Tag: IoT product development

  • Do This to Ensure 100% Improvement in IoT Product Development

    Do This to Ensure 100% Improvement in IoT Product Development

    From computing devices to connecting devices and generating enormous data. However, this data is rendered useless if it is collected, stored, and analyzed effectively.

    IoT (Internet of Things) enables organizations to drive innovations through the efficient use of data. IoT capabilities, such as data analysis and automation, assist businesses with better decision-making, efficiency, and productivity.

    Organizations that get IoT right, the benefits are copious. Thus, it isn’t surprising that the IoT industry is growing in leaps and bounds. As per a report by Gartner, the IoT market is projected to reach a value of USD 2.0 trillion by 2020, with 8.4 billion connected things.

    That said, despite IoT’s significant growth and its priority in business decision-making, many IoT undertakings are registering stark failures.

    According to a Cisco study, as high as 60% IoT initiatives fail at the proof of concept level. In the same study, only 26% of companies agreed that they had a successful IoT project.

    Almost three-quarters of all IoT projects are failing. There are myriad factors contributing to this failure, some of these being an unclear objective, poor choice of technology, interoperability issues, or simply undefined project requirements.

    Based on experience with developing, launching, and expanding the IoT projects across organizations, we share some of the most essential to-dos that can help you in successful IoT software product developments and implementation.

    1. Avoid saving costs at the wrong place

    Prototyping enables companies to consider the needs, inputs, and requests of clients, and swiftly demonstrate, via mockups and wireframes, what their IoT product will look like while leaving enough headroom for iterations. So do not try to save costs by skipping prototyping, this will only increase your woes by adding additional expenses in the form iterations and change requests at the later stage.

    2. Don’t expect a ready platform to ease development

    The irony about picking an IoT development platform is that selecting an appropriate platform can enable your project, but the selection of the platform can be extremely testing.

    Though many users believe that off-the-shelf platforms can never go wrong since they have been tried and tested, this belief may not be always true.

    Off-the-shelf platforms have a generic design, which has been made for a wide range of domains, like home automation, renewable energy, etc. Moreover, you will have to rely on the vendor for firmware up-gradation and security patch updates, etc.

    Some research can help understand what will suit your need better an off the shelf platform or a bottom-up development using open source technologies.

    3. Scalability should be considered well in advance

    IoT is a network of connected objects sharing and exchanging data continuously via the Internet. With technology advancements, the motives driving IoT product development are evolving from simple tasks, such as data analysis, to more complex functions, such as smart networks.
    This quintessential shift demands an IoT product that is highly scalable, horizontally (expanding network to accommodate an increasing number of connected objects) as well as vertically (building the efficiency of an already-existing software/hardware by attaching more resources).
    Therefore, scalability is a functionality that should be considered right from the beginning of product development.

    4. Data security cannot be compromised

    With IoT comes the upside that we are able to achieve and do things that could not have been thought of before, e.g., switching on your washing machine using your cellphone. However, this continuous digital connectivity also poses higher security vulnerabilities.

    Research has proved that hacking can result in malicious access to critical data. So data security should be key right from product development. Security should be resilient from the most basic (password protection) to the most advanced levels (platform security).

    Employ functionalities such as hardware security modules, key manager, end-to-end encryption, machine-to-machine authentication, API security, and cloud security, to ensure your IoT solution has the toughest security perimeter. Talk to us to know more in this regard,

    5. Clear deliverables for hassle-free development

    Product engineering – designing, prototyping, developing, and implementing – involves various members and teams, including stakeholders.

    Communication and collaboration are key to product engineering. It is crucial that all stakeholders and teams are aware and informed well in advance about how the success of the final developed product is going to be measured.

    At Pratiti we use Agile and DevOps to ensure this clarity of objectives, proper planning, and timely reviews. All this ensures that everyone involved in the development process is on the same page and understands the expectations.

    Conclusion

    IoT or Software product development is an extensive process that requires attention to every detail.  Working with experts helps to smoothen your tech journey as nothing can replace knowledge, experience and sound advice.

    Over the years we have developed a unique tech development process that ensures consistent results for many of our clients. To know more about this process you may. Download this “GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL TECH PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT”. Hope you find this guide helpful.
    These small details matters as much as the overall development process. If you need any advice or consultation with regards to your area of work, please feel to reach us on contact@pratititech.com

    Our Services

    Software Product Development | Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare App Development | Solar Energy Analytics

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • 7 Amazing Use Cases of IoT in Healthcare

    7 Amazing Use Cases of IoT in Healthcare

    Introduction

    When we think of IoT in healthcare, we mainly tend to think of smart sensors and smart hospitals. But the solutions go beyond these. It is evident from the fact that spending on IoT solutions in healthcare will reach $1 trillion by 2025!

