strategy+business

ISSUE 77 WINTER 2014

A Strategists Guide to
the Internet of Things
The digital interconnection of billions of devices is todays most dynamic
business opportunity.

BY FRANK BURKITT

REPRINT 00294

feature technology

by Frank Burkitt

Illustration by Lincoln Agnew

Humanity has arrived at a critical threshold in the

evolution of computing. By 2020, an estimated 50 billion devices around the globe will be connected to the
Internet. Perhaps a third of them will be computers,
smartphones, tablets, and TVs. The remaining twothirds will be other kinds of things: sensors, actuators,
and newly invented intelligent devices that monitor,
control, analyze, and optimize our world.
This seemingly sudden trend has been decades in
the making, but is just now hitting a tipping point.
The arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT) represents
a transformative shift for the economy, similar to the
introduction of the PC itself. It incorporates other major
technology industry trends such as cloud computing,
data analytics, and mobile communications, but goes
beyond them. Unlike earlier efforts to track and control large systems, such as radio-frequency identification

(RFID), the Internet connection gives this shift almost

limitless versatility. The IoT also opens a range of new
business opportunities for a variety of players. These
opportunities tend to fall into three broad strategic categories, each reflecting a different type of enterprise:
Enablers that develop and implement the underlying technology
Engagers that design, create, integrate, and deliver IoT services to customers
Enhancers that devise their own value-added
services, on top of the services provided by Engagers,
that are unique to the Internet of Things
How will your company build value in this new
world? That will depend on the type of business you
have today, the capabilities you can develop for tomorrow, and, most of all, your ability to understand the
meaning of this new technology.

feature technology

The digital interconnection of billions

of devices is todays most dynamic
business opportunity.

Also contributing to this article

was s+b contributing editor
Edward H. Baker.

Evolution and Opportunity

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3

At present, the Internet of Things remains a wide-open

playing field for enterprises. Its young, heterogeneous,
and full of uncertainty. Estimates of potential economic
impact by 2020 (as tracked by the Postscapes information service) range from about US$2 trillion to more
than $14 trillion. Companies small and large, old and
new, are scrambling to stake out their territory. Expectations are high: One in every six businesses is planning
to roll out an IoT-based product, and three-quarters of
companies are exploring how to use the IoT to improve
their internal operations and services. (See Embedding
the IoT in Your Business, by Chris Curran, page 8.)
Much early work is likely to focus on boosting efficiency
and cutting costs, but the greatest long-term business
value of the Internet of Things will involve getting to
know customersboth consumers and businesses
more intimately, and providing new digital services and
experiences to delight them.
Rarely, if ever, has a single technological platform
combined this much complexity, speed of development,
global reach, and novelty among customers. Consider
the range of interconnected systems, products, and
services the IoT will enable, from simple monitoring
of home temperature and security to the quantified
self (the tracking of personal health, diet, and exercise
metrics), to fully networked factories and hospitals, to
automated cities that respond to the movements and
interests of thousands of people at once.
Yet for all its power, the IoT is still at the early-adopter stage; in the words of innovation theorist Geoffrey
Moore, it has yet to cross the chasm into the mainstream. It thus behooves business strategists now to figure out the role they want to play, the capabilities they

will need to move forward, and the types of innovation

they should pursue.
The IoT has its technological roots in the decadeslong effort to monitor and control the physical environment in which people work and play. Its most basic
components are embedded devices that have existed
for years: thermostats that sense ambient temperature
and control heating and cooling systems, sensors that
manage braking systems in automobiles, pacemakers that regulate the heart, airplane black boxes that
track flight paths, and location devices that monitor
the whereabouts of industrial equipment. In the past,
some of these devices were wired together into more
complex systems. But it wasnt until they were provided
with some intelligence, connected to the Internet, and
empowered by a new wave of technological accessibilitythrough cloud computing, smartphones, and the
prototyping capabilities of digital fabricationthat the
IoT came into being.
For example, the Nest Learning Thermostat performs the fundamental function of an ordinary smart
thermostat: It monitors temperature and turns heating
and cooling systems on and off to maintain the programmed target. But the Nest also senses humidity,
activity, and light, and its built-in intelligence learns
how and when the user likes to adjust the temperature.
It can even optimize the houses temperature for energy
efficiency. All this, together, still doesnt make the Nest
part of the IoT. But when its connected to a utility company or the Nest Account (hosted by Google, Nests
parent company) through a home Wi-Fi network, it
has far greater value. That connection allows people to
monitor and change the temperature from their smartphones, modify the heating schedule, and analyze their

strategy+business issue 77

Frank Burkitt
frank.burkitt@
strategyand.pwc.com
is a senior executive advisor
with Strategy& based in Los
Angeles. He leads the Internet
of Things and digital operations
services for Strategy&s Digital
Services. He was formerly
the CEO and founder of
ReleasePlan, a cloud-based
enterprise software company.

