecdotes that support the
claim.
Whether it’s a toddler going through potty
training, the behaviors of subatomic particles
during nuclear fission, a society shifting to a
new social norm, the widespread adoption of
a new technology, or the arrival of a new boss
at your company... it’s all the same: As systems
undergo the shift from old model to new, the
transitional period is fraught with instabilities
and unforeseen disruptions. Put more plainly,
things get “squirrely”.
The good news is that the mere expectation
of impending “squirelliness” (okay... I’ve
officially used that non-word enough…) is the
most important tool in overcoming it.
So as the Internet of Things, the greatest
technological and social shift since the
adoption of the World Wide Web, gets
underway, let’s talk a bit about what we
can reasonably expect if we want to find
stability and success on the other side. Keep
in mind my assertion that the IoT is both a
technological and a social shift. As such its
pitfalls and dangers will be both technological
and social in nature, and the point is not to
presume to tell you exactly how to solve these
problems. Solutions will arise from the minds
of individuals smarter than I, and from the
adoption of standards both imposed and de
facto which do not yet exist.
The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT):
I

15
“The IoT is about
nothing if not
incredible volumes
of data, and those
who succeed will
be those who
begin by investing
heavily in a robust
massive data
strategy.”
Data Volume
A Boeing 777 jet on a transatlantic flight from
JFK to Heathrow has four engines, and during
that flight each of those engines generates
one terabyte of data. It’s admittedly a grand
example, but should act as a wake-up call
for anyone planning their IoT strategy. Data
volumes are going to far exceed anything
we’ve ever seen. Not only will “Big Data”
immediately become “Massive Data”, but for
the full promise of the IoT strategy to come
to fruition, there will need to be significant
upgrades in infrastructure, broader acceptance
of the necessity for a massive data strategy
by businesses of all kinds, and major leaps
forward in the technologies and protocols used
in the storage, transmission and parsing of the
coming data flood. The IoT is about nothing if
not incredible volumes of data, and those who
succeed will be those who begin by investing
heavily in a robust massive data strategy.
Security
Embedded in the flood of data discussed
above will be all kinds of personally
identifiable information (PII). Whether that
data is directly present in any given data
transmission or obfuscated to some degree,
for the IoT to “deliver” to consumers, this PII
(or more likely the indirect pointers to it) must
be present or IoT devices and services will
be unable to provide the highly personalized
experiences consumers and businesses
will expect. Additionally, demand will more
certainly grow for democratized sharing of IoT
data in order to deliver “cross-platform” value.
For example, the idea of your American market
Volvo’s embedded IoT sensors being able to
seamlessly find and pay for parking during
your weekend trip to Toronto? Please! But it
will require data sharing. So, when I ponder
the manifold increase in data volume, the high
sensitivity of the data within, and the market
necessity to allow disparate entities to share
data from disparate sources (and in the blink
of an eye... did I mention that?), I ask myself
whether the level of security currently afforded
by today’s protocols and practices can handle
it, and I get worried. Very worried.
Standards
The World Wide Web only began to fulfill
its true promise when standards for TCP/
IP (and its all-important child HTTP), HTML,
JavaScript, CSS and SSL were established
and widely adopted. The IoT will initially be
able to “ride” on pre-existing standards and
protocols (in fact, it already is doing so), but as
data volume and data security needs morph
and increase, it is safe to assume that existing
standards will not scale. The IoT is demanding
new standards of its own for communication
and data formatting and rapid development/
deployment. Luckily plenty of bright people

