Twelve years in the field: lessons learned

Sensolus has been active in industrial IoT for more than twelve years. In that time, we have tracked well over a million non-powered assets across logistics yards, supply chains, and industrial. Looking back, the story of asset tracking should be a simple one: clear ROI, fewer losses, higher productivity, and less daily frustration. And yet, despite measurable cost reductions of up to 20%, productivity gains of 10% or more, and dramatically improved operational peace of mind, mass adoption has remained selective. This raises a fair question: if the value is so clear, why is everyone not doing this already?

Over the years, we have heard many explanations. Early on, cost was seen as the main barrier. The assumption was simple: once hardware, connectivity, and platforms became cheap enough, adoption would naturally follow. That assumption turned out to be wrong. Costs have been pushed down — dramatically — but adoption did not accelerate at the same pace. In fact, some IoT providers that built their strategy purely on cost reduction did not survive. And today, when we look at the value created by well-deployed solutions, it is clear that cost is no longer the deciding factor.

Others argued that standardization was the missing piece. Why invest today if tomorrow a different technology might become the standard? Over the last few years, that argument has largely disappeared. Standards are in place today, ecosystems have matured, and interoperability has improved. Still, decisions were postponed — now in anticipation of the next promise: global satellite connectivity or battery-free devices. As an engineer and entrepreneur, I understand the appeal of this ‘holy grail’ in the IoT space. However, after twelve years in the field, I can say this with confidence: in the short to mid-term, technology will not get significantly better than what is available today in terms of price-quality balance.

Installation is another frequently cited blocker. And to be fair, installation does take time, effort, and money. But after deploying more than a million units, we have optimized this step extensively. For many customers today, installation is no longer a major obstacle. What we see instead is something more fundamental: the willingness to adopt a new technology in daily operations. Installation is a one-time inconvenience. Adoption is a lasting behavior change. Some still label asset tracking as a ‘nice to have’. In certain contexts, that may be true. But for a growing group of industrial companies, digital visibility of critical assets has become essential. And I can explain how we know. The day these companies are switched off, the day there is no data on their assets and related supply chain flows, the impact is immediate. They request us to get online again – fast. For these companies, data has become part of the operational backbone.

I believe the real explanation is timing. And like time itself, timing is relative. For some organizations, the timing is now. For others, it will be tomorrow. The difference lies in whether the pain that asset visibility solves is already felt — or still overshadowed by other, more urgent challenges. Today’s supply chain leaders are dealing with inflation, labor shortages, macro-economic uncertainty, sustainability pressure, and the rapid rise of AI on the C-level agenda. In that context, connecting non-powered assets does not always make it to the top of the list. But for companies that see process and supply chain visibility as the next step in their growth, suddenly, timing is translated into real planning. These customers know it is a crucial step to enable automation and future optimization, not only in processes (cost & productivity), but also to lead in customer experience and enabling their team to become domain “heroes”, focused on change and adoption.

If I had to summarize what drives Sensolus, it is a simple belief: technology should work the way it is supposed to work. Simple. Secure. Reliable. Not just for technical experts, but for the people running operations every day. The true value emerges when domain experts — people who understand their supply chain inside out — can rely on asset data without questioning its quality. Only then can data be combined with process knowledge to create real insights. We often hear the same feedback from experienced operators: they don’t want to think about batteries, networks, firmware updates, failing hardware, unstable integrations, or unreliable data points. They want a foundation they can trust, so they can focus on improving their operations.

This may sound obvious, but in practice, we still see many solutions failing on fundamentals. We see competitors advertising five-year battery life on third-party devices, with footnotes explaining that actual performance depends on network conditions. We see hardware sold into harsh outdoor environments without proper validation. We see security treated as an afterthought, rather than an end-to-end requirement in the solution design. In industrial environments, this kind of fragility is unacceptable. You would not run a factory on an unstable power supply. You would not plan logistics on vehicles you are unsure will drive tomorrow. Yet some IoT stacks implicitly ask customers to accept exactly that.