Questions about IoT development. Part 1

As smart devices are increasingly spreading in our everyday life, there is an unprecedented opportunity for businesses to shape this emerging market and create the demand for new products.

From pet trackers to medical sensors, or multifunctional devices for tracking the parameters of transported goods — all these connected devices generate event streams of data that are presented to end-users via mobile or web apps.

The combination of all these components — smart sensors, data aggregation, web & mobile apps, and the cloud infrastructure — forms the Internet of Things.

The development of IoT systems is a tricky business that implies being on the cutting edge of software & hardware implementation best practices. Therefore, it’s a solid strategy to get a trustworthy smart devices development partner that you can rely on when needed.

Let’s say you have an IoT project coming up. The first step to getting the project underway is to commit to a certain deadline and budget, right? It may be complicated when you are understaffed or stretching too thin on other ongoing projects, or else lack the necessary technical expertise. You know someone who has successfully worked with an outsource partner, but you also heard a lot of horror stories about off-site teams.

One thing you know is you need a qualified team to get this project done now, even by an insignificant margin. So, you set off on the quest for a proper connected devices development partner. Here’s a comprehensive list of questions you need to ask your candidates to pick the right one.

The right partner will demonstrate some case studies where they have helped businesses develop IoT platforms distributed between cloud services and on-premises gateways or devices. A vendor that has deployed IoT projects specifically in your industry makes up for a great development partner.

Anyway, it’s a rare case when a single vendor has implemented IoT projects across all verticals, like automotive, transportation, healthcare, or retail. However, an architectural approach and best practices successfully realized in one area can be effectively applied to other industries.

“The basic idea of the IoT is that virtually every physical thing in this world can also become a computer that is connected to the Internet.”

Your candidates need to be versed in different aspects of software development. It is a well-known fact that any IoT project encompasses various areas of expertise: from mobile apps development to cloud services and protocols optimization, or big data management. Yet another layer of competency you are looking for in a potential vendor is their ability to work with third-party systems through APIs that must be integrated with an IoT solution.

It makes sense to inquire if the company is backing up the development of these real-time systems by the relevant software stack. A good example of solid tech expertise would be such programming languages as Erlang or Elixir.

Being a general-purpose functional programming language, with lightweight processes, automatic garbage collection, and available on all major OSes, Erlang makes up for a great platform for developing distributed software systems. Of course, the range of programming languages and corresponding architecture is not limited to these variants.

Besides experience with the appropriate programming languages, your candidates should also demonstrate some core competencies:

Just ask for their preferred software stack they lean on when developing IoT solutions.

2. Have you implemented any real-time IoT systems in our sector?

Businesses may have various ideas for the realization of IoT solutions, but in general, they can be divided into two groups:

These groups of IoT initiatives presuppose the use of various smart connected sensor devices and, therefore, require different expertise from your partner-to-be. It is a rare case when a vendor has completed projects for both consumer and enterprise sectors.

3. What is your expertise on the hardware side of the Internet of Things?

Knowing if your potential partner can design required hardware components, for instance, layouts for the PCB boards on their own is going to greatly influence your IoT project, in terms of whether you will need some additional partners for hardware design.

Do go into detail and find out the specifics of their experience with hardware engineering:

It adds value to an IoT development company when it has experience of going through a certification process that is required by some regulating companies (e.g. mobile network operators like AT&T, Verizon, or Apple) when designing the hardware integrated with their products and services.

Another important area of expertise that instantly makes a potential vendor a keeper is the hardware design patents research & analysis capabilities. If your IoT project includes the endpoints that need to be designed from scratch, you need someone who can research the prior art and look into the existing patents. This way your newly designed system and sensors will not infringe any third-party patents.

Finally, always ask for more examples of successful implementation of smart devices related projects. There are two noteworthy use cases when the hardware expertise allows you to get the edge advantage with their IoT development initiatives.

One is when we were able to design an RF-enabled sensor that was 3 times cheaper to produce than the standard off-the-shelf sensors with a radio frequency transmission capability. Another use case involved optimization of firmware for the specific BLE devices that resulted in 15% power consumption reduction during the active communication stage between the BLE devices and smartphones.

to be continued

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