16
“The IoT is
demanding
new standards
of its own for
communication
and data
formatting
and rapid
development/
deployment.”
are busy at work trying to tackle the problem,
although no one yet can say which standards
will do the job most effectively and will
“win” - be it those being created by large
corporate alliances like the Industrial Internet
Consortium, or those by community/open-
source style entities like the AllJoyn Alliance
(or combinations of both). All we can say for
certain now is that what we currently have in
the way of internet standards is highly unlikely
to scale and extend in the ways the IoT will
demand.
Subscription Fatigue
The shift to recurring revenue was well
underway before we all started talking about
the IoT, and when we here at Aria look at the
myriad services we expect to arise from the
wide adoption of IoT technologies, we see an
even larger wave approaching the shore: a
wave of service offerings that lend themselves
perfectly to recurring revenue models that
we already know are desirable to consumers,
businesses and investors.
Taken at face value, that’s great news for
a company like ours that offers a platform
for managing recurring revenue businesses.
But taken to its logical extreme, one must
presume that the average consumer paying
for 10-20 subscription/recurring services today
may very well have a different mindset when
that number increases to 100 or more and
their ability to effectively manage a personal
budget becomes ever more unwieldy. I call
this anticipated swing of the pendulum
“subscription fatigue”, and believe it will be
best mitigated by players who offer means
for consolidation of heterogeneous services,
services offered by different providers, onto a
single monthly bill.
Instead of getting 100 “hits” against my
credit or debit card spread arbitrarily across
the month, wouldn’t it be cool if I was given the
option at the time of signing up for IoT-enabled
service number 101 to be able to simply add
it as a new line item to a bill I already get on,
say, the 15th of every month? Sounds like
it might be attractive to many people, and
it sounds fairly simple, doesn’t it? But this
idea fundamentally challenges the direct
relationship consumers have with providers
as it necessitates the introduction of an
intermediary entity that to some degree must
stand between a consumer and a provider, an
entity that would essentially be responsible
for “floating” monies for some number of days
for that consumer each month. This could be
quite challenging for many merchants who
are understandably very motivated to “own”
their own customers, not to mention the
intermediaries responsible for this “float” who
are assuming some amount of risk themselves.

17
“All we can say for
certain now is that
what we currently
have in the way of
internet standards
is highly unlikely to
scale and extend
in the ways the IoT
will demand.”
But it is doable, and one need look no further
than business models like PayPal or LevelUp to
see rudimentary examples of what I’m talking
about.
A Fundamentally New
Business Paradigm
Okay, here’s the part of this essay where I
recognize I’m inviting many readers to believe
I might be a little crazy. That’s alright... I’m
used to it; but stay with me. If we take all of
the (admittedly predictive) assertions I’ve
made above, what I personally see coming is
a fundamental challenge to the very nature
of capitalism and the merchant/customer
relationship as we know it.
When you go to the supermarket today
and fill up your cart, you are purchasing
goods that were provided by a wide array of
manufacturers and producers. You pay the
cashier at checkout, and at some point the
store remits appropriate payment to all of
those individual providers. Simple enough,
but keep in mind this important fact: The
supermarket itself, prior to you walking
through its doors, made a whole bunch of
decisions beforehand about exactly which
producers’ goods to make available to you.
But the IoT’s full promise is centered
on the fact that there is an unforeseen and
unforeseeable “web” of provider interactions
that must be accommodated in order
for consumers to see the full value in the
connected devices and services enabled by
the IoT. Remember my example above of the
American market, IoT-ready Volvo parking in
IoT-ready Toronto? In a traditional business
partnership model, that example would
have only worked if Toronto’s city planners
had taken the time to directly or indirectly
establish a partnership with Volvo. But what
if our example driver was trying to park an
Audi instead? Or visiting Montreal instead
of Toronto? Is it reasonable to assume
that every IoT-ready municipality will pre-
establish relationships with every conceivable
automobile manufacturer? It’s not, and this
example of an interaction between an IoT-
enabled car and an IoT-enabled municipal
parking system is a simplistic and relatively
predictable one. With the IoT, we must begin
our planning with the assumption that we
cannot foresee every service it will enable,
much less the complex web of potential
interactions between disparate services
that smart people will dream up and that
consumers will ultimately demand.
What I’m suggesting here is that there
will be a demand for a “bottom-up”, more
democratized version of capitalism driven by
users of services themselves. They will expect
an ever-more seamless set of interactions

