Over the years, transformative technologies have become leading indicators of more frictionless, productive, and efficient user experiences. Right now, that mantle is being held up by IoT(Internet of Things) based mobile applications.
In this era of conversational commerce, instant responses, and on-demand services, a connected reality carries incredible opportunities to create a ‘good user experience.’ IoT offers numerous ways to personalize interactions between a customer and a product. And, its use and acceptance are gradually rising worldwide.
- The number of IoT devices has been increasing from 7 billion in 2018 to nearly 27 billion in 2019.
- By 2021, the world is expected to have 35 billion IoT devices.
- 93% of enterprises are involved with IoT technology in some way.
- 127 new IoT devices are estimated to be connecting to the internet per second.
- The global IoT market size can cross $1.5 trillion by 2025.
Coupled with mobility, IoT is likely to achieve milestones by creating a more connected and interactive user experience. Here’s my take on how IoT-based mobile applications can help developers to ensure a better user experience.
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A Deeper Understanding of Consumer Behavior
Retaining a steady and fruitful customer base depends on the ability of a business to understand:-
- What the buyer wants, needs, and expects
- What the buyer is willing to pay for such a product
- What’s the best medium and moment to trade the product for maximum effect
Bridging the gap between these queries and a profitable solution is a matter of adequate market research. IoT is essentially a connected reality and, hence, facilitates a better understanding of user behavior by providing more in-depth and richer insights.
It offers several data acquisition and analysis tools that enable businesses to monitor interactions in different environments. The resultant structured and unstructured data can be refined and fed into intelligence systems for further analysis, which can then be used for:-
- Targeted messaging
- Effective content marketing
- Coupon recommendations
- Direct targeting through relevant offers and deals
For instance, an IoT based mobile app can get multiple data feeds from Wi-Fi Beacons, Bluetooth, GPS, smartphones, sensors, touch patterns, etc. It will be able to monitor interactions while browsing, shopping, gaming, etc.
When connected with a smart product, the app will interact with other elements on the network, share information, and instantaneously act on directives as a unit.
Together, this set-up can help businesses directly understand consumer requirements and roadblocks, thus leading to an improved system.
- Provide richer insights about in-store shopper behavior(online and offline.)
- Demonstrate the rise or fall of brand loyalty and consumer trust over different durations.
- Offer timely information to all stakeholders.
- Provide a detailed oversight of the entire operational process.
- Analyze social media patterns and market trends.
- Facilitate better supply chain management
- Create shorter delivery times and better tracking opportunities.
- Issue timely notifications about repairs, replacements, or replenishments, set up after analyzing the data collected by sensors across an IoT network.
- Relay promotional messages to customers during the hours where high reception is recorded.
In simple words, IoT enables a comprehensive understanding of customers and allows appropriate utilization of that information to enhance user experience and business performance.
Seamless Payments
Convenience is a crucial part of excellent digital user experiences, especially when it comes to payments. IoT technology supports machine-to-machine transactions through embedded financial functionality, which can highly enhance the process of paying for services.
IoT mobile applications and connected devices are very likely to facilitate cashless payments across different verticals of regular life. For instance, buyers may pay for groceries via a connected refrigerator or authorize payments for fuel via a connected car in the near future.
Additionally, it could increase the effectiveness of existing payment conveniences like preordering, renting, or getting charged automatically upon exiting a store.
In the modified IoT-driven payment ecosystem, supported by technologies like AI, blockchain, and machine learning, the consumer will get an interoperable payment infrastructure.
With minimal hassles, unattended transactions that would require authorization (perhaps in the form of biometrics or other unobtrusive manners) will significantly enhance a user’s experience.
Better Security, Reduced Threat
Because the industry has only started to gather a decent pace towards developing and deploying IoT applications, we possess a limited understanding of the related security issues.
However, it’s plausible to expect a ubiquitous network that dwells on vast amounts of data and depends on several layers of connectivities to function to have numerous vulnerabilities.
Challenges associated with IoT mobile apps include:-
- Defining intellectual property laws for a large number of connected devices
- Digital rights management
- Establishing coherent compatibilities between intellectual properties, digital rights, and consumer rights
- Governing the software elements of connected devices
- Establishing accountability for a complex system
- Managing increasing data volumes
- Protecting sensitive data
- Managing numerous vulnerable points at the same time with efficiency
- Identity authorization and access management
When coupled with mobile solutions and intricate application logic, it’s possible to overcome a significant portion of these security concerns.
- Using intelligent automation and AI logic to manage different services
- Managing business-critical systems in real-time to avoid compounded issues at a later point
- Segregating highly specific customer groups to simplify management
- Integrating IoT app development efforts with globally relevant governance frameworks
- Creating rigorous registration processes to manage access-related vulnerabilities
- Creating different layers of authentication, confidentiality, and authorization protections
- Determining and categorizing data sections with different access regulations
- Identifying authorization control and access requirements for devices and data based on an intermittent or constant connection to the network
Going ahead, we are bound to witness more examples of IoT mobile applications and face newer challenges with application development in this arena. Reasonably, with an increased understanding, mobile app developers will be able to evaluate those issues and come up with better countermeasures for security. Eventually, such advancements will help enhance the user’s experience.
Cost-Effective Solutions
Many factors come together to determine the final price a customer pays for any product. To achieve true cost optimization for the consumer- a critical aspect of the overall user experience -businesses can leverage the inherent features of IoT technology.
For instance, IoT systems provide granular data localization, thus empowering well-informed business decisions. It helps businesses gauge the product demand while staying brutally realistic about its prospects.
This leads to a business plan that thrives on the consumer stipulation and gives the business a reasonable profit margin, ensuring cost optimization for all involved parties.
It can also help to keep in mind that the cost of IoT elements is observing a constant decline over the decade. The average price of an IoT sensor has traversed from $1.30 in 2005 to $0.38 in 2020.
The robotics-as-a-service market is growing rapidly with an estimated 23% CAGR and $34.7 billion worth by 2026. For businesses planning to invest in IoT app development, it means better expansion at reduced expenses, which ultimately translates into a cheaper product for the end-user.
IoT Based Mobile Apps Will Lead the Way with Enhanced Usability, Accessibility, and Efficiency
The central philosophy of IoT is to facilitate intuitive interactions that were previously deemed fantastical. Through all the benefits that IoT offers, mobile apps in the near future will be able to engage the user on various levels while ensuring the best customer experience.
An unparalleled mobile experience is on the horizon, and IoT, without a doubt, stands at the helm of that expedition.
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