Artificial Intelligence

The Four Quadrants of IoT Revenue Streams

The next decade will bring a society-changing transformation to smart, connected things throughout our personal, professional, and public lives. Everything about this change is big: the security risks are big, the improvements are big, and the scale is...


The next decade will bring a society-changing transformation to smart, connected things in our personal, professional, and public lives.  Everything about this change is big: the security risks are big, the improvements are big, and the scale is big.  This change is a prime space to find new revenue opportunities for every product and service business.

Where Do You Play?

To start your IoT roadmap, first identify where you will be positioned.  Below are four major quadrants of IoT positioning.

Four Quadrants of IoT Revenue Streams

1) Save Money

This is the quadrant that many enterprises are focusing on (including our own work with Daimler Truck’s smart fleet and Siemen Wind Power’s smart windmills).  Bombardier’s smart engines come with a jaw dropping 5,000 sensors that save upwards of 15% of fuel costs.  Cities across the world are implementing smart trash cans, which use ultrasound and cloud connectivity to determine how full bins are, and automatically recommend the most efficient pickup routes.  The Whitegate power plant saved over two million dollars with its connected network of 141 sensors.  

2) Save Lives

Preventable hospital error kills more Americans than car accidents, suicide, guns, and drug abuse.  The opportunity here is taking all the isolated systems of patient care - monitors, EKGs, ventilators, IVs, etc - and combining them into a cloud-powered smart ecosystem.

Examples are already in the market: cloud enabled monitors connected to electronic health records, smart hospital beds, smart insulin delivery, connected inhalers, ingestible sensors, and many more.

3) Improve Quality of Life

Nest is showing us what Smart Home Climate can be, the Amazon Dash introducing us to the future of Smart Cupboards and Smart Refrigerators, and August Smart Lock reminding you that yes, yes, you locked the door before rushing to work.  I’m a big fan of Portland local Moovel, which is transforming urban mobility with smart public transit and digital tickets.

4) Automate the Old Ways

As any Toad will tell you, I am a maniacal Roomba fan (980 model and above).  At our house, we’ve named her Rosie, after the Jetson’s housecleaner, and treat her almost like another one of our beloved pets.  The Keurig has replaced the morning rituals of coffee making, and smart irrigation systems are watering the perfect amount based on soil hydration.  

Don't Wait

For all things in business, ask yourself: “If this thing could talk, what would it say?  What advice would it have to improve our business?”  The 2020s will be known for the decade when our world of things became connected - opportunities abound for new streams of revenue.

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