Interquest : IQ Telecom @ The IoT Breakfast

27thJanuary 2017

Last week, IQ Telecom (soon to be IQ Networks) hosted a breakfast meetup all about IoT. We caught up with Ryan Smith, Rob Rees & Elan Musa to get the lowdown.

Hi guys, can you give us some background on this event?

Ryan - We speak to customers in the IoT daily, and not always about hiring. In fact, hiring is the last thing a customer does post verifying decisions surrounding strategy, sales, product, reputation, history, use case and route to market. What we gleaned from talking to companies, big and small, novice or established within IoT, is that actually we all share challenges and have all learnt similar lessons during our 'IoT journey'.

With this in mind we leveraged our network and sat down with a couple of well-respected minds in IoT; James Monighan and Maarten Ectors. We wanted to address 'State of the nation, IoT', so went about organising an IoT breakfast for leaders within the industry to discuss a few key topics:

Innovating within established businesses

• Challenges faced

• Lessons learnt

Innovation & entrepreneurship challenges

• Perspectives from experience with established businesses and start up's

• Challenges faced

·Monetization in IoT

The event was a great success and I strongly believe that was down to the attendees and their desire to maximise their time, learn and meet new people.

For those who don't know already, what was this event all about?

Ryan - The difference in strategical decision making and product launch for enterprise organisations and innovative / start-up companies.

Elan - For me, the event was about giving something back to the industry and providing some insight and genuine networking opportunity for our existing and potential new clients.

Rob - It was a great chance to bring together various industry experts, in a comfortable informal setting, to discuss the pressing issues within the IoT

What were the main areas you were discussing over the course of the morning?

Elan - Off the back of James and Maarten's talks, I think the hot topics during the networking session were innovative ways of monetisation within the IoT, and the evolution of business models as a result. For me, this is where the real value comes from with an event of this type. Like-minded professionals sharing opinions, predictions and experiences from their unique perspectives within the industry.

Rob - 'Best Practice' - the way companies and engineering teams can better take products and solutions to market, using a step by step approach. It went further to actually give solid examples of how certain multinationals have done well, and in some circumstances not as well.

Ryan - As per the title, lessons learnt on an IoT journey. Monetization is a burning topic within IoT so learning about dual revenue streams with very insightful. App stores, for example, or the multiple revenue streams that can be obtained from a vending machine.

Sounds great, how did it go? Any major takeaways?

Elan - We had a great turnout, James and Maarten delivered two excellent talks and there was a real buzz during the networking session. It really seemed like our attendees got the opportunity to meet, exchange details and forge relationships that will be mutually beneficial, and that was always our aim.

Rob - it went really well, lots of note taking and the feedback from everyone was that they were impressed with the calibre of attendees.

Ryan - Regarding industry we've spoken of the key takeaways above. More than that was what the attendees gleaned from their time. It certainly got people thinking, this was never about a company showing off their product or services. It was far more humbling than that, we wanted people to speak freely. This happened so our agenda was met.

What do you think the IoT market will look like in the next few years?

Ryan - Ah, the million dollar question. No one knows that answer and part of the reason we put this event together was to address 2016 being a year of IoT still getting off the ground, not being the norm as most expected. However, Smart Cities and Industrial IoT continue to peak my interest.

Elan - From a Smart Home perspective, I think we will continue to see an increase in worldwide sales and funding, as adoption rates continue to increase. I think there will be a real drive to showcase Smart Home solutions and services, and get these technologies in front of consumers through ramped up advertising and marketing campaigns. I think the relatively slow adoption rates we have seen over the past couple of years has shocked the industry into realising we may need to hand feed consumers a first taste of Smart Home, in order to create the spark that is needed.

Rob - dual revenue streams. I think enterprise organisation will partner with smaller innovators rather than building in house propositions in order to compete, and squash the competition. The bringing together of Ideas and product could save cost whilst improving time to market, risk and security.

Do you have any more events like this planned? What can we expect to see?

Rob - we want to continue bringing industry moguls and exceptional innovators together and discuss tomorrow's ideas, today. Suggestions welcomed on topics that interest you.

Ryan - Feedback is hugely important, we're speaking to all participants and asking for constructive feedback. Technology stacks and scalability seems like a worthwhile topic, gathering heads of development and engineering would pose some great discussion.

Elan - we'd like to run an event every quarter, and gradually increase their size and scope, securing more expert speakers to follow in James and Maarten's footsteps. I think the key is listening to the feedback we receive from this event and catering to our attendee's suggestions where possible.

Firstly let us all again thank those that joined us. We had so much fun, and we hope you did as well.

If you're interested in attending our next event, want to co-host or speak then please let us know.

8 years ago IQ Telecom began partnering a number of platform companies specialised in M2M / IoT enablement, but also building blocks - hardware, software connectivity. We know the communities and personalities well. IoT is not new to us, nor are the people and principles behind it. With this in mind please contact us if you're hiring, looking for a change or just fancy chewing the fat. We're happy to come and meet you, wherever you are.

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