RARELY HAS A SINGLE

TECHNOLOGICAL PLATFORM
COMBINED THIS MUCH
COMPLEXITY, GLOBAL REACH,
AND NOVELTY.

Exhibit 1: Services Available through the Internet of Things

INTERNET OF THINGS

NO/CLOSED NETWORKS

Endpoints

Simple Hubs

Optimize

Integrating Hubs

Enhanced Services

GE Software Predix and other industrial platforms for interconnecting

analytics engines and business operations
Large-scale digital city systems like those under development at MIT
and in Barcelona

Adapt

Control

Monitor

Stand-alone GPS
navigation
devices

Progressive Snapshot and other auto insurance

telematics systems

Motion- or lightresponsive
alarms and
controls

Google Nest and other Internet-connected

systems for heating, cooling, and ventilation

Simple thermostats and motion

sensors

Jawbone UP, Fitbit, and other fitness activity

sensors and hub systems

Smartphone apps that use location tracking

Estimote Beacon, iBeacon, and other Bluetoothenabled object identification sensor systems

Apple HomeKit and other protocol-based

platforms allowing diverse devices in a
building to interconnect to one another and the
Internet

Emerging systems for

setting insurance rates
based on health and
driving behavior

WeMo and other systems for controlling lights

and appliances through remote or mobile
devices

Potential connected-car
traffic management
systems

BodyGuardian and other medical wearables

that feed data to online diagnostic platforms

Source: Strategy&

home heating activity. It also allows utility companies

to offer incentives for using less power at peak times or
to offer additional services.
Similarly, the Jawbone UP, a personal activity monitor worn around the wrist, automatically establishes a
Bluetooth connection to a smartphone running the UP
appcreating whats called a proximity network
and provides detailed information on exercise levels, sleep
patterns, and food consumption. Through the Internet,
Jawbones users can reach a variety of fitness and nutrition services with their UP app, enabling them to analyze their levels of activity and overall health. For these
devices and many others, the greatest potential value of

the IoT lies in that connection to the Internet, and to

the many integrated services offered there (see Exhibit 1).
Technologies of the IoT

To deliver these products and services requires a

combination of five major types of technological offerings. As you progress up the technology stack, the
devices become more complex and their connectivity
increases.
1. Endpoints are the single-function sensors and
actuators that reach out and touch the world around
them, monitoring for changes and providing feedback
to adjust to those changes. Their connectivity enables

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This list of IoT services is arranged on two critical dimensions. The horizontal rows (from monitor at the bottom to optimize at the top) represent the
value delivered to customers, in order of complexity. The columns (from endpoints to enhanced services) represent the technologies of the IoT as
described in this article, in increasing complexity from left to right. (Network and cloud services are not shown because they are not typically oriented
to end-users.)

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5

two key capabilities: gathering and analyzing data from

the environment, and reaching out through the Internet
to control objects.
2. Simple hubs are the devices that connect endpoints to broader networks. When integrated into
products such as vehicle engines; washing machines; or
home heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC)
systems, the computing intelligence and storage embedded in a simple hub allows these products to adapt over
time to the users behavior and to optimize for efficiency. The Nest is a good example of a simple hub. It acts
as a joining point for a relatively small number of sensors and actuators, typically located near one another.
A single building might have several simple hubs,
each controlling one function: HVAC, electricity, lighting, water, entertainment, communications, or security.
Each of these simple hubs might be connected to the
Internet. For example, electricity hubs that monitor
usage and cost can feed data to electric power utilities,
which can then suggest the best times to use powerhungry appliances. Lighting hubs can pick up information from multiple window sensors about the amount
of sunlight, and adjust the brightness of the artificial
lighting accordingly.
3. Integrating hubs that connect simple hubs and
outside connections are relatively complex devices providing a diverse array of services that fit more or less
seamlessly together. In May 2014, Apple introduced
one of the first truly integrating hub offerings. Called
the HomeKit, this platform is designed to bring together simple hubs from different vendors and present all
of them in a single user interface on a smartphone or
tablet. A HomeKit hub might integrate functions such
as electric power (SolarGuard solar power systems),

