(Sorry! But don't worry, we can help.)

You had the best idea, the best intentions, and the best team. So what could be going wrong?

1. You're spending too much time on the wrong things

A quick rule: if a computer can do it well, let it. This could be as simple as identifying routine, basic tasks that your customer service team are reliant on (like raising support tickets) or could be setting up a slightly more complicated but intelligent automated rule, e.g. if a device battery level goes below X% then send an alert to Y team. 

2. You're not able to see patterns and trends in your data 

Your data has a lot to teach you,and usually not a single lesson you had scheduled. Visualizing your data using an IoT dashboard (yes, with a software like DevicePilot!) can help you spot insights in customer usage / device behaviour that were previously lost in spreadsheet columns. 

3. You're not delivering fast enough 

There are a few different reasons for this, but it usually comes down to wasting time building the wrong components of your project. Is it a key part of your value proposition or USP? If so, build it yourself and make sure you have the enough resources (time, money, people) to do so. But is it part of your operational management processes, or could you buy it off-the-shelf? In this case, you'd be better off buying the hardware or software and spending your time on the things that matter. (See #1, again.)

4. Your customers are spotting faults before you

Successfully delivering your product means delivering your promised service, and relying on customer reports to fix issues is unwieldy and results in lots of unhappy buyers and social posts. You can avoid twitter fallout by being proactive in your delivery and setting up triggered alerts to spot issues before your customers can tell you themselves - increased customer happiness with decreased operational headache. 

5. You haven't given enough thought to scaling 

How will your project need to be redeveloped for a different sector? If you've purpose-built your product/service to fit one use case - what will need to be changed in order to successfully move into another vertical? Again, you'll find that off-the-shelf components not only save you time in both the short and long run, but will provide the most flexibility as you move from strength to strength in your company growth. 

Anything we've missed? Had your own "this sucks" realisation? Let us know in the comments below. 

Further reading

The 7 habits of highly effective connected product companies

Easy but great IoT customer service

4 IoT architectural choices you'll need to consider