18
“… the IoT’s
full promise is
centered on the
fact that there is
an unforeseen
and unforeseeable
“web” of provider
interactions
that must be
accommodated
in order for
consumers to see
the full value in the
connected devices
and services
enabled by the IoT.”
of these services among a host of providers
that isn’t encumbered by having to wait for
these providers to pre-establish business
partnerships in advance. While it may be
acceptable in these early days of the IoT
for a car buyer to learn in advance the list
of municipal parking systems with which a
Volvo or an Audi interacts in order to influence
their car-buying decision, the infinitely more
powerful selling tool is obviously being
able to tell that buyer, “It works with all of
them.” Extremely easy to say, extremely
hard to do, and not merely because of
its technological challenges (such as the
standardization challenge described above).
The larger challenge is one of establishing a
new extensibility for business partnerships
themselves.
There you have it, and while I admit that
I am most certainly not 100% prescient on all
of the points above, I believe a few core points
are absolutely undeniable. No technological
shift we have ever witnessed will bring as
much disruption with it as the IoT, and those
disruptions will run the gamut from the purely
technological to the most fundamental ways
in which commerce operates and the ways
in which humans interact with one another...
disequilibrium on every front. The winners
in the IoT will be those who have the wisdom
to begin their efforts with the adoption of
the mantra that they don’t know what they
don’t know, and therefore do all they can
to prepare themselves technologically and
even psychologically for the widest array of
possibilities in advance.

Pitfalls and Perils on the Road
to IoT Nirvana
By Bob Harden
As I sat down to actually write this
post I spent a chunk of time staring
at an empty page and scratching my
head (a risky activity for me given the
steadily declining amount of hair still
attached to it). What does “IoT Nirvana” even
look like? It’s a dizzyingly broad subject.
From a consumer perspective, I would
broadly describe it as hands-on technology
that gives me more insight into and control
over the things that are important to me. I see
at least five significant issues that need to be
addressed along the way:
• Ease of use
• Security and privacy
• Liability
• Government intervention
• Evil (Google-style)
One App to Rule Them All
“One app to rule them all, one app to
find them, One app to bring them all, and in
the Cloud to bind them” - me
Not a line from Tolkien, but probably only
because apps didn’t exist in his time.
Whether it’s controlling the lights in my
living room from a hotel in Brazil, wearing
a wristband that accurately predicts the
moment I’m going to die so that it can alert
the coroner to be on hand when the fateful
moment arrives, or owning a refrigerator that
warns me when my milk expires, there are
thousands of potentially cool IoT services
available to give me more control over my
daily life.
What won’t be cool is purchasing 10-20
A
“Since recurring
revenue will be
the dominant
monetization
model for the IoT,
you should expect
the customer
experience to be
critical for the IoT’s
success as well.”
19

“Customer
retention and
up-selling are
critical for
profitability,
and happy
customers are
much more likely
to stick around
and upgrade
than unhappy
customers.”
different services from 10-20 different vendors
using 10-20 different apps with 10-20 different
user interfaces. If that’s the way the IoT goes,
it will be a long tough slog to nirvana. Lack of
standards and closed product ecosystems will
not get us where we need to go.
Brendan O’Brien alluded to this in a post a
couple weeks back and I think he was spot on.
For the IoT to be user friendly, we’re going to
need service aggregators: one-stop shopping
for a wide variety of services, with one bill and
(most importantly) one app that integrates
all your services in an easy-to-use interface.
Apple seems to be giving this some thought
with HomeKit, but their history points to
closed ecosystems and Apple-only products.
I’m looking for something a little more
open and inclusive than that. I want the
ability to pick and choose preferred providers
with a single app to run all my services, like an
Amazon Prime for the IoT. Jeff Bezos, if you’re
reading this, I want a cut. Then again, you’re
probably already working on it.
Internet of Things or Internet
of Targets?
The Department of Defense and the
government’s Office of Personnel
Management have both recently been
hacked by the People’s Republic of China.
If we can’t keep classified government
information secure, how are we going to
keep the information about where you drove
your car last week secure? The saving grace
might be that no one but your mechanic or
insurance company will be interested in that
information, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
How secure will our connected homes be?
How about our medical monitoring devices?
If it’s connected, it’s hackable. And if it
can be hacked, it will be hacked eventually.
If you’re lucky, the hacker will just be a
kid hacking into your home to turn on
your kitchen lights at 3:00am. You’ve been
punked, but there’s no real harm. But if you’re
unlucky…
A recent study from Fortify found that
70% of the most commonly used IoT devices
had vulnerabilities. The most commonly used
devices and their Cloud components had an
average of 25 vulnerabilities per device. 80%
of devices tested leaked private information
including user names, addresses, dates of
birth, and credit card or health information.
If our lives are going to be more connected,
20

