By 2020, over 12 billion IoT sensors will be in use worldwide. "However, in a very heterogeneous IoT market, potential users are often faced with a tangled web of different providers, systems and network protocols," explains Andreas Bös, Vice President of Conrad Connect. "Medium-sized and small companies in particular suffer from this situation, as IoT solutions must guarantee them a timely business advantage. With IoT platforms, the complexity of the Internet of Things can be significantly reduced for companies and practical applications can be implemented quickly."

Conrad Connect's Smart Ordering Services now offer new opportunities for business customers: As part of the Ecosystem Partnerships, companies can use the services to open up new, digital as well as direct sales and marketing channels. This is because customers can automatically reorder consumables by clicking a smart button, using a voice assistant or based on the sensor data of an IoT device (example: batteries for fire alarms). In this way, companies are increasing the number of touchpoints with their customers; they are now directly with the consumer in the office or living room.

The three pillars

Overall, the business solutions are based on three pillars:

The Ecosystem Partnership: as part of the Ecosystem Partnerships, partners benefit from Conrad Connect's comprehensive IoT ecosystem. Ecosystem partners not only gain access to an extensive network of users and companies, but can also expand their own product and address completely new target groups: As soon as partners integrate and operate their hardware solutions or apps on the Conrad Connect platform, they automatically become compatible with the other devices and services of the ecosystem as far as possible. The application possibilities of their own product increase rapidly and companies can reach hundreds of thousands of potential users with their extended solution via the service marketplace.

Conrad Connect Professional: With this solutions approach, companies can access the extensive range of automation options and IoT services on the Conrad Connect platform or create their own IoT projects quickly and easily. The possibilities range from resource monitoring to security applications such as
applications such as intelligent smoke and burglar alarms. Business partners can digitize their processes quickly and easily.

The Platform as a Service model: This allows partners to link the Conrad Connect platform to their own product as a plug-in via an API interface. In this way, companies extend their own application with the Conrad Connect platform and can offer their users the extensive ecosystem of benefits and services. Alternatively, Conrad Connect also offers partners the opportunity to offer the platform under their own brand.