security (Goji smart locks and Leviton motion and

video monitors), HVAC (the Nest), appliances (LG
smart refrigerators), window shades (QMotions electric
shading systems), entertainment (Roku audio and video
streamers, which use set-top boxes as hubs), and personalized lighting (Hue). A family member might press
the bedtime button on his or her iPhone, and the service would then dim or turn off certain lights, lock the
doors, set the security system, close the garage door, and
lower the thermostat, all at the same time.
Apples role here isnt to provide the underlying
HVAC or lighting service, but rather to offer the software development kitmuch like the guidelines and
tools it publishes for developers of iPhone and iPad
appsthat developers can use to connect their services
with the HomeKit platform. The company also debuted
what it calls the HealthKit, designed to integrate all the
simple hubs being developed for the quantified self.
Several other major companies have begun to develop integrating hubs. Google recently introduced a
collection of standards for the Nest that will connect
to a wide range of home services from other companies.
Oracle has a sophisticated integrating hub, which it may
or may not offer commercially, but which has already
helped win the Americas Cup yacht race, in October
2013. The Oracle-sponsored foiling catamaran that
won the race was equipped with more than 300 sensors
and video cameras that monitored position, wind direction, boat speed, pressure on the wingsail, and more.
While the boat was sailing, the teams technology specialists collected data on more than 3,000 variables per
seconda gigabyte of raw data and 200 gigabytes of
video dailyand analyzed it on Oracle servers reached
through high-speed wireless data connections. The sys-

strategy+business issue 77

THE DIGITAL CITY CONCEPT

WOULD INSTALL INTEGRATING
HUBS AT A NEIGHBORHOOD
SCALE TO CONTROL
MASS TRANSIT, TRAFFIC,
AND STREETLIGHTS.

programming languages, that can be used for IoT delivery

and development. ThingWorx offers one such platform.
It provides endpoint connectivity, networking capabilities, and data storage and analytics, as well as a software
development kit used to write apps for customers.
5. Enhanced services is a nascent category, comprising the most technologically sophisticated components of the IoT. Enhanced services will make use
of the information collected and analyzed by other
platforms and services to deliver broad-based interactive functions. For example, todays single-company
telematics systems, like Progressives Snapshot system,
are integrating hubs, connecting monitors on automobiles with software that links insurance rates to driver
performance. Enhanced services for automobile-based
monitoring could go much further. They could collect
data on multiple cars, aggregating it all with historical
and actuarial data to create new types of analytics related to overall insights about auto accidents. The insurers themselves might not be involved in the collection of that information, only in making use of it in the
services they offer. Enhanced services could also lead
to more sophisticated connected car applications, in
which real-time digital connection enables automobiles
to exchange signals with one another and the environment, thereby reducing accident risk or enabling better
traffic coordination.
These five technological options, from endpoints
to enhanced services, provide a menu of diverse opportunities for companies building IoT businesses. Some
might start making stand-alone endpoints, and move
up to producing hubs. Others might parlay their expertise at integrating hubs into providing network and
cloud servicesor vice versa.

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tem sent the analysis back to the boats controls to improve its performance almost instantaneously.
Integrating hubs of far greater scope are also under way. The digital city concept, for example, is being
developed by the MIT Media Lab, the World Foundation for Smart Communities (based at San Diego State
University), and private companies like the LED streetlight manufacturer Sensity Systems. It would install
integrating hubs with data analytics at a neighborhood
or citywide scale to monitor and control mass transit,
traffic controls, streetlights, and many other services
and systems. Barcelona is teaming with Cisco Systems
to develop one such system, which will manage lighting, parking, local Wi-Fi networks, and other critical
city functions.
4. Network and cloud services provide the infrastructure of the Internet of Things. They can either be
public (accessible to the population at large) or private
(protected behind an organizations firewall). These services deliver the seamless and transparent connection
to the Internet that hubs require, along with the cloud
computing power needed to collect, store, and analyze
vast amounts of data from myriad endpoints. They can
also provide the infrastructure needed to build or connect to social networks, so that users of the IoT can
compare experiences and share data.
Some network and cloud services, like RacoWireless, manage machine-to-machine connectivity. They
enable IoT devices to communicate with one another
across a variety of transmission channels, including
Wi-Fi, cellular, and Bluetooth. They also provide data
management services: collecting, moving, tagging, and
aggregating information. Other network and cloud services provide software platforms, including high-level

Exhibit 2: The IoT Ecosystem

The overall IoT market will be divided among Enablers, Engagers, and Enhancers. These three kinds of companies will interact, working together to
provide the technology and services needed by allboth to market the IoT and to deploy it for their own operations.

