You are on page 1of 30

1.

0 Introduction:
With the advent of internet and technology, there have been massive shifts in society and day to
day life of every human being. People have adopted technologies in every aspect of their lives to
make sure that they can make their lives more convenient. This has been the trend with
technologies since its inception into the consumer market. When Personal Computers were
introduced by IBM, Consumers adopted to the personal computers. The same happened with
telephones and consecutively mobile phones. Every time a new technology came with
convenience for the consumers, the consumers adopted to the services. Whether they understood
the technology or not, as long as the product or service provided convenience, the consumers
would take the product or services in strides.

With the advent in network and connectivity technologies, IoT looks to bring in convenience for
general consumers as well. IoT may be complicated for the general consumers to understand its
nitty gritty concepts. It is the service that matters. As long as the service is understandable and
the market is ready to embrace the products, the consumer market will be willing to adopt it for
their own convenience.

In this report, I would like to shed some light on the market feasibility of the Spider IoT
products, to see if the market is ready and what the market prefers in terms of IoT based
solutions. I will also look into what the Spider IoT project is proposing to do and how they are
going approach the market and how inline it is with the current market.

1.1 Origins of the Report:


The report has been constituted for the completion of my internship. The report is based on the
Spider IoT product and service by Spider Digital for the consumer market. The report is
constructed to showcase my experience and learning from my time working at Spider Digital
IoT. I will also use my knowledge and learning from my time at IBA to prepare a market
feasibility study for Spider IoT. The report will analyze the industry, current market and
financials to construct the market feasibility for the product and service and see what part of the
Spider IoT model to keep and which ones are not feasible for the current market.

Page | 1
1.2 Objectives:
This section denotes the objectives of the report and its existence. The objective section can be
divided into two categories-

 Broad Objectives:
The objective of the report is to help complete the internship which is considered a full
course under IBA. The report will also look into conducting market feasibility studies for
the Spider IoT service. By doing the market feasibility study we can also find out how to
best approach the market with a product such as Spider IoT.

 Specific Objectives:
For the specific objectives of this report. We will be looking into-
o Conduct an industry analysis and overview
o Conduct Current market analysis
o Conduct a financial feasibility analysis
o Conduct a comparative SWOT analysis
o Check if the product or service model offered is feasible for the market and how
best to approach said market

1.3 Scope:
The report only deals with the market analysis for Spider IoT product. As such the report goes
over an overview of the Spider IoT product. The industry, market and financial analysis and
overview will be done through secondary research and gathering different data. Spider IoT is a
very new product that they are hoping to bring out to the market. And as such, just like any
endeavor, it must be tested and have considerable research to back up the reason behind its
existence. This is where the market feasibility study comes into play.

Page | 2
1.4 Methodology:

1.4.1 Data Collection Method:


The report will entail two forms of data collection method:

 Primary Data Collection


 Secondary Data Collecton

Primary Data Collection:

Primary data collection will be done in two processes. The data calculated for the
company such as budgeting and sales forecasting. I calculated these under the supervision
of my line manager for the project. The second process for the primary data collection is
from the market survey. A small survey asking respondents about their perspective on the
market and the product/services have been done with 50 responses.

Secondary Data Collection:

Secondary data has been collected from various reports, articles and research papers
about IoT devices. Different industry information was also collected from various articles
for both the state of the industry both in foreign market and in local market.

1.4.2 Data Analysis Method:


Once the data have been collected, we will need to analyze the data. The data analysis for
industry and current market will be done in a qualitative manner. The industry overview
will reveal some comparative information about the current industry. The current market
will be looked through Porter’s 5 forces model, PESTEL model and by analyzing the
market survey. For the financial feasibility, we will be following a more quantitative
analysis structure. The financials gathered from the budget and sales forecasting will be
used to calculate NPV(net Present Value), IRR(Internal Rate of Return) and Payback
Period. These analysis reveal the desirability of the investment and the project in general.
NPV tells us about how well off the project will be without the time value of money

Page | 3
giving us a clearer idea in the profitability of the project. Internal rate of return reveals
the rate of return for the cash flows while Payback period will tell us how long it will take
to make the money back from the investment. All these analysis together will give us an
idea about the market feasibility for the Spider IoT project.

