With the massive wave of IoT devices and sensors spread about everywhere, IoT and M2M have become an increasingly popular topic of discussion. Many predict that this hottest new trend will create new markets and new opportunities, and increase business efficiency. However, technology thought leaders still face the perpetual dilemma of how to monetize all these devices.

We’ve begun to witness early adopters riding the IoT wave, in such industries as healthcare, transportation, utilities, and others. One such example is smart cities that are already using IoT sensors to monitor street lights, traffic, water supply and parking lots.  

However, considerable investment is still required in this technology until it can provide consumers with significant value for which they would be willing to pay. Given the extent of investment required - starting from the individual device level, to communication infrastructure, through data collection and analytics - there is a key dilemma which must be resolved before reaping the gains of this new space: What will be the rate of return on such investment?

At this early stage, in the absence of proven business models or best practices for this market, it is essential for companies entering this arena to have an affordable, flexible billing solution that will enable easy and quick adaption to future business models.

With the massive wave of IoT devices and sensors spread about everywhere, IoT and M2M have become an increasingly popular topic of discussion. Many predict that this hottest new trend will create new markets and new opportunities, and increase business efficiency. However, technology thought leaders still face the perpetual dilemma of how to monetize all these devices.

What’s next in IoT: Looking into the crystal ball

We’ve begun to witness early adopters riding the IoT wave, in such industries as healthcare, transportation, utilities, and others. One such example is smart cities that are already using IoT sensors to monitor street lights, traffic, water supply and parking lots.  

However, considerable investment is still required in this technology until it can provide consumers with significant value for which they would be willing to pay. Given the extent of investment required - starting from the individual device level, to communication infrastructure, through data collection and analytics - there is a key dilemma which must be resolved before reaping the gains of this new space: What will be the rate of return on such investment?

Notably, the shorter the payback period (the length of time to return the investment) - the higher the likelihood of continued willingness to invest in this space. However, the longer and smaller the return, the lower the likelihood of receiving additional investments.

At this early stage, in the absence of proven business models or best practices for this market, it is essential for companies entering this arena to have an affordable, flexible billing solution that will enable easy and quick adaption to future business models.

A beacon in the uncharted territory of IoT/M2M

BillRun Cloud offers an affordable solution for many of these challenges. As most devices are likely to be connected through SIM cards via communication service providers (CSPs) or mobile operators, the dilemma will be whether to engage with a single operator and benefit initially by gaining a low penetration price, but later become dependent on that operator; or, engage with multiple operators, and probably incur higher charges, but gain flexibility.

BillRun Cloud, designed to support multiple data formats originating from various different sources, enables companies to select their preferred path and change their engagements easily and instantaneously.

Another question is: How to choose the ultimate charging model? As it is impossible to predict all the potential costs and risks involved in this new technology, companies providing IoT/M2M-related services must ensure they are improving their profitability, while simultaneously increasing customer satisfaction. Moreover, it is essential to be able to address subscribers’ changing needs, by generating flexible, content-rich plans and offers.

With BillRun Cloud, you can define infinite charging plans, combining base-fee plans, usage-based plans, metered billing, and any other parameters, to meet customer needs and expectations.

With its open-source, scale-out architecture, and affordable ‘pay as you grow’ approach, BillRun is designed to support the monetization needs of companies in any business stage - whether seed-stage or mature companies - facing this rapidly-growing market.