Category: Best Practices

Safe Space office picture

Creating COVID-19 Safe Spaces for Reopening and Return to Work (Part Two)

Posted on Benson Chan4 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, COVID-19, IoT, New Normal, Safe Spaces, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy, Urban Planning

COVID-19 Safe Spaces are key to reopening buildings and facilities for in-person activities. Technology is a critical component of the COVID-19 safe space. There is no one technology that makes a space safe. A variety of technologies, working in tandem, is used in safe spaces.

This blog, Part 2 in a series, discusses the role of technology and IoT in the operation of a safe space. Key considerations, from the use case, operations and maintenance, and technology are presented.

Creating COVID-19 Safe Spaces for Reopening and Return to Work (Part One)

Posted on Benson Chan5 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, COVID-19, New Normal, Safe Spaces, Smart Buildings, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy, Urban Planning

The discovery and regulatory approval of two COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 has made reopening and return to work initiatives top priority for business and community leaders in 2021. Despite the vaccine, COVID-19 isn’t going away and many people are concerned about a return to in-person activities.

This blog introduces the concept of safe spaces to support reopening and return to work. A framework describing the elements of a safe space is discussed, along with ten best practices for planning safe spaces.

covid-19 safe spaces facilitate reopening and return to work

Responding to COVID-19 – a framework for smart cities

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, COVID-19, Innovation Management, Product Management, product-market fit, Smart City, Smart Communities, Strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted cities and communities worldwide. As the number of infections and deaths surge, governments are turning to technology and innovative approaches for help. However, current efforts to engage the innovation communities are reactive, piecemeal, and have limited effectiveness.

This blog describes a Smart Cities COVID-19 Collaboration framework. It provides a structured way to identify the collaboration opportunities between cities, public health systems and the technology community.

smart city innovation labs

Smart city innovation labs – ten best practices

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Best Practices, Industrial IoT, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Partnerships, Smart City, Smart Communities

Smart city innovation labs provide an organized structure for cities, community, experts, and vendors to collaboratively create viable solutions. Successful solutions piloted in smart city innovation labs can then be scaled and deployed into a city’s operations and infrastructure.

Based on our experiences in creating, launching and operationalizing San Mateo County’s Smart Region innovation lab (SMC Labs), we share ten best practices for civic innovation leaders planning their own innovation labs.

Smart City Ecosystem Architects - eight things to do

Building Smart Cities – Eight Things That Matter

Posted on Benson Chan1 CommentPosted in Best Practices, Digital Transformation, Industrial IoT, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Smart City, Smart Communities

Whether you are planning or have already started your smart city journey, there are eight things that cities must get right. While smart cities are often associated with technology, it is but one component within the larger smart city ecosystem that needs to be addressed.

This article discusses the eight things that leaders and planners must get right, in order to build the sustainable and well functioning smart city.

Six things IT managers must do to accelerate IoT adoption

6 things IT executives must do to accelerate IoT adoption

Posted on Benson Chan1 CommentPosted in Best Practices, Digital Transformation, Innovation Management, Internet of Things

Are you ready for IoT? Despite its transformational potential, most organizations are not ready. In an era of rapid disruption and digital transformation, IT executives and managers must lead the charge. They must bridge the gap between technology, business, engineering and operations. They are evangelists, teachers, facilitators and innovators.

This article lists six things IT managers must do to successfully accelerate IoT adoption within their organizations.

5 IoT Lessons Learned from dot-com mistakes

Five “dot com” mistakes that IoT companies must avoid

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, Execution, Internet of Things, Strategy

We are in a modern day gold rush, sparked by the Internet of Things (IoT). Thousands of companies, new and established, are planning “smart” solutions.

Amid all this, what IoT lessons learned from the past can today’s IoT companies apply to avoid mistakes of previous “gold rushes”? Are we smarter now, or are we making the same mistakes? The answer is yes and yes. This articles identifies five major mistakes made by dot-companies and five Iearnings for today’s IoT companies.

IoT innovation is not in the solution, but in how it is used

IoT innovation is not in the technology, but in what it can do

Posted on Benson Chan4 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, Digital Transformation, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Strategy

Don’t confuse IoT with innovation. The real IoT innovation is not in the technology, but in what it can do and what it allows organizations to become – intelligent, agile and adaptive, in creating new value for its customers.

This article describes five innovation paths with IoT solutions to consider when planning digital transformation projects, along with advice to get started on turning the Internet of Things into the Innovation of Things.

management considerations for IoT subscription models

Six Management Considerations for Planning IoT Subscription Models

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, Business Models, go-to-market, Internet of Things, sales, Strategy

One common monetization approach for today’s IoT solutions is the subscription model. While it provides an attractive recurring revenue stream, subscription models require major investments in resources, time, capital and management commitment.