1.5 Challenges and Learnings:


Challenges that I faced during the initial phase of my job was to understand the target market.
IoT has various usages and they can be catered to many different audiences. IoT can appeal to
both general consumers and audiences. IoT is also a relatively newer concept. Due to that, many
information and research materials for secondary data were hard to come by.

However, doing the feasibility study gave me an opportunity to learn some things. By the end of
this report, what I hope to have learned are as followed-

1. Understanding of the current conditions of the IoT market


2. Understanding the perception of the consumers towards IoT related solutions
3. What aspects to consider when establishing or introducing a new project or business
4. How to use my theoretical knowledge to apply it in practical usages

Page | 4
2.0 Literature Review:
There have been a lot of research, reports and articles written about the Internet of Things. Not
only articles and reports. There have been many claims made by several companies around the
world as well. For example, Cisco has stated that there will be around 50 billion people will have
IoT powered houses and lives, taken from the article found online on Cisco leaflet and IoT
report(Cisco, 2011). The statement is also available in Cisco’s leaflet. Cisco has also stated in one
of their reports made for Internet of Things devices, they have stated that IoT will help humanity
in the following manner. Data, Information, Knowledge and wisdom. Cisco states that IoT solution
will have effect on businesses, home, transports, energy, education etc.(Cisco, 2011). This is later
corroborated in an article by edge360 as they state how businesses have opened up to Internet of
Things solutions.(edge360, 2018)

McKinsey and co. have been one of the groups that have been working the most when it comes
IoT. They also have many things about the IoT market defined in there many studies and
researches. They have talked about unlocking the potential of IoT devices that can be
accommodated to bring out the most value out of it at current times. The place where IoT can be
most valuable are in the Factories, Homes, Retails, Worksites etc.(McKensey, 2015). Also in
McKinsey and co.’s video podcast they talk about how they need to map the value for IoT devices.
McKinsey in their podcast says that it is easy to get carried away by the hype. It is best to make
sure that despite providing IoT related solution, we keep our feet on the ground and work on
solutions that are actually productive (McKensey podcast, 2015). At the same time, McKensey
and Co. have also elaborated this in a report around 2018. The report was made to state how to
capture the value in IoT. It again reinstates how to not give into the hype and keep the promises
grounded. The IoT solutions must play in the businesses they are serving. It must enhance the
experience instead of deterring from it. The IoT solution also must not complicate the entire
process. Convenience is the key word here. The businesses do not need to

This brings us to the Internet of Things for developing countries. When we are looking to bring
the IoT solutions into the markets within developing country we can’t think about just the corporate
or business aspect of the product or solution at hand. We will also need to look at the solution with
the consumer market in mind. This is explained in the article, Consumer IoT, what is it and how

Page | 5
does it evolve by Iscoop. According to the report, the difference between consumer IoT and
Industrial IoT is in the devices it uses. Consumer IoT also differs in terms that it has a large amount
of variety compared to Industrial IoT. Consumer IoTs are mostly used for safety and health related
fields. There are three things the consumers are looking for in their ioT solutions according iscoop,
these are usefulness, convenience and innovation.(iscoop, 2019) From the small report written
in 2016 titled Enabling the Internet of Things in Developing Countries: Opportunities and
Challenges, It showcases a range of possibilities how Internet of Things can be handled in the
developing countries such as Bangladesh. In the report, the authors reported that there are the
following possibilities – Road Safety, Work Safety, Precision Agriculture, mHealth, Utilities
management, Environment Monitoring. These are possible IoT targets is because these do not
require a very high end and developed network or internet. A narrowband IoT can also work just
as much(Enabling the Internet of Things in Developing Countries: Opportunities and
Challenges, 2016)

The next batch of secondary literatures focus on the Bangladeshi market. There have been many
researches and reports being done in Bangladesh in the field of IoT. It is only a matter of time
before the solutions and projects take the market by storm. A guest writer in the fintech website
explains that Bangladesh needs to focus on the following things going forward to work with IoT.
These things are- Hadware, software, connectivity, awareness, local market, building expertise,
distribution channel, policies etc.(guest writer, 2018). According to the report made by Pridesys
IT, they state that Bangladesh has three ways to move forward in terms of providing IoT solutions.
These are as the following, Manufacturing, Utilities and Healthcare. Manufacturing is mostly just
Industrial Internet of Things solution. Utilites can range from inventory management to safety and
security. And the last think Pridesys IT thinks Bangladesh will excel in is the health care sector.
Currently, according to two reports found in an article by Daily Star and the Independent, we can
see that BTRC has ordered a smart solutions for infrastructures. These include smart houses, smart
grids, waste management, water management, power management, transport, telecare, agriculture
etc. (Star Online, Tareque - 2018). But how does Bangladesh approach these? According to
Reduan, he claims that Narrowband IoTs are the way forward. In his write up NB-IoT: The IoT
Game Changer he explains that for Bangladesh to product IoT solutions, narrowband products are
the way to go. He explained the advantages NB-IoT solutions have. These advantages include but
are not limited to- cost effective, low tech requirements, ability to run on GSM and 4G networks

