In the software development world, one of the first pieces of advice new programmers always get from their seniors is “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” It’s an idiomatic metaphor to guide them not to waste time, money, and resources in developing everything from scratch while there’re third parties who have already created and optimized thousands of APIs and libraries that would help them implement specific functions in minutes!
According to the latest available statistics, there are approximately 7.74 billion connected IoT devices, which is expected to reach 25+ billion by 2030. The appetite for IoT adoption in businesses, governments, cities, healthcare services, and homes has exponentially increased since the beginning of the 5G rolling-out and after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a gap between the number of devices added to the market daily and the number of end-user applications available.
Most IoT solutions come with fixed functions that meet general end-users needs, but what about businesses looking for specific customizations to simulate a complex business use case they have? or asked for a functional MVP to test the IoT viability? In this case, asking your developers to work from scratch will be a huge waste of time, effort, and resources.
The same concept of APIs and libraries in software development is now applying to the IoT world with the help of “Application Enablement Platforms,” appreciated by AEP.
AEPs are platforms that provide all the necessary services to build a solution for IoT devices. Their services cover all the architectural building blocks for any IoT solution: communication, data storage, management, application building and enablement, user interface security, and analytics. With the help of these services, developers can rapidly build an IoT solution from the ground up without worrying about the solution’s scalability, computability, or security. Below are the top three befits of depending on AEP in your organization:
1 – Easy Learning Processes
AEPs make it easy to train existing or new employees about their tools. They’re well structured and well documented, with lots of tutorials available. Usually, most AEP vendors will work closely with your team to guide them on how to master their tools and integrate the current resources you have into their system. They’ll also guarantee smooth transactions for your existing projects to their platforms.
2 – Easy to Duplicate
Suppose you are happy with one of your successful projects and confident with its stability. AEPs make it easy to duplicate the same deployment you’re satisfied with and implement it in new projects. A trusted AEP will seamlessly save all the processes, user interactions, and preferences from your old projects and incorporate them into the new ones.
3 – Pay as You Grow
Most open-source AEPs require no upfront investment in software, and you don’t have to pay for the upgrade or maintenance. It allows you to use their tools and pay according to scaling pricing modules. This will enable you to scale your operations while reducing fixed and variable costs.
With hundreds of AEPs out there ready to sell their services to you and promise to provide the best tools, you might be wondering: what is the best AEP for IoT to use in your business??
From our long experience in the IoT field, we believe this is the wrong question to ask. There’s no best AEP in the absolute! However, the right question should be: What is the best AEP to use with that specific customer need? We encourage you to carefully listen to your customers, analyze their requirements, and select the AEP that exactly fits their needs. Your choice will differ from one customer to another.
So, next time you’re about to implement a new solution for your clients, don’t reinvent the wheel and use AEP for faster, cheaper, and highly customized ones.
Keep following our blog to learn more about the latest IoT trends. Also, visit www.rpmanetworks.com to know more about our services and products.