IoT 3 mins read

Can you prove ROI from your IoT projects?

Read Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ study of Cumulocity IoT to prove the benefits & ROI that our customers can experience by using this platform.

Dr. Juergen Kraemer Dr. Juergen Kraemer

With Internet of Things (IoT) projects, proving return on investment (ROI) quickly is critical. And it is one of the hardest things to achieve.

When surveyed by Beecham Research, 89% of 25,000 IoT adopters said that achieving ROI was a significant challenge and a huge 75% of all IoT projects were not considered successful.  

At Software AG, we see more and more customers coming to us after experiencing IoT project failures when building IoT solutions. That’s because, jointly with our customers, we can create a different story. And to prove that, we wanted to conduct an independent study to show the benefits and ROI that our customers can experience by using Cumulocity IoT, our IoT platform. To this end, we commissioned Forrester Consulting to do a Total Economic Impact™ study of Cumulocity IoT.

Prior to implementing Cumulocity IoT, the respondents to the study used a range of IoT platforms, including home-grown and vendor-provided solutions. Interviewees told Forrester that these platforms were technically complex and required outsized investments of time and resources to stand up and maintain.

Study shows 339% ROI in 3 years

To illustrate the benefits of using the Cumulocity IoT platform across the IoT-enabled business cycle, Forrester aggregated benefits and costs for a composite organization that represents the interviewees’ organizations.

The composite organization is an industrial equipment manufacturer with multiple business units, revenues of approximately $500 million, and an operating margin of 12%. Forrester’s analysis assumes the composite organization uses the Cumulocity IoT platform to:

  • Grow revenues. Having the ability to deliver IoT services enables the organization to compete for projects effectively.
  • Enhance CX through new services. Advanced services such as analytics generate revenues, but they also enable customers to realize the maximum value from their investments in equipment.
  • Streamline field-force operations. Proactively monitoring and repairing equipment enables the organization to avoid costly repairs.
  • Reduce the level of effort to deliver IoT services to the organization. Deliver robust IoT services to the business with less effort compared to preexisting platforms.

The results were significant. Forrester’s analysis found that the composite organization experienced:

  • ROI of 339% over 3 years
  • $8.1 million total benefits over 3 years
  • <1year payback period

The figures tell the story. Cumulocity IoT helps you to not just beat the odds against your IoT project succeeding, it also gives you solid proof of benefits and ROI. Your CEO, CFO and your CIO will love it.

But it’s more than just the numbers. Interviewees also told Forrester what they are looking for in an IoT platform and the reasons why previous projects had failed.

One customer interviewed for the study stated: “We evaluated multiple platforms during an extensive exercise. We were primarily looking for an open architecture with a scalable license model to support all of the different government agencies. A multitenancy approach was also extremely important to us, since each agency will be working on different projects while we’ll own the master tenant. Software AG ticked all of these boxes,” head of smart city initiatives, government.

Click below to read the Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ of Cumulocity IoT study and see how you can ensure ROI on your next IoT project.