Conceptualizing and Assessing the Value of Internet of Things Solutions

The Internet of Things (IoT) is associated with enormous economic potential. To date, however, actual revenues remain below expectations. This circumstance particularly affects IoT solution providers in industrial contexts where effective value assessment is critical for market success. Since a deeper understanding of how IoT solutions create value is required to address this challenge, we develop a framework and corresponding value levers for assessing the value of IoT solutions along an archetypical yet configurable business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) value chain. Taking the perspective of an IoT solution provider in the industrial context, we evaluate the framework with five such solution providers and apply the value levers for an initial value quantification. Our work extends previous research and furthers knowledge on the business value of IT and IoT. It also supports practitioners in assessing IoT value potential.