    IoT promises to help healthcare organizations in providing personalized, accessible, and up-to-the-point healthcare services at a lower cost. From remote health monitoring to transmitting real-time alerts, there are several areas where healthcare IoT finds its use.

    7 Exciting IoT Use Cases in Healthcare

    Let’s look at some of them to get a better perspective:

    Remote Patient Care

    In many parts of the world, residents live miles away from the nearest hospital. As such, when there is an emergency, it takes time for them to reach the healthcare facilities. Similarly, for healthcare providers, it becomes difficult to visit patients with chronic conditions frequently. The issue with time-consuming commute can be solved with remote patient care powered by the IoT.

    The connectivity can allow healthcare professionals to assist patients with prescriptions, medication, and also measure their biometrics using sensors and remote equipment. For instance, patients can connect any wearable or portable device to the cloud and update the data in real-time.

    Some of the IoT devices can also facilitate face-to-face talk over the internet. This can provide healthcare professionals with the necessary information to prepare care plans while the patients are on their way to the hospital. Or even without them needing to visit the hospital in the first place! For chronic patients, this helps create a roster of the patients’ day-to-date health update.

    The collected data can form charts and diagrams to be easily visualized by healthcare professionals.

    Live video and audio streaming can be used to monitor patients’ present condition without the need for the commute.

    Emergency Care

    Emergency care outputs are based on the time, accuracy, and the availability of contextual information. Moreover, it also depends on the quality of the data received during the emergency call and the information collected while the patient is being transported for immediate care at the healthcare facilities. Also, the entire process of collecting, storing, processing, and retrieving the data during that time is laborious and time-consuming. IoT can help in collecting data accurately, which can be accessed by emergency care staff such as paramedics or staff in the ER for quick and better medical assistance. This data can be also be transmitted to ER staff in real-time while the patient is on her way to the hospital – allowing the hospitals to be better prepared for the care.

    Tracking of Inventory, Staff, and Patients

    Healthcare organizations are all about increasing the efficiencies of their workforce and reduce operational costs. This is true for both small and large institutions that include several staff members, patients, and inventory. Using IoT devices in the form of wireless ID cards, hospitals can manage admissions, increase the security, and measure the overall performance of the staff. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacons and RFID tags can be used to track the location of the inventory and also trace the staff members in case of any urgency.

    Moreover, IoT and RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) together can facilitate asset tracking. This is one of the most inexpensive ways to keep track of the equipment, drugs, and free resources, who can then spend more time on patient care.

    Must Read: How IoT Is Transforming Healthcare

    Augmenting Surgeries

    When it comes to healthcare, IoT has penetrated operating rooms as well. Think of connected robotic devices, which are powered by Artificial Intelligence and are used to perform various surgeries. These operations are all about increased precision brought forth by robot-assisted surgeons. Moreover, connected devices and IoT applications can perfectly streamline the activities of the medical staff at both pre and post-operating stages. In both cases, IoT sensors can be used to collect, transmit data, and analyze it. This helps record the tiniest details and therefore, is useful in preventing surgical complications.

    Virtual Monitoring of Critical Hardware

    It is a given that all the modern healthcare facilities require state-of-the-art hardware and software to function. When these are not taken care of in the best possible manner, the hardware can pose various risks and threats. Think of power outages, system failures, or even cyber-attacks. Since no healthcare organization would want these mishaps to occur, they opt for the best IoT driven solutions. A case in point is that of e-Alert by Philips, which can virtually monitor critical medical hardware. If there is an anomaly in any equipment, the solution alerts the hospital staff, so that a failure can be avoided by preventive maintenance.

    Pharmacy Management

    The pharmacy business is worth millions of dollars and is quite complicated. Since there are several steps in transferring and managing the drugs from plant to storage facilities in a hospital, there are several preservation issues that may be associated with them.  IoT can help combine the best safety approaches and the latest technology to ensure faster drug delivery, safer operations, and better patient care.

    For instance, take the example of smart fridges, which can be used to store vaccines and keep them from getting damaged during handling, storage or transfer.

    IoT-enabled pharmacies can ensure greater efficiencies and effectiveness in operations, error-free medical dispensing, security, and overall enhanced patient satisfaction.

    Must Read: Key Challenges with Enterprise IoT Applications

    Wearables

    IoT devices, in the form of wearables, can let the care teams collect numerous data points about the patient’s sleep patterns, activity, heart rate, temperature,  and so on. These wearables can offer real-time information to caregivers and patients. Think of a situation in which a heart patient has an elevated heart-rate. The wearable will immediately transmit the signal to the nursing staff and allow them to provide immediate and timely assistance to the patient. This can also help in remote health monitoring of elderly patients who are outside the hospital premises but need constant monitoring.