“Lack of
standards and a
closed product
ecosystems will
not get us where
we need to go.”
with truly sensitive information available
to be hacked, we’ll need better security
protocols and practices.
Legally Speaking
One of my favorite quotes from my
programming days is, “Designers who try to
make things completely idiot-proof usually
underestimate the ingenuity of complete
idiots.” You can’t test for every possible case
because you can’t identify them all. So what
happens when one of those unimagined and
untested cases causes an injury, or a property
loss, or the exposure of sensitive consumer
data?
If McDonald’s can get sued and lose
because a cup of hot coffee is actually served
hot, what’s in store for the manufacturer of a
home management system that gets hacked?
What’s the manufacturer’s liability for the pain
and suffering involved when that kid hacks
your system and punks you by turning on
your lights at 3:00am, repeatedly, for several
weeks?
The answer is, we don’t really know. I
worry that the IoT opens the door to a whole
new set of legal precedents around product
liability and data breaches, and that sorting
all of that out will at some point put a damper
on innovation.
How Do We Tax It?
The previous issues almost surely guarantee
that the government will get involved. We’ll
have to let them in the door, and once they’re
in, they will never leave. That usually brings
unintended consequences. Check out Robin
Cook’s medical thriller Cell for a truly creepy
vision of what government intervention in the
IoT could look like in the medical field.
And when government gets involved,
inevitably the question comes up, “How do
we tax it?” In an age where governments at
all levels are struggling to meet budgets, it’s
almost inevitable that someone within the
bureaucracy will look at the vast number of
online transactions or data and see dollar
signs. Advocates for the IoT will need to get
in front of this to ensure that the government
becomes a partner to innovation and not an
impediment.
Do No Evil
Yes, I’m talking to you, Google. I want to see
how you’re going to balance the whole “Do no
evil” thing with the unprecedented potential
21

“…the IoT, done
right, will make
the world a better
place by providing
you more control
over your day-
to-day life and
perhaps making
your world a little
safer.”
financial gain of being able to detect the
sensor in my Nikes or my wrist appliance, and
provide presence-based advertising in public
places based on massive volumes of data
collected from all of my other IoT devices.
Cashing in on that opportunity will not make
the world a better place.
But the IoT, done right, will make the
world a better place by providing you more
control over your day-to-day life and perhaps
making your world a little safer. And that’s a
good thing, regardless of what obstacles we
might encounter along the way.
22
Author Bio
With expertise in recurring revenue strategies and implementations,
former Director of Billion Solutions at Experian, Bob Harden, is now
Founder and Principal of The Harden Group. Contact bob.harden@
ymail.com or visit www.hardengroup.net.

23
PersonalizingtheInternetofThings
By Jeffrey M. Kaplan
“Personalizing
how the IoT
captures, collates
and shares the
data generated
in this connected
world is the key
to fulfilling its
promise.”
combination of technological
innovations and macro-market
trends are converging to create
unprecedented opportunities that
will transform how nearly every
industry operates as a result of connecting a
widening array of objects, devices and services
via the “Internet of Things” (IoT). Personalizing
how the IoT captures, collates and shares the
data generated in this connected world is the
key to fulfilling its promise.
The IoT idea has become one of the hottest
technology topics of 2014 because a variety
of consumer and industrial products can now
be connected in a scalable and economical
fashion to produce a new set of services which
were not possible in the past.
Today’s IoT capabilities have evolved from
a previous generation of machine-to-machine
(M2M) sensors, systems and software that
were primarily utilized to handle a finite set of
industry-specific functions. One of the most
prominent examples has been deploying
sensors on commercial vehicles to track their
movement and status in order to fine-tune
transportation logistics and reduce potential
downtime.
Since the cost of the nanotechnology
that powers the remote sensors has been cut
dramatically, the range of ‘things’ that sensors
can be attached to has become limitless.
Even more importantly, the Cloud has
made it financially feasible to deploy the
sensors anywhere because it significantly
reduces the connectivity costs. In addition
it reduces the cost of capturing, storing and
analyzing the data generated by the sensors,
as well as sharing the output of said analysis to
whoever needs it.
Now, nearly every industry is exploring
ways to connect to their end-products to better
understand how they operate so they can
improve their efficiency, and better understand
how they’re used in order to better serve their
customers.
A

