“The challenge for
companies to move
beyond the IoT proof-
of-concept stage
stems from a failure to
tie quantifiable met-
rics and demonstrable
business value.”
— Gartner, Business Benefits of IoT
We have had far too many conversations with compa-
nies that want to jump right into the technical solu-
tion without understanding the goals, objectives or
desired outcomes. This is precisely the reason that
“why” is the first question we ask after hearing what a
company wants to achieve.
When we begin engaging with new clients, we typi-
cally begin with a discovery workshop, where we seek
to understand the client’s environment, their goals
and, critically, their business operational baseline.
While it is always fun to grab the whiteboard marker
and start crafting a new process and technical solu-
tion, it is important to first get a client to understand
where they are starting from and where they are
headed.
The goals and metrics will vary significantly from cli-
ent to client, and from one industry to the next, but
the underlying principle always needs to be, “if you
can measure it, you can act on it.”
Building a Business Case
Now let us try to make this real. As an example, take a
company that believes it has a problem with waste
and expired product in its plants. Ok, that’s a start.
Equation, part one: Can they quantify how much
waste? Can they put a percentage on it? What does
30 | THE DOPPLER | SPRING 2018
that translate to in terms of cost and/or lost sales
opportunity? Answering these questions begins to
paint the picture, but it is still just one fourth of the
total equation.
Equation, part two: What percentage improvement
would be deemed material by the business? At some
companies, a 2% improvement would be grounds for
a ticket to the Achievers Club, while at other firms, a
10% improvement would be within the standard mar-
gin of error.
Equation, part three: What will the solution cost to
install, operate and maintain? How quickly can it
begin to achieve results?
Equation, part four: What is the company’s invest-
ment guideline for showing an ROI? Twelve months?
Twenty-four? Thirty-six?
Line all these factors up, and if the results exceed the
corporate threshold, chances are the project will get
a green light — especially if it will rely more heavily on
OpEx funding than CapEx.
This is not rocket science. And the odds of receiving
support will increase with the degree of homework
and analysis.
“Welcome to the Real World” —
Morpheus, from The Matrix
The challenges come, of course, when a company
cannot easily answer one or more of the above ques-
tions. Perhaps there is no baseline. Perhaps the solu-
tion relies too heavily on CapEx, and those funds are
already accounted for in the fiscal year. Perhaps the
ROI calculation isn’t compelling enough to tie up
management time and effort on the initiative.
And then there may be doubts about the actual capa-
bilities of the proposed technical solution. Enter a
proof-of-concept (PoC), which may be technical,
visual or possibly financial. A PoC and/or a pilot is
often effective for removing technical or operational
uncertainties. These vehicles are also very useful in
helping to calculate future implementation costs,
which will factor into the business case calculation.