    IoT in healthcare has tremendous potential and can prove to be immensely beneficial for healthcare providers and patients. It is set to transform patient care and organizational efficiencies. Several hospitals around the world have already leveraged the power of IoT under their smart hospital initiatives. At Pratiti, we have helped several healthcare organizations with the design and development of their smart healthcare software development solutions.

    Connect with us to know how we can help you improve patient care, reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and empower decision-makers with actionable insights at the point of care.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How is IoT Used in Healthcare?

    Remote monitoring in the healthcare industry is now possible thanks to IoT devices, which have the ability to keep patients safe and healthy while also enabling healthcare providers to provide improved treatment. As communication with doctors has gotten easier and more efficient, it has also boosted patient interaction and satisfaction. Furthermore, remote monitoring of a patient’s health helps to shorten hospital stays and avoid re-admissions. IoT in healthcare has a big impact on lowering healthcare expenses and improving treatment outcomes.

    What are the Advantages of IoT in Healthcare?

    The advantages of internet of things in healthcare applications lies in remote use cases. For example, in the event of a medical emergency, real-time remote monitoring via connected IoT devices and smart notifications can detect illnesses, treat diseases, and save lives.

    Smart sensors monitor health status, lifestyle choices, and the environment to suggest preventative steps that will limit the occurrence of diseases and acute states.

    Medical data accessibility allows patients to receive high-quality care while also assisting healthcare providers in making the best medical decisions.

    What are the Challenges of IoT in Healthcare?

    Although there are numerous advantages as seen in internet of things in healthcare examples, there are also challenges.

    Healthcare providers are frequently tasked with ensuring the security of several sites as well as vast data repositories.

    Moreover, moving an entire facility to a new system and practice takes time, and the initial investment and installation costs can be prohibitive, particularly for smaller healthcare facilities and rural clinics.

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • Yes, IoT Product Development is Different

    Yes, IoT Product Development is Different

    As organizations seek to become digitally savvy, Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a key technology enabler for Digital Transformation.

    Through efficient analysis of real-time data, IoT is assisting enterprises with better decision-making, efficiency, and productivity, while proving to be exceptional drivers of growth across industries.

    For organizations that get IoT right, the benefits are abundant. However, IoT product development is extremely challenging; a lot goes into making IoT products work. And although the basic process of development is similar to software product development, there’s a lot more that goes into IoT product development.
    So, what’s so different about IoT product development? Let’s dive right in!

    The complexity of prototyping

    The prototyping process is critical for any product development as it allows teams to demonstrate – via mockups and wireframes, in the case of software products – what the final product will look like, ensure its performance, and determine if improvements are needed. However, IoT prototyping is a lot more complex than software prototyping.

    In IoT product development, because of the absence of pre-existing architectures and libraries, you will have to build your own components and create your own path. Assuming most users aren’t familiar with IoT, you will have to provide detailed setup and use instructions and ship physical devices to beta users to get feedback. Such an elaborate process would automatically impact your feedback time and testing cycles and make your prototyping far more complex as compared to traditional software products.

    Choosing the right platform

    Unlike in software development, where choosing a platform depended on what tasks the software is intended to perform, in IoT product development, you need to choose a platform which manages the device as well as performs advanced data storage and processing tasks with the required systems within the ecosystem. The platform should also be capable of providing APIs that will allow apps to communicate with the IoT device.

    You need to consider a variety of factors while choosing the right platform: the number of devices the IoT solution will support, the volume and velocity of data that the product would be required to process, UI capabilities, integration with APIs, data sources, and proprietary systems, as well as how the platform will be implemented and maintained.

    Making the IoT product scalable

    In software development, scalability concerns are typically addressed by adding more servers or increasing cloud capacity. But because IoT products are part of a large network of connected objects, sharing and exchanging data continuously via the Internet, as technology advances, they need to evolve from performing simple analysis tasks to more complex functions, such as power grid optimization, production control, and more.

    This continuous shift demands that IoT products are highly scalable – not just to accommodate an increasing number of connected objects, but also to carry out more complex tasks with time. For making IoT products scalable, you will have to use the web and mobile interfaces that scale, web workers, asynchronous communication paths, edge computing, among others.

    Integrating security

    While security is a critical part of software product development as well, what makes it different for IoT products is the ecosystem in which they belong. The continuous digital connectivity IoT products have with one another presents higher security vulnerabilities and loopholes. Any small breach or hacking can result in unauthorized access to critical data, and it can bring the entire ecosystem down.

    It is important to integrate data security into the development process from the word go: from basic authentication to the most advanced levels of platform security, hardware security modules, end-to-end encryption, API security, cloud security and more.

