Experience the New IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) has evolved significantly since the term was coined 20 years ago at Procter & Gamble. We have globally connected applications, ecosystems and billions of IoT devices augmented with Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Analytics. The business results achieved with IoT so far have been significant, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. The greatest opportunity is still to be achieved.

In my last blog, I discussed how to unlock the real value of IoT by integrating it within the fabric of enterprise systems and processes. This is the important Operational Management side of IoT. Experience Management IoT is the other half of the success equation and provides differentiated results for a sustained competitive advantage, turning customers into fans, employees into ambassadors, and products into obsessions.

Experience Management enables companies to thrive in today’s experience economy. Just like hotels and restaurants around the world succeed or fail based on customer ratings on TripAdvisor and Yelp, Experience Management is shaping every aspect of business and technology.

A March 2019 SAP-commissioned global survey conducted by Forrester Consulting found that the top IoT use case for the next 12-24 months is improving the user experience or customer interactions. Customer experience is so important for IoT it ranked higher than many traditional IoT use cases, such as facility management, asset management, and track-and-trace.

IoT connects assets with preventative maintenance systems and inventory with supply chain fulfillment processes. By expanding IoT to include Experience Management, we will take IoT to the next level of business value generation.

Ship a replacement part to a customer’s factory before their equipment breaks down, offer a sports fan a real-time discount off the purchase of the team jersey while they are at the big game, and replenish a client’s critical inventory before a long weekend to ensure their business success.

Let’s work together to turn customers into fans, employees into ambassadors, and products into obsessions with Experience Management, the next big business opportunity for IoT.

About Steve Day

Steve Day has over 15 years’ experience in Enterprise Software Marketing and Sales, including 8 years with SAP. He presents regularly at customer events including SAPPHIRE NOW, Chief Analytics Officer Forums, ASUG, TechEd, SAP Insider and SAP Innovation Days. Steve is the Product Marketing lead for SAP Leonardo IoT and spends his time helping customers transform their business with SAP solutions for a sustained competitive advantage. When not working with SAP customers Steve and his family can be found climbing and skiing the mountains around Vancouver, Canada.