Intel White Paper Making and Saving Money with the IoT White Paper

Making and Saving Money with the Io T Data from the Io T is about to shift business models. Here’s how businesses are making sure they are cashing in.

A connected washing machine can provide data to diagnose faults and identify damaged parts. A service engineer, knowing precisely what the problem is, can arrive at the right time with the right replacement part. Cutting back on repeat visits by engineers constitutes obvious cash saving. But domestic appliance makers are also using the Io T to analyse the amount of use each machine gets and offer individual customers a service contract that reflects whether they are a heavy or light user. These contracts are better value than traditional fixed-term warranties. So not only do manu- facturers sell more warranties, but the customers sees a supplier that understands their circumstances.

All the buzz surrounding the Internet of Things (Io T)

In this instance, the Io T is helping sell service contracts.

makes it seem like a sudden technology revolution.

But in the course of that process it is doing something

That’s a mistake. The technology is impressive, but

entirely new. It is connecting washing machine makers

this is about the marriage of ubiquitous technology

with customers so that the dialogue between goes on

and day-to-day business. The way it can change the

long after the product has been shipped.

bottom line for every size of business is what makes it so worthy of the attention it is getting.

Take a washing machine maker. For such a manufac- Customer Contact

turer, the Io T means that every moving part in a busi-

Data from the Io T will shift customer relationships to a

ness can be monitored and tracked. But the power to

new level. A traditional manufacturing business that ran

monitor goods is only half the Io T picture. Interrogating

the same way for a century can now join the service

the information gathered and squeezing valuable infor-

economy. It knows the demographics of its user base

mation out of masses of digital data completes the Io T

inside out and that clientele now has a direct connec-

equation and marks the point where businesses can

tion to the company.

really make and save money.

Drilling into the torrent of bits and bytes flowing back

Traditionally manufacturing was a business that said

from Io T-enabled products is what unearths real value.

goodbye to its products as soon as they left the factory

And the cost of embarking on such a project can be

gate. But if every washing machine is instrumented,

recovered through rapid reductions in operating ex-

firing data up into the cloud for analysis, the washing

penses.

machine maker then has a real connection with its consumers.