Challenges for SMEs entering the IoT world: success is about so much more than technology

We describe a case in which a small company with no competence in the Internet of Things has attempted to develop a connected product. Many of the issues that have come up around this process are not centered around the technology or the technical solution. Instead, the IoT brings additional challenges connected to the change of the customer-provider relationship, the need for a new business model, the need to understand the IoT ecosystem to make a product fit in, and the challenge of getting access to all the different competences needed. Our results suggest that governmental strategies, funding systems, investors and other stakeholders need to broaden the perspective on the IoT from a technological focus to include many other aspects that must be in place for companies to succeed in the IoT world, such as business models and customer relationship, as well as the positioning of a product in an IoT ecosystem.