IoT Business Case: Pay on Demand
It is feasible for many businesses to track an object, such as a fleet of trucks. If trucks are almost always in service, it makes sense for companies to pay a recurring fee to track them via cellular transmission. This allows companies to better utilize resources and perform regular maintenance.
For some industries, however, this tracking ability may not need to be active all the time – consumers in particular find it hard to swallow a recurring payment for a service that they rarely use. This is where the Pay on Demand business case comes into play.
A good example of this situation is independent contractors who do a lot of driving in their own vehicles. They likely want to track their mileage for reimbursement, but they don’t need automatic tracking on 24/7. Instead, it would be ideal to pay for logging only as it is needed.This could be done by having the device in the vehicle record all trips, but the device doesn’t send that data to the cloud unless it’s told to do so. The user wouldn’t retrieve the logged trip details unless or until they need them. This could be combined with enabling or disabling the communication to the device for periods of time when it’s not in use to remove costs. You could even set up the device with triggers so it automatically reports trips that involved a specific location, but otherwise didn’t report any others. Then the user is billed only for that trip log they actually care about. They only pay for the obvious value they receive.
Other examples include pet trackers and invisible fences. Customers want the service and need it to work properly, but they don’t necessarily need to have it be on all the time. Depending on the pet, they may only get lost a couple times in their lifetime, if at all. And invisible fences only need to work when the animal is outside. This makes a monthly fee seem excessive. Ideally, companies should build a pet tracker or invisible fence device that sleeps until it is needed. Pet owners could pay a one-time fee for the device, and then they charged additional fees only when they want to use the service. Again, they pay only for the obvious value they receive.
If we tie in the drivers of business automation: make money, save money, legal compliance, and reputation protection, you can see ties to this use case. By making a product more attractive to users who don’t want to pay for something when it isn’t in use, you actually gain more customers – and therefore make more money. By offering a product that truly has your users’ needs in mind, you also solidify your reputation in the marketplace.
Most people don’t want to pay for something if they don’t see the immediate benefit. Because of this, it is important to align your product with tangible benefits for your customers. Paying for a service only as needed can be an effective approach. F3 can help you to develop the right product and bring it to market.