In this blog, we’ll highlight six key strategic and critical considerations managers must address when planning and building IoT subscription models. These considerations will determine whether the IoT subscription service is successful or not.

8 things to stop doing if you want to sell more IoT

Selling IoT? Eight Things To Stop Doing If You Want To Sell More

Posted on Benson Chan4 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, go-to-market, Internet of Things, IoT, Product Management, sales, Strategy

Despite the disruptive and transformative potential of IoT, selling IoT solutions is today’s emerging marketplace is challenging. Buyers face many barriers, ranging from a lack of awareness to fears of early obsolescence.

In this blog, we’ll share the eight things IoT solutions vendors must stop doing right away. Instead, we’ll share eight alternative best practices and strategies that they should be doing instead to drive market adoption.

Future-proofing your IoT Infrastructure

Posted on Benson Chan1 CommentPosted in Best Practices, Innovation Management, IoT, Product Management, Strategy

Buyers face a dilemma with buying IoT solutions today. Buy an immature solution now and risk obsolescence in the near future, even if the solution has value for them today, or hold off buying until things become clearer.

In this blog, we will share common causes of obsolescence and a framework for futureproofing your IoT infrastructure. We will list some tactical practices to put in place to maximize the useful life of your IoT solution.

Ten best practices for making your first IoT projects a success

Posted on Benson Chan1 CommentPosted in Best Practices, Digital Transformation, Execution, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, project management, Strategy

A recent study by Cisco found that three quarters of IoT projects were not successful. The reasons included long completion times, poor data quality, lack of internal expertise, integration and budget overruns.

In this blog, we will share ten best practices, from project planning to implementation, to help managers and project planners overcome common mistakes made with projects implementing emerging technology solutions.

The secrets to successful partnerships in the fast changing IoT market – Part 2

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Best Practices, Execution, go-to-market, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Partnerships, Product Management, sales, Strategy

Today’s IoT market is very dynamic, continuously evolving, and fragmented. No single vendor has a connected IoT stack. Partnerships are a critical business capability that IoT vendors must develop in order to be relevant in this type of marketplace.

This post, the second of two parts, describes ten best practices that vendors should use when forming and managing partnerships with other IoT partners.

The secrets to successful partnerships in the fast changing IoT market – Part 1

Posted on Benson ChanLeave a commentPosted in Best Practices, Execution, FAQs, go-to-market, Innovation Management, Internet of Things, Partnerships, Product Management, sales, Strategy

Today’s IoT market is very dynamic, continuously evolving, and fragmented. No single vendor has a connected IoT stack. Partnerships are a critical business capability that IoT vendors must develop in order to be relevant in this type of marketplace. This post, the first of two parts, describes the basic partnership types, the relationship models and key engagement scope parameters.

IoT channels

Building IoT solutions? Don’t forget about the channel!

Posted on Benson Chan3 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, go-to-market, Internet of Things, Product Management, product-market fit, sales

Internet of Things (IoT) solutions offer tremendous and disruptive value for customers, but sometimes have the unintended effect of adversely impacting the channel that it is sold and serviced through. This results in slow adoption of IoT solutions, even if those solutions have significant and tangible customer value. This post highlights the two common product-market fit mistakes, and lists four best practices to facilitate channel adoption of innovative IoT solutions.

IoT as a service

Selling IoT as a Service – 7 Best Practices

Posted on Benson Chan2 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, Business Models, Execution, go-to-market, Internet of Things, sales, Strategy

IoT or Internet of Things solutions, built on a cloud-based infrastructure, create opportunities for new business models and value delivery methods. While many IoT solutions are usually sold as a “product”, many vendors are now beginning to offer IoT “as-a-service”.

Selling a recurring revenue solution is not the same as selling an “one time” sale product. This post presents seven best practices for selling IoT as a service.

iot buyers

Selling IoT – Who Is Your Real Buyer?

Posted on Benson Chan5 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, FAQs, go-to-market, Internet of Things, sales, Strategy

You found product-market fit and built your Internet of Things (IoT) solution. But do you know who your buyer is?

IoT solutions create value that cut across organizational boundaries. Identifying a single buyer or owner in today’s traditionally structured organizations is difficult. Unlike IT where there is a centralized buyer, IoT buying is decentralized.

This post describes the reasons for this, and provides six best practices for selling IoT solutions into corporate organizations.

Buying IoT from startups

Buy smart: best practices for sourcing IoT solutions from start-ups

Posted on Benson Chan3 CommentsPosted in Best Practices, Internet of Things, Strategy

A lot of the innovation around Internet of Things (IoT) is coming from start-up companies. But how do you buy a solution when the technology is still evolving, the use cases are emerging, and the company selling it may not be in business a year from now? Your “tried and true” sourcing practices that you use with your more established suppliers will actually increase the risks for both you and the start-up company that you are buying from.

This post describes the three main risks and highlights ten new strategies for buying IoT solutions for start-up companies.