    Data storage and analytics

    When it comes to data storage and analytics, most software products are expected to unearth insight about user behavior and performance issues. However, IoT products generate a high volume of data, all of which has to be efficiently stored in storage systems with various retention policies. In addition, the data has to be continuously analyzed to allow users to gain actionable insights and drive higher throughput.

    IoT product development requires you to invest in advanced data storage systems, as well as in compelling analytics software with data visualization capabilities that make it easy to spot trends and take action. Choosing the right analytics platform can not only help in predicting results based on the data captured by the device, but also in detecting deviations from known usage patterns, and enabling users to take appropriate action.

    Connectivity and communication

    In the classic software world, connectivity is limited to physical servers and the cloud. However, given the extended scope of IoT products, the network gets extended to hardware devices as well. Each IoT device will have to be developed using a different connectivity mechanism and communication protocol – depending on what functions the product is expected to perform. From RFID and NFC to ZigBee Bluetooth and more.

    One needs to use the right communication protocols that accurately determine the source of data, understand the type, and send it to the data processing engine. It also needs to be ensured that the protocols are configured such that they can support a substantial volume, velocity, and variety of data from different devices, and offer an adequate level of fault tolerance.

    Build cutting-edge IoT products

    With more and more devices getting connected to the Internet, the IoT market is bursting at the seams. As 31 billion connected devices become available in 2020, there is an IoT revolution taking place.

    And although IoT is arguably one of the most impressive evolutions in recent technology history, IoT product development is not without challenges. The complexity of prototyping, choosing the right platform, making products scalable, integrating security, enabling data storage and analytics, and building the right connectivity and communication – it is the right amalgamation of all these aspects that allow you to build cutting-edge IoT products, and change the way the world operates and communicates.

    Our Services

    Offshore Software Product Development | Digital Twin Software Platforms | Industrial IoT Solutions | Digital Product Development

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Why Software Product Development Needs to Focus on Journeys Rather Than Solutions?

    Why Software Product Development Needs to Focus on Journeys Rather Than Solutions?

    In the present competitive world, businesses prefer outsourcing their software product development requirements to the dedicated IT and tech companies. After all, the Outsourced Product Development or OPD service providers can provide you with the much-needed competitive edge as they have expertise available to deliver an apt solution. But the reality is that most software/IoT products fail to generate desired results and many a time, require enhancement after the project completion.

    The software development methodology followed by an OPD player plays a vital role in the product’s success.

    We believe that the tech product development focus needs to shift from the existing project-focused to a journey-focused one, bringing true agile methodologies to work.

    Many times, the traditional project-focused model does not offer an in-depth understanding of what the customers actually want. Teams work only in silos and do not understand the project landscape; Lack of this understanding becomes a hindrance in the process of developing the product. Developing products which fail to fulfill market requirements.

    Real Life Example

    A case in point is the recent healthcare start-up we worked with. The Start-up wanted to develop a comprehensive IoT based health care product. The clients envisioned to address the pressing post-acute care issue in the European market with an IoT solution that can ensure complete recovery for patients’ post-treatment.

    The customer wanted to develop a product that would directly capture vital health parameters of the patients like temperature, blood pressure, glucose, etc. from the medical devices. They also wanted an Integration with e-commerce companies helping direct ordering through an app. Further integrations were envisaged with Care providers, Hospitals and even insurance companies.

    Once the customer approached us, we at Pratiti employed our design thinking-based product definition framework to really empathize and understand the problem customer wanted to solve using technology.

    This resulted in an improved understanding of the actual customer needs. The result was we were able to Say “NO” to initial requirements of the customer. We were able to help the customer understand their real requirement. This reduced the initial requirements.

    We were also able to reduce the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development time, and costs associated with the product development also reduced significantly.

    The customer was able to take this MVP to the market and do trials and understand the usefulness of the solution developed. This helped customer launch the product earlier at a lower cost and prioritize the features needed in the product in a phased manner.

    Thus, we enabled the tech journey for the customer. We continue to engage with this customer and partner together to bring new enhancement and features in the product.

    Innovation Requires Continuous Development

    New emerging business requires continuous enhancement to the product. Let’s take an example of Uber that of ride-hailing start-up Uber. They have perfected the art of changing its dimensions as per the requirements of the present market situation. Uber always focuses on bringing in new features to its business, like they use the taxi for advertisement, uber eats now offers food on the go and much more.

    The company knows that to survive in this competitive world, it has to keep on innovating. In the same way, to produce better quality software tech product, one needs to keep developing the technology, thus we say that tech development is a continuous journey.

    We at Pratiti Technologies have skilfully mastered this art. We partner with our client as their technology partners and ensure we craft a smooth tech journey for them.  We ensure the right product definition and follow a unique tech development process (Download free guide here) to ensure successful tech development for the clients.

    Our Services

    Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare Software Development | IoT development services | Digital Product Development

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

Request a call back

     

    x