24
“Since the
cost of the
nanotechnology
that powers the
remote sensors
has been cut
dramatically, the
range of ‘things’
that sensors can
be attached to has
become limitless.”
In the consumer world, IoT
implementations have already become
commonplace via a variety of wearables. The
most common of these consumer goods is
an assortment of fitness products like Fitbit,
and the most elaborate is Google Glass.
What they both have in common (along with
countless other IoT consumer items) is their
ability to capture data from the user’s personal
experience, analyze it in the context of other
data points, and provide the user with valuable
insights that can help them better understand
their behavior and improve their performance.
This functionality is not only empowering
to the individual, it is also a powerful tool
for commercial product providers to build
a tighter bond with their customers in an
increasingly commoditized marketplace.
The key is personalizing IoT solutions in the
industry sector the same way personalization
has become the norm in the consumer web.
We are all accustomed to Amazon’s ability
to immediately recommend books, movies
and other consumer items to us based on
our previous purchases using continuously
learning analytics. A growing number of
vendors are developing similar abilities to
enable their connected objects and devices
to deliver the same benefits in the IoT
environment.
Fitness services, such as MapMyRide and
Strava, have capitalized on the data captured
from their users’ exercise activities to develop
new value-added services that offer deeper
insights into their routines and provide more
detailed statistics regarding how they rank
against others. Based on these data, these
services can sell advertising space to various
companies seeking to appeal to their highly-
targeted population of users. They can also
repackage the data to help other businesses
improve their products.
This personalization process has become
expected in the consumer world.
What makes the IoT phenomenon
especially exciting is the infinite ways in which
the consumer applications of today can be
converted to commercial and industrial uses,
thereby transforming how various businesses
operate.
For instance, fitness-oriented wearables
are quickly being converted into health-
oriented devices aimed at helping patients
overcome various ailments. These new health
monitors enable doctors to more closely track
their patients’ vital signs, and also allow the
patient to view how they are progressing.
These connections can substantially improve
the quality of care to the patient while

Author Bio
Jeffrey M. Kaplan is the Managing Director of THINKstrategies (www.
thinkstrategies.com), founder of the Cloud Computing Showplace (www.
cloudshowplace.com) and host of the Connected Cloud Summit focused on the
IoT market on September 18 in Boston, MA (http://cloudsummits.com/event/
connected-cloud/.) He can be reached at jkaplan@thinkstrategies.com.
25
“The key is
personalizing IoT
solutions in the
industry sector
the same way
personalization
has become
the norm in the
consumer web.”
reducing the cost of healthcare delivery for the
provider.
The same equation holds true for other
industries. Transportation companies can use
data generated from various sensors attached
to their vehicles to monitor their status and
location, identify issues before they become
real problems, and recommend methods to
improve their performance and efficiency.
Personalizing this analysis to match the driver,
vehicle, cargo and terrain will be the key to
properly leveraging the IoT’s capabilities.
Given all these ‘moving parts’, determining
how to measure the value of this IoT
personalization process will be essential.
The factors for success will be calculating
the economic value to the user in light of
competitive alternatives, and having the
right mechanism to test, set and administer
the constantly fluctuating price-points in the
increasingly personalized IoT marketplace.
When these issues are overcome, both the
customer and vendor will reap the benefits.
Customers will gain better quality products
and services that will employ the customers’
buying and usage data to keep pace with their
constantly evolving needs. And, the vendor
will have an opportunity to retain and produce
more profitable revenue from customers in an
increasingly competitive marketplace.

The ‘Reach Out and Touch
Everything’ Era
By Parker Trewin
ow big will the IoT be? According
to ReadWrite, if you ask Cisco and
Morgan Stanley it’s somewhere
between “big” and “ginormous”.
Cisco says there will be 50 billion devices
connected by the end of the decade. Morgan
Stanley extrapolated a 50% higher estimate at
75 billion. To put it into perspective that’s 9.4
connected devices for every man, woman and
child on this spinning little ball we call home.
Morgan Stanley suggests that even that number
could be low with up to 200 devices helping each
of us stay better connected.
The IoT is big news because it borrows from
the old Ma Bell campaign and significantly ups
the ante: “Reach out and touch somebody” is
becoming “Reach out and touch everything.”
And in that there’s some good news, some
bad news. All those 75 billion devices are “…
generating signals of data to be analyzed and
measured, many of which in real- or near-real-
time.” And while self–driving cars, automated
security systems, hydration reminders, and
course-correcting behavior alerts stand to
increase amenity, wellness and safety, there
is also a very real give-get transaction that’s
taking place.
We are trading service for personal
information that’s a quantum leap from what
we are used to; the website tracking information
that Facebook collects is a good example of this.
With class-action suits filed against Facebook
as recently as last week, it’s clear that many
aren’t on board with the present standard for
handling personal information. With emerging
IoT technologies collecting terabytes of personal
data, the question is, “Are we ready to unbutton
the equivalent of our online dress shirts while
many are still loosening up their collars?”
While one could argue that privacy concerns
vary as much as dress codes, which range from
free-spirited California nudists to burqa-clad
Afghani Muslims, the question remains: How
will anyone feel when the data that Facebook
H
“Reach out and
touch somebody’
is becoming
‘Reach out and
touch everything’.”
26

