No-Code Prototypes Increase The Success of IoT Pilots

IoT Pilots Are Happening More Frequently Than Ever

The internet of things (IoT) is no longer a new concept or a trendy fad - it’s here to stay. With the proliferation of connectivity options, advancements in sensor technologies, and the overall commoditization of hardware driving costs down, the business opportunity for organizations to adopt an IoT-based solution, whether to improve their own operations or enter new markets, has never been greater.

"The best approach to maximizing the chances of success of an IoT pilot may be through the use of a platform that enables no-code or low-code prototyping."

-Corey Chang

For those new to digital transformation or implementing any “connected” or “smart” IoT solution, it may seem simple to dive head first into a complete DIY-style prototype: buy some commodity hardware like Raspberry Pi’s or ESP32’s, purchase GCP compute power, write a little embedded code, and away you go. On the other hand, you may want to trial an off-the-shelf solution that is relatively close to your desired solution and see how it goes. 

While either of these may validate the most basic proofs of concept, it may not be enough to substantiate a successful pilot. Stakeholders want to see specific features, metrics, and plans to scale. Rather than an entirely off-the-shelf or entirely custom-built pilot, the best approach to maximizing the chances of success of an IoT pilot may be through the use of a platform that enables no-code or low-code prototyping.

The Challenge: Build Versus Buy is A Lose-Lose Situation

When choosing whether to embark on a new technology project, organizations ground themselves in the business case: What problem am I solving? What value am I creating? How much benefit am I getting for how much it’ll cost to achieve it? 

In other words, is it worth it?

To answer that question, it makes sense to start small, like in a proof of concept or pilot, to validate that the project is actually worth pursuing further. This prompts leaders to decide how much to spend - whether it be time, money, and/or staff - to fund the project’s first stage.

This is a tough decision. Spend too much, and you risk wasting resources on something that might go nowhere and could have allocated that energy on more important projects; spend too little, and you risk falling short of an otherwise achievable goal and leaving a perfectly viable and perhaps profitable project on the table. 

Often, this comes down to a build versus buy decision. 

When it comes to “build” - organizations may consider a homegrown option and build their prototype from scratch. While it sounds appealing - total control over the tech stack and the ability to make a laser-focused solution tailored to their exact needs - challenges with a completely custom route include:

• Inability to scale: Custom pilot prototypes are often designed to be “quick and dirty,” which means they’re often not built with future scale in mind. This means that at a certain point after a pilot, the system may have to be entirely re-architected, rendering mostly everything done previously to be throwaway work.
  
  
• Redundant feature work: Starting from scratch means building (or cobbling together) foundational capabilities like table exports, charts, CRUDL administrative functions, and user access from the ground up. These types of features are not typically the ones that provide the true value of the solution, meaning a lot of time is spent on rebuilding things that already exist.
  
  
• Expensive: Custom development means bringing on a team of software developers, which can be expensive, especially if requirements change midstream and timelines are delayed.

When it comes to “buy” - organizations may find an off-the-shelf solution related to their use case that they can trial in a limited fashion before deciding to proceed further. This can definitely work in some cases and answer important business questions right away. But for many, these “point solutions” fall short for the following reasons:

• Inflexible hardware: Point solutions may lock you into using certain hardware, even when it doesn’t fully meet your needs in aspects like form factor, battery life, or accuracy.
  
  
• Inflexible software: Off-the-shelf solutions may not permit you to configure aspects of the solution that are important to your organization, such as unique nomenclature, special business logic, certain roles, and access levels.

In short, the build approach can be time-consuming and wasteful, and the buy approach can be restrictive to future growth. As a result, either end of this “build versus buy” seesaw leaves organizations with much to be desired.

The Solution: No-Code Prototypes Take Out the Inefficiencies of Getting From 0 to 1

No-code and low-code prototyping software entered the scene in recent years as a best of both worlds and happy medium that sits between totally-of-the-shelf software and completely custom solutions. 

No-code or low-code prototyping platforms can be defined as any set of software tools that don’t require users to write any code (no-code) or require very minimal code (low-code) to build, test, and deploy an application. 

Typically this is done through graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in a web browser or dedicated apps that let you click-and-drag, drag-and-drop, or otherwise configure the desired behavior of your system without needing to know a specific programming language. No-code prototype platforms usually offer modular components, building blocks, or plugins that represent common functions that most systems of that type would need and can be easily enabled in the prototype.

An example of a no-code platform is WordPress, the website-building platform. Without needing to know CSS or HTML, WordPress offers non-technical users the ability to create their own websites using popular predefined layouts, drag-and-drop sections, and an extensive array of plugins for standard capabilities (e.g. contact forms, payments, analytics, or maintenance pages).

As a result, and specifically in IoT, no-code prototypes have the advantages of both off-the-shelf solutions and custom solutions, which include:

• Key features come out-of-the-box: Features needed in almost any IoT prototype such as real-time and historical views, rules and alerts, and search & filter capabilities come pre-packaged in modular, configurable options. This minimizes the time spent implementing the foundational aspects of the solution and maximizes the time spent building the unique, most valuable aspects of the system.
  
  
• A high degree of configuration: Being able to configure things like the data model, look-and-feel, and layouts of all pages achieves custom-like appearances and functions that can be reused and easily changed without the need to write, maintain, or deploy custom code.
  
  
• Faster to MVP: Using out-of-the-box components to achieve baseline functions, and configuration to achieve specific business features means getting from 0 to 1 more quickly and at a lower cost.
  
  
• Accessible to more creators: No-code tooling lowers the barrier of entry for more people to participate in the design and building of solutions, resulting in more inclusive stakeholder input, higher-quality feedback, and improved usability of the final solution.

The Technology: IoT-Specific No-Code Prototyping Platforms

There is a healthy range of no-code prototype software platforms that can help bring your pilot or prototype to life. However, IoT is unique in that it involves both software and hardware, so one major consideration is to select an IoT-focused no-code prototype platform, as they are designed to offer the features needed to handle the complexities of the physical-to-digital interface, like device integration templates, specific data views, and alert capabilities.

Many no-code software platforms are great at prototyping. However, the plan is to advance past the prototyping phase. When looking beyond the pilot, consider a no-code platform that also has the following characteristics:

• Support for a variety of connectivity options and communication protocols: Look for compatibility with Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite-based devices, common communication protocols like HTTP, MQTT, or UDP, and various cloud connectors like Google Cloud Pub/Sub or AWS Kinesis.
  
  
• Ready to scale: It will be critical to have performant, secure, and well-architected systems that can handle data at high volumes and offer the administrative functions to manage large quantities of assets and devices at scale.
  

• Extensible through code in a reusable, non-prohibitive way: No-code tools are great for rapid execution, but you’ll eventually find a desire to customize your solution; a platform that allows you to extend the solution in you own way without severely impacting your ability to inherit new platform features later on is key for the project’s future growth.
  
  
• Wide user persona applicability: Many IoT solutions end up being narrowly designed for a particular user group (e.g. only for IT admins to monitor device health). Realizing the full value of an IoT solution requires the ability to build additional views or even separate applications that support all kinds of user personas in an organization, from IT administrators and executives to end users in the field

No-code IoT platforms are a game-changing approach to proving the value of IoT in the pilot phase and beyond.