I want to share something that has been sitting heavily in my heart for a while.
Every time I speak to engineers, lecturers, startups, or research teams, I ask a simple question.
“What IoT platform are you using?”
The answers came quickly.
From abroad.
From overseas.
From a big global brand.
Or… “We built our own server.”
I nodded. I smiled. But inside, something felt heavy.
Why are we still doing this to ourselves?
Why do we keep believing the best tools must come from somewhere else?
That moment stayed with me long after the talk ended
We Are Obsessed With Dashboards, But Forget the Foundation
Let me be honest.
Many IoT teams I meet are not obsessed with devices. They are obsessed with dashboards.
Big screens.
Live charts.
Green indicators that say “OK”.
Nothing wrong with that. Dashboards matter. Visibility matters.
But when I dig deeper and ask, “Who do you actually work with behind that platform?”
Silence.
They have never met the platform provider.
Never spoken to an engineer there.
Never sat down to plan a market together.
How do you build something meaningful when you do not even know who is behind the engine?
That is the first quiet weakness nobody talks about.
Depending on a Distant Platform Feels Safe. Until It Isn’t.
Using a foreign platform feels comfortable.
It feels established.
It feels global.
It feels like you are standing on something big.
But distance has a price.
No close collaboration.
No shared story.
No joint effort to help your product grow beyond a pilot.
When something breaks, you open a ticket.
When something stalls, you wait.
When you want to commercialise, you are on your own.
I thought to myself, is this really what building an ecosystem looks like?
Local Platforms Are Not “Second Choice”. They Are Strategic Choices.
This is where my heart always leans forward.
When a university, a startup, or a solution provider works with a local IoT platform like Favoriot, something changes.
You do not just get software.
You get people.
You get conversations.
You get arguments on whiteboards.
You get someone who cares because your success is their success, too.
We can sit together.
We can shape the solution together.
We can plan how it reaches the market together.
That closeness is not a luxury. It is a multiplier.
Cross-Marketing Is Not a Buzzword. It Is Survival.
Let me put this simply.
Your market is never big enough on its own.
Neither is mine.
But when we walk into each other’s markets together, something opens up.
Your customers see us.
Our users see you.
Stories start travelling.
If a project uses our platform, we talk about it.
We highlight it.
We share it across our channels.
And no, this is not charity.
It is shared growth.
I remember thinking, why should every company shout alone when we can amplify each other’s voices?
Bundling Is About Completing the Story, Not Selling More Stuff
Here is another truth most people avoid.
Almost nobody builds everything themselves.
You may focus on air quality.
But your hardware comes from overseas.
Your connectivity comes from someone else.
Your cloud might sit on Azure or AWS.
That is normal.
What matters is how these pieces come together for the customer.
A single product often feels incomplete.
A bundled solution feels finished.
Your sensor plus our platform.
Your analytics plus our alerts.
Your service plus our visibility.
The customer does not want components.
They want relief.
They want clarity.
They want answers.
Bundling is not about pushing more.
It is about removing friction.
Ego Is the Silent Killer of IoT Ecosystems
This is the part that makes people uncomfortable.
Ego.
The belief that “we can do everything ourselves.”
The fear that collaboration means losing control.
The worry that sharing space means shrinking your brand.
I have seen this mindset slow down brilliant teams.
I told myself, collaboration is not surrender.
Working with partners does not make you smaller.
It makes you reachable.
It gives you angles you cannot create on your own.
Universities, Startups, Platforms. We Need Each Other.
Universities have ideas.
Startups have hunger.
Platforms have structure.
Separately, we struggle.
Together, we move.
When a university builds a project on a local platform, that project does not end as a report.
It becomes a case study.
A reference.
A stepping stone to something real.
When a startup launches on a local platform, it does not just deploy.
They learn how to sell.
How to explain value.
How to survive their first customers.
I often whisper to myself, this is how ecosystems are supposed to feel.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
We talk about national capability.
We talk about digital sovereignty.
We talk about nurturing local champions.
But these words mean nothing if we keep outsourcing belief.
Supporting local platforms is not about patriotism.
It is about practicality.
Local platforms understand local constraints.
Local regulations.
Local customers who call you at 2 a.m.
And when you grow, they grow with you.
A Quiet Invitation
If you are building IoT solutions today, pause for a moment.
Ask yourself:
Who do I actually collaborate with?
Who knows my product beyond a ticket number?
Who will walk with me to the market?
If the answer feels distant, maybe it is time to rethink.
Not to abandon global tools.
But to anchor your growth closer to home.
I believe ecosystems are built by hands that reach out, not by fingers that point outward.
Let us talk.
Let us partner.
Let us bundle, cross-promote, and craft stories that travel beyond dashboards.
Contact Favoriot and let’s build IoT solutions together.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Share your experience in the comments.
Dr. Mazlan Abbas 