IoT Solutions: 4 Reasons Why Flexibility is Key

When it comes to choosing an IoT solutions provider that is the right fit for your application, there are various pointers you need to look out for. Here, we focus on flexibility and explain why it is so important to the success of any enterprise’s deployment of IoT solutions.  

There is no one-size-fits-all IoT solution

In a world where no two businesses are identical, reaping the full benefits of any Internet of Things application is only made possible through IoT solutions that are adapted to your particular enterprise needs.

Perhaps you run an international logistics company and need to track your fleet as it transports cargo, or maybe you have an accommodation business that relies on you activating key fobs remotely, thereby granting guests access to holiday rental properties without you needing to travel. It could be that your company provides security services and generating custom invoices would enable you to correctly bill for the data usage of various surveillance devices, or possibly, you’re digitizing manufacturing operations and need IoT solutions that can reliably and securely connect large numbers of mission critical applications across a factory.

Each and every use case requires IoT solutions that have been specifically tailored to the needs of the enterprise, which is why flexibility is key. Choosing a connectivity service provider that not only understands your industry and business objectives, but also offers fully modular IoT solutions—connectivity, management, billing, security—is critical to the success of your application. The ability to deploy modules either individually or in combination enables experts to offer highly customized solutions, ensuring the delivery of the best-fit technology for your enterprise and giving you the tools to launch and scale your IoT deployment globally.

Reliable, future-proof coverage with flexible connectivity solutions

The Internet of Things connectivity landscape is in constant evolution, and thanks to the flexibility afforded by cutting-edge technologies such as eUICC (Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card), enterprises now have more control over their IoT connectivity than ever before.

eUICC software gives companies the ability to remotely provision network profiles Over The Air (OTA), enabling them to respond on the fly to changes in coverage and pricing. Such flexibility in IoT solutions benefits the enterprise by providing the tools to swap network providers in and out at the touch of a button, thus guaranteeing maximum device uptime, while also allowing companies to react to sudden price hikes by opting for an alternative provider.

IoT connectivity software such as eUICC places the enterprise, as opposed to the service provider, in the driver’s seat. Having the power to update the network profiles on an IoT SIM card from one centralized location without physical access to the device makes for long-term network reliability. Such advanced technologies give companies the tools to react to events such as outages or network sunsets, so much so that flexibility becomes synonymous with future proofing.

IoT data plans suited to unique business needs

If a service provider is able to tailor their IoT solutions provision to meet individual enterprise requirements by making each element of their platform available separately, then this flexibility should also be reflected in the pricing. In other words, when it comes to modular IoT solutions, you should be looking to work with a provider that will only charge for those specific IoT solutions and technologies that you have chosen to deploy in order to run your enterprise application – nothing more.

That’s not all though. An enterprise IoT application might see hundreds or even thousands of connected devices deployed simultaneously, however the data usage rate will vary from device to device; this is where IoT solutions providers offering plans such as aggregated IoT data pools are advantageous. In this instance, all devices in a deployment share a single data package, thus ensuring that any small, irregular or infrequent data transmissions from an IoT device are covered, avoiding bill shock come the end of the month and giving you peace of mind.

Agnostic platforms and seamless, end-to-end IoT solutions

Working with a connectivity service provider that has developed an agnostic IoT solutions platform offers you access to the global Internet of Things ecosystem. Agnostic spells flexibility in that enterprises are able to integrate a range of services and products from hardware, software, and technical partners, thus enabling delivery of seamless end-to-end IoT solutions. Moreover, an agnostic IoT solutions platform sees interoperability issues reduced to a minimum when integrating other advanced technologies, allowing you to scale your application quickly and efficiently.

How an Enterprise Network Operator is best-placed to offer flexible IoT solutions

An Enterprise Network Operator (ENO) goes beyond traditional connectivity service providers by tailoring solutions to the needs of individual enterprises in order to give them ownership of their IoT network. Pod Group works closely with companies to gain an in-depth understanding of their objectives before offering highly customized IoT solutions that will solve their connectivity pain points and provide them with the flexibility they need in order to launch and scale their applications globally.

Whether you need reliable connectivity on single, multiple or private networks, the tools to manage your SIM base from a centralized location, a hierarchical billing engine for custom invoicing, or advanced security protocols for sensitive IoT applications, the flexibility that comes with working with an ENO ensures that you have just the right IoT solutions in place to run your enterprise application.