slide 1: WHY IOT DEVICE MANAGEMENT AND IOT PLATFORM IS
CRUCIAL FOR TELCO SUCCESS
As IoT becomes the next big thing in the telecom industry with a projection of well over
20 billion devices in 2025 telcos are on the lookout for next-gen IoT platform to exploit
it to the fullest. Management of IoT sensors along with IoT billing forms the crux of a
successful operation . To ensure maximum returns out of an IoT venture it is essential
to think of it as a business transformation rather than a mere technology upgrade.
The Need for Effective IoT Sensors and Device
Management
IoT sensors and devices are the physical entities that play a vital role in the optimal
performance of an IoT platform. Device management includes the overseeing of IoT
workstations routers gateways modules and most important of all sensors . The
management of IoT devices should be done in such a way that it allows for application
of patches on times firmware updates device alerts and complete reporting.
slide 2: As IoT devices and sensors can be of different types it would be very difficult for a
telecom operation to manage all the disparate components effectively.
slide 3: What IoT Device Management Encompass
Below are some important things that are essential for effective device management of
IoT sensors and devices:
1. Device installation and integration
A good device management platform must come with proper documentation for
device integration. A device agent is required for bringing in homogeneity into the
complete set of device management competencies. The best way to approach
integration is by employing an API-rich environment that has specific APIs for
different business use cases.
2. Device and sensor update facility
IoT devices are sprawled over a large area. Expecting users to update the
devices manually is simply too much to ask. Therefore an IoT platform should
come with OTA Over the Top firmware upgrade capabilities . The IoT telecom
operators should be able to devise and dispatch the updates on time but only
after testing the viability of the update in the real-world environment.
3. Device monitoring and security enforcement
Out of all the technologies in which telcos deal in IoT is the most prone to
security threats. The main reason for this is that a host of devices are connected
via the air interface. As these devices can have any type of platform it can be
hard to implement security. Therefore it is important to use an IoT platform that
provides security during transmission and also at the location where the data
is stored. Also it is important for the people looking after the IoT platform to have
a set of interfaces that provide a peak into each and every IoT transaction.
Administrators should be able to have a glance at metadata KPIs and any
slide 4: abnormality that creeps into the system. The admins should have complete
visibility into subscription management data routing analytics/reporting and the
overall billing and monetization.
4. Convergence in IoT billing
Subscribers who will be using your IoT services won’t want a separate bill that
shows separate charges for IoT. Also they would like to have complete
bifurcation of billing data. This can be implemented only if you have a quality
telecom billing system that uses a centralized charging platform like OCS. An
OCS charges services in real-time and allows for the generation of itemized and
detailed invoices with complete transparency in IoT billing .
Conclusion
With its great mysteries riches and uncertainties IoT is a difficult riddle to solve for
telcos. But the task can be made considerably simple if you employ an IoT platform
that allows for complete IoT sensors and device management along with full
convergence in billing .