“With emerging
IoT technologies
collecting
terabytes of
personal data, the
question is, ‘Are we
ready to unbutton
the equivalent of
our online dress
shirts while many
are still loosening
their collars?’ ”
collects, analyzes and distributes to “improve
your experience” explodes to a gazillion device
manufacturers? It’s one thing to grant access to
your clicks, uploads and site visits, but the IoT
thrusts upon us another level of scrutiny: how
long and how well you sleep, what you eat, where
you drink, how alert you are, how warm you keep
your house, when you close shop, when you
power up, ad infinitum.
How comfortable can even the California
nudist be when the opening of the kimono goes
beyond skin deep to reveal their habits, moods
and behaviors? Ready or not, it’s a question that
we’ll soon be asking ourselves as we embrace the
rise of the machines.
The IoT requires a level of acceptance that
blows past social voyeurism and sharing. With the
IoT, we go beyond accessing personally identifiable
info to increasingly personal information on how
we live our lives. Like the social era before it, how
we feel about the IoT boils down to two things:
how much we value the service versus how much
we abhor living under a microscope, and how
much we trust its myriad operators.
Recent news also suggests that this might be
a ways off. To get there, industry must confront
security breaches that threaten bank accounts
and erode customer confidence in what we’d
expect to be the most technologically demanding
companies – banking and online retailing. Still,
the IoT manufacturers can learn much from
the successes and mistakes of social and web
services companies that have preceded them and
have navigated these rocky waters.
Trust is bolstered by two simple and powerful
notions: appropriate transparency and active
permission. I, for one, am selectively on board if
manufacturers and providers have told me in a
way I can understand, exactly what they intend to
do with the information they collect, and if I give
them explicit permission to do this. Of course,
they then must do what they say.
And while this may never get a nudist in a
burqa, or vice versa, it might provide clothing
that we can all be comfortable in.
27
Author Bio
Parker Trewin, Aria Systems’ Senior Director of Content and Communications, has repositioned
brands and created award-winning content. His efforts have led to industry-wide recognition that
include CoDIES, Stevies, Edison, MarCom Platinum, and BMA Gold awards. By combining classic PR
strategies with content marketing acumen, Parker championed owned and earned content that has
been published in the Wall Street Journal, the London Times, Businessweek, The New York Times,
Computerworld.de, TechCrunch, Lifehacker and Huffington Post.

Will Connected Devices
Disconnect the Family?
By Adam Hanft
olstoy famously said, “All happy
families are alike, each unhappy
family is unhappy in its own way.”
Why am I beginning a piece about
the Internet of Things with a nod to the patriarch
of the 19th century novel? Because I want to shift
the focus of the conversation about connected
devices and their technological implications
to a discussion of the human implications of a
world where there are potentially hundreds of
sensors monitoring thousands upon thousands
of interactions in every household.
Families are a complex mixture of sharing
and privacy. Over time, as technology has
innovated, it has added new tensions to the
inherent privacy tension. For example, television
sets first entered our lives as big consoles that
sat it in the living room. Everyone in the family
watched the same thing, which meant parents
knew every second of their kids’ entertainment
consumption.
But the advent of small, portable sets
changed that. It meant that kids could watch
what they wanted in the privacy of their
bedrooms, outside of parental oversight. This
created all kinds of struggles between children
seeking independence and parents seeking
control and insight.
The evolution of the personal computer
magnified this tension. The days of the “family
computer” seem like ancient history, but there
was a time when there was a single giant
digital structure in the kitchen or family room
that parents and kids shared. As the internet
emerged – and within it the whole “net nanny”
phenomenon – the issue was heightened as
T
“Who will the
refrigerator
text when it’s
being opened
in the middle
of the night
for a midnight
snack?”
28