Market-Facing

ENABLERS provide
technologies, applications, and services that
underlie the integrated
IoT offerings.

Internal-Facing

Source: Strategy&

ENGAGERS provide products and services that connect the IoT

with customers.

Ecosystem
DIGITAL ENTERPRISE

EMBEDDERS: The IoT engenders new types of functional and

cross-functional business operations within all companies.

ENHANCERS provide
value-added IoT services
that augment and
integrate the offerings of
Engagers, reaching
customers in
unprecedented ways.

strategy+business issue 77

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IoT is exploding. According to estimates tracked by Postscapes, the sheer growth in the number of endpoints
expected to reach 50 billion or more by 2020will push
that market from $6.6 billion in 2013 to almost $11 billion in 2020. The shift in connectivity and computing
intelligence from centrally located servers to intelligent
devices on the edge is creating a similar boom in the
semiconductor business. Revenues from the chips needed to run intelligent devices are expected to reach more
than $70 billion by 2017.
Many Enablers will remain content with relatively narrow businesses, as suppliers of endpoints toor
partners withother players that have larger ambitions.
Estimote, for example, makes tiny beacons that stick
to objects and send signals through low-frequency Bluetooth transmissions. These beacons can communicate
Enablers: Building the Technology
Enablers are primarily technology-oriented companies, with enabled devices like smartphones and tablets in
such as Cisco, Google, HP, IBM, and Intel. They build environments such as retail stores. Its up to the Engager
and maintain the critical IoT infrastructure that allows companies to develop capabilities in proximity marketEngagers to create their own connected services. Their of- ing that incorporate the beacons; for example, a retailer
ferings include the endpoint, hub, and network and cloud might use them to augment sales data with information
service technologies: devices, connectivity hardware and about what items customers pick up and how long they
infrastructure, computing and data storage systems, soft- spend considering a purchase.
The larger Enablers will fi ght over the enormous opware platforms, and more. (See Kings of the Cloud, by
Olaf Acker, Germar Schrder, and Florian Grne, s+b, portunities in integration. The systems they produce
Winter 2014.) The market for all these elements of the intelligent endpoints, hubs, cloud services, and platWith all these possibilities, companies run the risk
of moving in too many directions at onceand thus
being overwhelmed by more focused competitors with
more distinctive IoT-related capabilities. Hence the
importance of the three IoT strategic models
Enablers, Engagers, and Enhancers. Few companies can
take on more than one of these ways of creating value.
The Enablers will focus on the underlying technologies
and services, from endpoints to network and cloud services. The Engagers will make use of hubs and network
and cloud services to provide market-facing offerings.
The Enhancers will focus on value-added enhanced services that extend and enrich customer engagement (see
Exhibit 2).

Embedding
the IoT in Your
Business

own operations and optimize their

manufacturing companies to monitor

own businesses. The idea of embed-

throughput and emissions. Sensors

ded things goes back at least 20

and integrated hubs are set up to

years, to Xerox Palo Alto Research

continually adjust operations, based

Center (the same research lab that

on the data, to reduce waste, cost,

produced the graphic user interface

and environmental impact. As the

and object-oriented programming),

Internet of Things evolves, its embed-

where it was originally called ubiq-

ded use in day-to-day business will

ome companies may never

uitous computing. A current-day

be a hallmark of the most successful

bring any part of the Internet

example is United Parcel Services

companies in every industry.

by Chris Curran

of Things to market, but their role

adoption of sensors and monitors

is just as significant as that of the

on its trucks and delivery services;

Enablers, Engagers, and Enhancers.

