The Internet of Things: Changing How Technology Companies Sell

We know the Internet of Things (IoT) is a lot of hype, but the opportunity is real.   The biggest challenge for customers will be seeing the forest through the trees.  From sensors and connectivity to fog computing and platforms, to data storage and analytics - the stack is daunting. The cost and implementation is daunting. The promise of operational efficiencies and new business models is still nascent.

I have talked to colleagues at companies large and small - technology companies and system integrators - who are selling the dream. My perspective is that, as an ecosystem, we are not ready to help customers be successful. To move from hype to tangible value, new startups and large corporations alike need to change how they sell. Yes, sell.

Sell an Outcome

The Internet of Things is not a single product, it is a stack of technology and a series of process changes that are an enabler of business transformation.  It is not an application.  It is not a platform. It is not a sensor and connectivity.   You need to sell a business outcome. Define what problems your technology, solution, or service is solving for your customer. Every industry has hundreds of potential business outcomes from an IoT project and it is important that you are clear about what use cases you are solving.   The use case may expand over time - pick 3-5 to start. Learn and experience the real outcomes.  Own those use cases within that market. An example might be that you focus on Smart Cities and address 7 of the 30 use cases.  Perfect. Own it and repeat it on a few Smart Cities projects. Understand and communicate the real business benefits for your customers. Then do it again.

Know the Business

Projects related to IoT might be owned by any number of people, depending upon the industry, and the outcomes being targeted or business problem being solved. Technology companies might be selling to the CIO, but more than likely you are selling to the Chief Digital Officer or the Production Manager in the case of the Internet of Things.  Scenarios to drive new revenue with IoT tend to be the GM of a Business Unit, or a CMO. In the early days of any industry it is important to find the self-declared innovator within your target customer - IoT is no different. The first wins will come from the early adopters. Find them. Make them heros.  

The next eighteen to twenty-four months of IoT deals will be consultative sales -  a business development or market development role. Someone to learn the customers needs across their business.  The early adopter will teach you if you are willing to listen, have patience,  and can help them solve a real problem.  You need to partner to understand the use cases and the outcomes they are seeking to solve and the language they use.  A great example of this might be a phrase used in discrete manufacturing - Carpet (IT) vs concrete (plant floor).  It is their language, how they think about their world, and it has impact on the technology used.  The plant floor brings with it different security requirements; selling cloud services to the technology people on the concrete will be difficult.  The same industry uses something called Nelson rules.  This is a method in process control of determining if a measured variable is out of control and is critical to Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Understanding this will help you understand their use cases. Creating journey maps for each of the business problems you are addressing will help provide the documentation needed for project funding. It is important that you understand the customer's world. 

Make it Simple

There are three components to making the Industrial Internet of Things simple for your customer.   Sell a solution based on a reference architecture.  Build an ecosystem.  Change your compensation structure.

 The reference architecture should be done based on the business outcome and its related requirements.  Understand the IoT stack.  Identify  how your technology fits the problem being solved.  The customer may already have connectivity from OSIsoft, and may already have device management from See Control (now Autodesk), or they already use Hadoop for storage. One example might be proximity safety. In construction or manufacturing processing will need to be done at the edge and require an architecture that is designed for response times in milliseconds. Predictive maintenance in manufacturing needs to be done on the plant floor for security reasons; but the response time is broader. It could be hours, days or weeks needed to predict a possible outage - and need for scheduled maintenance.  The reference architecture for the use case is the base to understand what the customers has and what they need.

The Industrial Internet of things requires an ecosystem. There are several components that make up the stack, and dozens of technology providers for each component. Sensors, connectivity, security, algorithms - you know the list.  System Integrators have expertise on IT and OT systems and processes across different verticals. Leverage the reference architecture by business problem, by industry, to build your ecosystem of technology partners and system integrators.  Knowledge about an industry and integration across technology platforms are the keys to the success.

Change your compensation structure to match how customer wants to buy. The customer does not care about the structure of your company or who gets paid to sell each product.  Customers are seeking your help in solving a business problem. The lack of consultative sales, the complexity of purchasing multiple products in the stack (yours and your partners), and the lack of understanding the vertical industry all become the roadblock to simplification. One sales team that is compensated on the IoT use cases, one contract for an IoT reference architecture.  This won't always work, but if you make it the target, you can get close. The Internet of Things is complex. Make it simple.

Solve a business problem, know your customers, keep it simple. It is up to you to connect the dots between investments and outcomes for your customer. Build trust. Build the right partnerships. To move from hype to tangible value, vendors need to change how they sell.