parents worried and children, particularly as
they got older, chafed under the perceived
panopticon.
Flash forward to the Internet of Things,
when dozens and dozens of physical objects
in the house become connected devices
that are capable of capturing, relaying and
storing personal, individual information.
Just think about the implications of that.
Suddenly, ordinary activities and behaviors
are instantly available and shareable to all,
and the household becomes its own Big Data
warehouse.
How much time did Zachary actually spend
brushing his teeth? How many steps did dad
reallytake according to his FitBit – and exactly
where did he take them? How often and at
what times over the weekend did Grandpa hit
the Jack Daniels, and how much did he drink
when? And what about data related to internet-
enabled pill boxes? The amount of data that’s
gatherable and crunchable from the IoT in the
average household is massive in its size, and
meaningful in its implications.
It also raises questions like: Who in the
household has access to the data from the
refrigerator, the toilet, the car, the front door,
the back door, the Nespresso? What happens
when a divorce lawyer wants it?
Most of the focus on the IoT is on
projections for its astounding growth. Revenue
will be bigger than smart phones, PCs and
tablets combined, gushes Business Insider.
Others are worrying about the cybersecurity
implications. But remarkably little attention is
being paid to the psychological impact of what
happens when virtually every behavior, action
and decision of each member of a household is
potentially available to every other.
What will its impact be on spousal
relations? What will it do to the teenagers
who - under the best of conditions -
are fueled by hormones to drive for
independence with a raging skepticism of
their parents? What kind of struggles and
countermeasures and work-arounds will
erupt? What kind of behavioral tricks and
nudges will be tried by those who have
access to the data to encourage specific
behaviors? Who will the refrigerator text
when it’s being opened in the middle
of the night for a midnight snack? With
families in America under profound levels of
stress, what are the unintended emotional
consequences of the IoT?
29
“Just think about
the implications of
connected devices
where suddenly,
ordinary activities
and behaviors
are instantly
available and
shareable to all,
and the household
becomes its
own Big Data
warehouse.”

In the fascinating book “A History of Private
Life”, the author notes that for centuries, public
and private life was no different based on the
living conditions of the vast majority of people,
other than the very wealthy. Everyone lived
out in the open in large rooms; the notion of
privacy in the household is a comparatively
modern invention. Paradoxically, the IoT – a
modern invention - will return us to the time
when the public and private stages were one.
Let the modern family beware.
30
“what are the
unintended
emotional
consequences of
the IoT?”
Author Bio
Adam Hanft is founder of Hanft Projects, a NYC branding firm. Mr. Hanft
is a thought leader, marketing expert, cultural critic and advisor to many
leading digital and consumer packaged goods companies.

31
What the IoT Can Learn
from Nordstrom
By Bob Harden
“The vendors
who will thrive
in the IoT will be
those who add
value to their
products through
a personalized
customer
experience…”
had the opportunity of a lifetime a few
years ago. I was the president of my local
school board, and we were one of five
school districts nominated for a national
award. The award ceremony was in the
Senate Dining Room at the U.S. Capitol. Hillary
Clinton was one of the featured speakers.
At times, I had trouble seeing the podium
because Ted Kennedy’s head was in the way.
Yes, I’m name dropping – it was that kind of
event. There was even the possibility of a visit
to the White House.
As with most opportunities, this one came
with a challenge. At the time, I owned one
reasonably nice suit - a ratty old blazer and
no ties. You don’t show up to the White House
wearing blue jeans and a golf shirt, so I was in
a bit of a bind. What to do…
I put on my one reasonably nice suit and
went to Nordstrom. When the sales associate
asked, “Can I help you?” I responded, “Yes, I
need a shirt and tie that I can wear to the White
House.” I explained my situation, and for the
next 15 minutes we tried various combinations
of shirts and ties against my suit to find just
the right look. I came away with a pair of shirts
and ties, and a few days later I was the best-
dressed school board member in D.C. (Those
who know me well know just how unbelievable
that statement is).”
When you walk in the door at Nordstrom,
you know you are going to find two things:
quality and service. Personalized service. The
kind of service that looks at you and your
reasonably nice but out-of-fashion suit and
thinks, “Hey, I can even make that look good,”
and then proceeds to do just that. I’ve been
to Nordstrom many times since, looking for
that personalized shopping experience with
someone who can tell me, “That looks good,”
or, more importantly, “Maybe you should try
I