it is using the Internet of Things to

These are the Embedders: compa-

continually improve its throughput

nies that apply sensors, monitors,

and service levels. Another example

and other devices to improve their

is the use of the Internet of Things by

formsmust not just provide connections, but manage and bill for those connections, and allow users to
customize and develop their own services. Already, IoT
opportunities are driving some hardware companies
to expand in unprecedented ways. For example, Intel,
traditionally a maker of semiconductors, is developing
soup-to-nuts IoT systems that include not just chips
but development platforms that will enable others to
develop their own IoT services.
Bundles of IoT-related hardware, software, and
connectivity may be tailored to specific marget segments, such as particular industries. The IoT platform
developer Arrayent, for example, focuses on the consumer products industry. It recently teamed with appliance maker Whirlpool to provide the technology
needed to connect refrigerators and washing machines
to the Internet. Homeowners can be alerted via their
smartphones when appliances need maintenance, and
they can order new supplies automatically. The key to
such deals is the partnership. Whirlpool has limited expertise in connecting its appliances to the Internet, but
Arrayent provides the means to do it.
Each Enabler must decide the appropriate scale
and scope for its business, based on the capabilities it

Chris Curran (christopher.b.curran@

us.pwc.com) is a PwC principal and chief
technologist for the U.S. firms advisory
practice.

can muster. Should it spread its efforts horizontally, becoming a broad-based supplier of IoT technology to all
industries? Or should it become the primary Enabler
for a specific industry, bringing together the endpoints,
hubs, network and cloud services, and enhanced platforms needed in that vertical? If it collaborates with
other enterprises, should that be with other Enablers,
to broaden their technology platform? Or should the
enabling enterprise seek to codevelop a customer-facing
offering with the right Engagers and Enhancers?
Every Enabler should base its strategy on the most
distinctive capabilities it can offer. Estimote, for example, currently doesnt have the capabilities needed
to move beyond its current endpoint and connectivity
products, so it focuses on those. Arrayent has found
an appropriate scalable business in providing an IoToriented cloud platform for consumer goods. GE develops IoT systems for hospitals and factories because those
offerings make use of its well-established capabilities in
healthcare and manufacturing.
Engagers: Connecting to Customers

These companies provide the direct link between the

IoT and the market. They use the endpoint, hub, plat-

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For Engagers, the benefits of gaining a strong

foothold in hubs and connected services include continuous and sustainable relationships with customers.
Consider appliance makers like Whirlpool and Haier.
In the past, these companies would capture only basic
information about the purchaser of a washing machine:
his or her name, address, email address, phone number,
and perhaps some static demographic data. At most,
the companies would then use that information to
manage the warranty and send periodic notices about
new products. Now, by linking the washing machine
to the Internet, the appliance maker captures a wealth
of data about how the device is usedhow often,
at what temperature, and with what kind of soap, as
well as what kinds of clothes are washed. It can offer
value-added services based on that knowledge, including status reports on the machines condition, suggestions for saving energy and water, and discount subscriptions for laundry detergent delivered to the home.
With that type of information, even tradition-bound
manufacturers can become innovators in human-centered design.
If the washing machine can be integrated with
the houses hub, the possibilities multiply. The manufacturer could work with the power and water utilities
to establish a schedule for washing clothes at the least
expensive time, using the houses HVAC system to balance the heat and humidity generated by the washing
machine, and programming the entertainment system
with a playlist of laundry-day music. The company
would move beyond selling products to offering a powerful and attractive customer experience, building loyalty even as it locks customers in through the many services it can offer.

strategy+business issue 77

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9

form, and service offerings created by the Enablers to

produce services for consumers and businesses. Though
most of them did not begin as IoT companies, and many
come from non-IT industriesappliance manufacturers, automakers, insurance companies, and retailers are
prominent among themthey expect enormous opportunities as the IoT gains traction.
Engagers tend to be most active in hubs and connected services. Systems like the Nest and Apple HomeKit, for instance, provide services to customers, while
collecting a rudimentary amount of data on customer
usage and maintaining a high degree of customer contact. Other Engager services, based on increasingly
sophisticated IoT cloud services and platforms, are
more complex. Wearable devices such as Google Glass
can provide a wealth of location-specific information to
users while collecting data about their movements (in
the real world and on the Internet), their purchases, and
their conversations.
Already, Engagers are competing to control nodes
of human activity: the smart home, the quantified self,
the connected car, the digital retailer, the intelligent factory, the next-generation hospital, and eventually the
city of the future. The winners wont necessarily have
the most sophisticated technology or the biggest cloud;
they will have the right capabilities. They will know
how to gain insight into customer needs and expectations, and how to use human-centered design to develop compelling services that change how customers
behave. Apple and Google, for example, are both seeking to apply their existing prowessin design and consumer insight for Apple, in data gathering and analytics
for Googleto create compelling user experiences that
will attract people to their integrating hubs.

