After spending years building an IoT platform, I have learned something interesting. Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to collaboration is not technology. It is the fear of losing control.
Whenever I meet solution providers who have developed their own IoT platforms, I occasionally encounter a familiar reaction when discussing potential collaboration.
“We already have our own platform.”
“We don’t need another platform.”
“What happens if your platform eventually replaces ours?”
I understand their concerns. Building an IoT platform is not easy. It requires years of software development, technical expertise, financial investment and countless hours of troubleshooting. When you have invested so much into something, the last thing you want is another company coming along and taking away your customers.
But after building FAVORIOT since 2017, I have come to see this situation differently.
What if another IoT platform is not your competitor but the missing piece that makes your solution more valuable?
The Reality of Building an IoT Platform
When we started developing FAVORIOT, we had to make many decisions about which capabilities to build first. Connecting devices was only the beginning. We needed ways to manage devices, collect data, store information, create dashboards and trigger alerts.
As the platform developed, customers began expecting more capabilities. Analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, intelligent reporting and automation became increasingly relevant.
This taught me an important lesson.
An IoT platform is never truly finished.
There will always be new customer requirements, new technologies and new industry applications. Even companies with large engineering teams cannot realistically become specialists in every technology and industry.
Today, an IoT solution may require device connectivity, data storage, visualisation, analytics, AI, machine learning, rules engines, security and application services. Each component requires continuous development and maintenance.
The question is whether every company needs to develop all these capabilities independently.
I don’t believe so.
Why Must We Build Everything Ourselves?
Imagine a company that has developed a successful smart agriculture solution.
Its platform monitors soil moisture, temperature, humidity and irrigation systems. The company understands farming operations, knows its customers and has developed applications that solve genuine agricultural problems.
One day, a customer requests predictive analytics, intelligent reporting and anomaly detection.
Should the company recruit more engineers and spend another year developing these capabilities?
Or should it connect its existing solution to another platform that already provides them?
Personally, I would seriously consider the second option.
The company can continue owning its agriculture application, maintaining its customer relationships and protecting its intellectual property. The additional platform simply provides capabilities that strengthen the existing solution.
There is no reason why both platforms cannot coexist when their technical architectures and commercial arrangements support it.
We should stop confusing technology collaboration with business surrender.
My Experience Building FAVORIOT
At FAVORIOT, we have developed capabilities covering data ingestion, device management, storage, dashboards, analytics, machine learning, AI reporting and automation.
We also introduced Faybee, our AI assistant, and FAVORIOT MCP to support new ways of interacting with operational data and applications.
But I have never believed that FAVORIOT should develop every industry-specific solution ourselves.
We need companies that understand manufacturing, agriculture, energy, buildings, utilities, transportation and other industries.
These companies already possess something extremely valuable: industry knowledge and customer relationships.
FAVORIOT can provide an additional technology layer to strengthen their applications. In return, our partners can help bring our platform into industries where they already have expertise.
This is how I believe a healthy IoT business ecosystem should operate.
Your Competitor Could Become Your Sales Partner
There is another opportunity that many companies overlook.
When two technology companies collaborate, they are not simply sharing software capabilities. They may also be opening their respective business networks.
Imagine a solution provider with a strong industrial monitoring application but limited marketing resources.
Now imagine working with a platform company that has relationships with system integrators, enterprises, universities and technology partners.
The solution provider could gain access to potential customers it would otherwise struggle to reach.
Similarly, the platform company benefits because it can introduce a complete industry-specific solution rather than offering only its underlying technology.
Both companies can explore joint demonstrations, customer referrals, marketing campaigns, project proposals and co-selling arrangements.
Of course, clear agreements are necessary to protect customer relationships, intellectual property and commercial interests.
But these are business matters that can be negotiated. They should not automatically prevent collaboration.
Perhaps We Are Afraid of the Wrong Competitor
Over the years, I have seen technology companies spend enormous amounts of time developing features that already exist elsewhere.
Sometimes, this is necessary because the feature is central to their competitive advantage. But sometimes, it is simply because they believe everything must be developed internally.
Meanwhile, customers are waiting, competitors are moving and development costs continue increasing.
I have learned that building a successful technology business is not about owning every piece of technology.
It is about knowing what you do best, recognising what others do better and finding ways to create greater value together.
After nearly a decade building FAVORIOT, I increasingly believe that collaboration can create opportunities that individual companies may never achieve alone.
The next time another IoT platform company approaches you, perhaps you should not immediately ask whether it will replace your platform.
Instead, ask a different question.
“Can we combine our strengths, improve our solutions and win more customers together?”
Sometimes, the company you thought was your competitor could become one of your most valuable business partners.
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