32
“In the recurring
revenue world, we
talk a lot about
the customer
experience as
a key driver to
success.”
this instead.” It’s that personalized service,
consistently delivered, that sets Nordstrom
apart from so many of its competitors.
So, what does this have to do with
monetizing the Internet of Things, aka the
Monetization of Things? At first glance you
might say, “Not very much.” But think about it.
What are we looking for today as consumers? I
don’t know about you, but I’m looking for two
things: value and personalization. In today’s
world those two are usually pretty tightly
coupled.
We tend to think of value strictly in terms
of price, but we should probably think more in
terms of return on investment. I’m pretty sure
I paid more for those ties at Nordstrom than if
I had bought them from a budget retailer. But
today I own four ties, two from one of those
budget retailers and the two from Nordstrom.
Guess which two I wear the most? Where did I
get the better ROI?
In the recurring revenue world, we talk
a lot about the customer experience as a
key driver to success. Customer retention
and up-selling are critical for profitability,
and happy customers are much more likely
to stick around and upgrade than unhappy
customers. Since recurring revenue will be the
dominant monetization model for the IoT, you
should expect the customer experience to be
critical for the IoT success as well. I think this
will play out in two key areas: ease of use and
personalization.
Back to my Nordstrom experience: I walked
in the door, found the nearest sales associate,
and asked them to help me solve a problem.
Basically, I flipped a switch and then got out
of the way. That’s how we want our “things”
to work too. Whether it’s a home management
system or a wearable medical device, we want
it to be easy to use. Complex configuration
routines will fail; easy configuration routines
will win.
I also want my device to work the way I
want, when I want. I want it to be MY device
- not something with cookie-cutter factory
settings, but something that is flexible and
personalized to me. The more options the
better, so long as it’s easy to use. Again, back
to my Nordstrom example: that sales associate
asked me about my personal tastes (e.g.,
nothing pink) before we started our search.
Her recommendations were personalized to
me. Someone else wearing the same suit might
have walked out with different shirts and ties.

33
So what might this look like in an IoT setting?
Picture a medical sensor (perhaps a
wristband, patch or even a small implant) that
tracks vital information. That information is
transferred real-time to an app on your phone.
The app settings are personalized based
on your medical history and preferences,
which were gathered through a simple online
questionnaire when you signed up for the
service.
The app generates an alert when
something doesn’t look right. That alert goes
to a call center at the Mayo Clinic, where
nurse practitioners and on-call doctors can
read the data, review them against your
history and get you on the phone if there’s
a potential problem. Imagine getting a call
from a cardiologist saying that your heart is
showing irregular patterns and you need to
call 911. Or maybe they call 911 for you. Now
that’s customer service. If that sounds a little
far-fetched, check out the new health app in
the next version of ioS and OS X. We’re already
halfway there.
The vendors who thrive in the IoT will be
those who add value to their products through
a personalized customer experience, the way
Nordstrom does. And speaking of Nordstrom,
I still only own one suit, and yes, it’s the same
suit. I see another trip to Nordstrom in my
future.
“...Customer
retention and up-
selling are critical
for profitability,
and happy
customers are
much more likely
to stick around
and upgrade
than unhappy
customers.”

Aria Systems, Inc.
575 Market Street, Floor 10
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415.852.7250
Fax: 415.852.7251
Sales -Toll Free: 1.877.755.2370
Aria Systems, Inc.
600 Reed Road, Suite 302
Broomall, PA 19008
Phone: 484.427.8200
Fax: 484.427.8201
Sales -Toll Free: 1.866.933.ARIA (2742)
1.877.755.2370
sales@ariasystems.com
info@ariasystems.com
About Aria Systems
Aria Systems powers recurring revenue for enterprises, enabling market expansion, improving customer
relationships and providing more revenue predictability. Aria is used by brand name companies such as
AAA NCNU, Constant Contact, EMC, Experian, HootSuite, Ingersoll Rand, RedHat and VMware to evolve
their recurring revenue businesses while delivering outstanding customer experiences.
Aria Systems and the Aria logo are trademarks of Aria Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.

IoT_e-book from blog series by Marie Martin

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