Exhibit 3: IoT E-Health Offerings, 2014

Like the enhanced services that they often deliver, the

Enhancers are just beginning to appear in the IoT ecosystem. They provide integrated services that reframe
and repackage the products and services of the Engagers. They succeed by finding new ways of creating and
extracting value from the data, relationships, and insights generated from IoT activity.
The insurance industry offers a good example. Several companies, including MetLife, are developing ways
to gather data on health-related behavior to help design
their rate schedules and offerings. By and large, insurance companies will not want to create their own version of the quantified self. Instead, they will work with
services that already exist: the Fitbit, which measures
physical activity; emerging systems that monitor heart
rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, and other
health-related metrics; and nutrition tracking devices
(set up to receive automated signals from the refrigerator and restaurants).
Once these health-tracking technologies are gathered into a hub, combined with data from additional
apps and services such as Stravas fitness-oriented social
network, and integrated into an overarching service, the
insurance company can build and package value-added
services personalized to each individual. A health insurer already keeps comprehensive data on its customers health status and past medical treatments and expenses. It could augment that with individual electronic
health recordswith customers permission, of course.
It could then combine that information with its own
actuarial data, supplemented with data from drug companies, market research firms, school lunch programs,
and the government.

Although there are many e-health offerings, they are all emergent. The
space is ripe for transformation by an Enhancer that can turn information
from connected health services and outside data providers into new,
value-added services. For Enhancers, partnering successfully with a
variety of companies will be a key capability.

Endpoints and Simple Hubs

Tracking devices
Fitness trackers like Fitbit, Jawbone UP, ActiveLink
Nutrition trackers like Weight Watchers, MyFitness Pal
Insulin trackers like Lilly Diabetes monitors
Internet-connected refrigerators from LG, Haier, and Whirlpool

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Enhancers: Creating New Value

Integrating Hubs
Quantified self
Wearable multipurpose devices like Google Glass, Apple Watch
Smartphone apps for fitness and activity tracking

Social Media (via Network and Cloud Services)

Online communities
Athletic communities like Strava Social
Health and weight-loss communities like MyNetDiary

Enhanced Systems
E-health payors
Aetna and other health insurance companies offering online support
Source: Strategy&

By aggregating all this information, a health insurer could start building new services. It could offer
health insurance with coverage tailored to individuals
needs, and premiums based on their fitness habits. Customers might receive regular health and nutrition status updates tagged to their individual medical needs,
along with reminders for scheduling regular exams and
remote consultations that take advantage of their past
data. There is also the possibility of teaming with other
healthcare companies to offer products and services catering to peoples specific health needs and interests (see
Exhibit 3).

10

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The Enhancers emerging today will develop new

types of services, many of which will undoubtedly disrupt or leapfrog past todays business models. Companies with the potential to act as Enhancers would do
well to begin planning for that future now. They can
position themselves by focusing attention on the experience they provide their customers. They should start
looking into technological and business issues, such as
how to share data with existing hubs and services, and
how to structure business partnerships. They will also
need to develop a strong innovation capability, oriented
around developing and continually updating their suite
of services connected to the Internet of Things.
Your Companys IoT Strategy

11

A wealth of opportunities exist for each of the three

types of IoT strategy models: Enablers, Engagers, and
Enhancers. Entering the fray, however, should not be
undertaken lightly. The IoT markets newness and heterogeneity will make it difficult to negotiate, even by
those companies with the strongest capabilities and the
clearest, most compelling value propositions.
Many challenging issues remain. Customer demands and expectations are still hard to discern, and
the hardware and software standards for the IoT are still
evolving. Billions of endpoints and intelligent devices
must be integrated. The data they produce must be
managed and analyzed. This is no small task, especially
given increasing concerns about security and reliability.
Consumers are coming to expect greater control over
their personal data, issues surrounding the privacy of
tracked information and sensitive data (such as e-health
records) are ongoing, and it is unclear how vulnerable
many of the devices and clouds that make up the IoT

