Who Are The Early Adopters of Internet of Things (IoT)?

Original article — “Who Are The Early Adopters of Internet of Things (IoT)?” published at IoT World

If you noticed that most IoT companies came from startups such as the ones that introduced their early products through Kickstarter crowdfunding. Only recently, we can see bigger companies like Apple, Samsung, Google are developing IoT solutions. But who are their customers? I believed the customers are the early adopters.

But who are these early adopters? Early adopters are a larger group at 13.5 percent of the population. Early adopters are well-known opinion leaders. Because of their leadership, early adopters command attention and respect, and they function as cross-pollinators. Like bees fertilize flowers by bringing pollen from one flower to another, early adopters spread new ideas from innovators to others. IoT requires these opinion leaders to spur the industry.

IoT startups are the innovators — they are the evangelists and the believers. They will take whatever risks to be the leaders in this new business. The more reasons we can also see the early customers are also the ones that wanted to be the first industry mover that adopts such solutions even though they know the IoT solutions might not be 100% perfect. They are willing to take the risk of an 80% matured product. That’s the price if one wants to become an early adopter.

Begin by bringing on board the opinion leaders — the adventurous innovators who spearhead new practices — and the early adopters, who are not far behind. Encourage the opinion leaders to mobilize the majority of staff — the early and late majorities — to understand and adopt the new practice or set of practices.

The early adopters are known as the revolutionist, evangelist, futurist and visionary. Bring them to the IoT industry and we will see IoT become a reality. Nurture the startups because they are poised to shape the future of the Internet of Things.

Gartner predicts that by 2017, 50 percent of IoT solutions (typically a product combined with a service) will originate in startups that are less than three years old. — Source

About the Author

Dr. Mazlan is the co-founder and CEO of FAVORIOT Sdn Bhd. He is ranked among Top 20 Global Thought Leaders on the Internet of Things (February 2019) by Thinkers360, Top 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR Congress 2017, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2017 & 2018, ranked №20th Thought Leader in IOT by 2014 Onalytics Report — “The Internet of Things — Top 100 Thought Leaders” and UTM Alumni Industry Personality 2016. He is currently one of Global Vision Board Member (2017). Before Favoriot, he spent 2.5 years as CEO of REDtone IOT and 8 years in MIMOS Berhad as Senior Director Wireless Communications Cluster. He also spent 13 years in CELCOM (mobile operator), handling many senior management positions. Prior to Celcom, he spent 10 years as an Assoc. Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. He is currently the Adjunct Professor at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) and Universiti Malaysia (UniMY). He was also the Adjunct Professor for UTM from 2008 to 2013 and UTHM (2004–2005, 2013–2016). Dr.Mazlan is a frequent speaker at many major & established IOT, Smart Cities and telco conferences locally and globally. He sits in Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) for several local universities. He graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a BEE (1984), University of Essex (UK) with MSc. in Telematics (1986) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a Ph.D. in Telecommunications (1993). He also received an Honorary Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from UTHM (2017).

You can reach him on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check all his presentation slides HERE.

You can download Dr. Mazlan’s photo from HERE.