are to hackers and malicious code. We expect some

companies, and perhaps some entire industries, to be
reluctant to share data with other enterprises in an IoT
context, especially given these unknowns about stability
and security.
If your company wants to stake a claim with the
Internet of Things, you first need to develop a distinctive way to playa clear value proposition that you
can offer customers. This should be consistent with
your enterprises overall capabilities system: the things
you do best when you go to market, aligned with most
or all of the products and services you sell.
With those elements in place, if you tread carefully
and methodically, the time is right. To develop a strategy
for the IoT, you could proceed by addressing, in order:
1. Your own role in the IoT. Given your existing value proposition and capabilities, are you best suited to be
an Enabler, Engager, or Enhancer?
2. Industries and markets. Assess how your business
environment is being (or could be) transformed by the
IoT. If you are an Engager or Enhancer, what endpoints,
hubs, and services are already being sold in your market? How are they expected to combine? What sense
do you have of the demand for them? The more IoT
activity that already exists in your industry, as it does
in healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and homerelated sectors, the more rapidly you will have to move.
3. Customer or business engagement. Because value
in the IoT will be created through the transformation
of customer experience, you need strong capabilities in
experience design. Even if you are an Enabler, without
direct customer contact, or if opportunities for engagement appear limited in your industry, the IoT could
eventually transform your business. What capabilities

strategy+business issue 77

GIVEN YOUR CAPABILITIES,

ARE YOU BEST SUITED TO
BE AN ENABLER, ENGAGER,
OR ENHANCER?

tures. You probably already have innovation processes

in place, but they may not be customer-centric enough.
You may also need to foster more opportunities for people in your company to experiment and learn rapidly
about what works and what doesnt.
One virtue of the IoT is the degree to which companies lacking in technological expertise can lean on
the devices and platforms that others build. Even so,
the creation and delivery of IoT services will require you
to design and prototype their new services, to manage
them once implemented, and to analyze the resulting
wealth of data.
As new and challenging as todays IoT is, it offers
a large and wide-open playing field. The companies
that gain the right to win in this sphere will be those
that understand just how disruptive the IoT will be,
and that create a value proposition to take advantage of
the opportunities. +

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do you already have in this area, and what will you need
to develop?
4. Connected products and services. Assess your
current lineup of offerings to determine which can be
enhanced through IoT connectivity, and what new
ones could be developed expressly for the IoT. For new
launches and innovations, take into account how connectivity will be established, how your company will
analyze and use the resulting data, and which other
companies you might collaborate withall set against
the proposed revenue model and income stream.
5. An enhanced connection. Most Engagers will
deploy an initial wave of basic connected devices and
services. Then they will build further services by using
analytics to gain insights from the wealth of new data
that the IoT provides them. As these deployments unfold, Engagers will look for ways to increase value. This
is where Enhancers will come in. What new business
models might emerge? Would you want to develop any
of them, or do you want to partner with other companies that can help serve this need?
6. Your organizations capabilities. Your company
will need to distinguish itself in this space. What will
you do that no other company does as well (or at all)?
What improvements and investments will you need to
make? Where will the necessary time, money, and attention come from; what activities will you need to divest or downplay so their resources can move here?
You may also need to develop some table stakes
capabilities that all IoT companies must have. These include the ability to manage and analyze huge quantities
of data, to integrate diverse portfolios of services, and
to build business relationships with other IoT-related
companies, some of which may have very different cul-

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Reprint No. 00294

Resources
Edward H. Baker, Looking Outward with Big Data: A Q&A with Tom
Davenport, s+b (online only), Mar. 31, 2014: The management scholar
who described the potential of big data explains how to unleash it.
Tom Igoe and Catarina Mota, A Strategists Guide to Digital
Fabrication, s+b, Autumn 2011: Earlier entry in this series of strategists
guides describes a complementary technology.
Daniel Kellmereit and Daniel Obodovski, The Silent IntelligenceThe
Internet of Things (DND Ventures, 2013): Straightforward overview of
the evolution and future of this technology.
David Meer, The ABCs of Analytics, s+b (online only), Feb. 26, 2013:
How to use the big data from the Internet of Things (and everywhere
else) for competitive advantage.
For more thought leadership on this topic, see the s+b website at:
strategy-business.com/technology.

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