Page | 6
and above, easy deployment and large product life.(Reduan Hasan Khan, 2019) Reduan’s notions
ring true as when you look into the products that are available currently in the market you can see
that the solutions are much more low scale, focused and cost effective in nature. Grameenphone,
Robi and many other smaller shops and stores have brought in IoT products like vehicle and device
trackers. However, these are still not a completely full-fledged IoT solutions but more of a
precursor to the Narrowband IoT productlines. Grameen Phone and Robi are looking to generate
an agricultural applications as well is Datasoft Bangladesh. The only company that has brought in
a smart narrow band IoT solution is Robi. (Ayon, 2019) IoT for Bangladesh even talks about this
in their Home Automation article. They describe the usage, and advantages of safety home. In the
article, the home automation is described as being a very cost effective solution that puts comfort
and safety in the forefront of their quality. (IoT for VD, 2019)

The secondary data also shades some light into the challenges that will come as an obstacle to the
IT firms who are pursuing the IoT porjects. Kamal and Anuronon have divided these challenges
into five different challenges.(Kamal and Anuronon, 2018) the challenges are as followed-
Seamless Internet connection is one of the key challenges that Bangladesh has to face. Secondly
there are no technologically skilled person in Bangladesh. Then there are the issues of availability
of IoT devices and compatibility issues. Seamless electricity supply is also very important in the
long run of IoT, and at the same time there are financial challenges as well. Databd has classified
these in three different problems, these are Infrastructure, Human resources and Finance.

3.0 Proposed Product and Service:


3.1 What is Spider IoT

To do a proper market analysis for a product, we must first know what the product is and how it
hopes to enter the market. Spider IoT is an Internet of Things solution that is looking to introduce
IoT in the general consumer base and corporations in Bangladesh. For the product part of the
service, we will be creating an IoT device and a Central Monitoring System. IoT is basically the
interconnection of things that sends, receives and analyzes different information. These
information are analyzed to gain various insights. These insights are studied to improve

Page | 7
efficiency and to make disaster management more proactive rather than reactive. Spider IoT
looks to provide ease of mind to its consumers. Spider IoT looks to offer security and safety
related services that can help to make the life of the consumers convenient and provide them
with ease of mind.

3.2 Proposed Business Model:


For the Business model for Spider IoT, we will be following two different models. The first is
the subscription model and the second is the one-time purchase model. The subscription models
will require an installation fee when setting up the device. Afterwards they will be charged a
fixed amount every month, which will be different for general consumers and the corporate
consumers. The monthly fee will include additional services from our end as well. These services
will include-

 An annual or biannual inspection of our devices


 Notifications regarding safety and security concerns through the application
 Selected vendors in different areas who will provide services for example, repairs,
electrical management etc.
 A part of the subscription will go into savings/funds for the consumer which can be used
for basic repairs and services.
 The subscribers will receive a call from us after the device detects any anomaly for
checkups along with in-app notifications
 Installations and updates of our devices to include more services.
 Additional information and services available through the app

We will also be including a one-time purchase model as well. This is the model for consumers
who are not willing to opt for the subscription model. The services in this model will include.

 The device and application of Spider IoT

 Updates and patches

 Notification regarding safety and security concerns through the application

Page | 8
3.3 Proposed Services:
The Internet of Things services Spider IoT is looking to provide to their consumers are as
followed:

 Security and Home Safety: These IoT devices will look into preventive measures
relating to safety and security concerns. These concerns consist of fire safety, electricity
hazards, cameras, door locks etc. This IoT solution will cover two portion of the service.
The safety and security. For the safety solutions, the gas sniffer and electricity hazard IoT
is made to detect gas and electricity hazards before it happens and stop the process before
it can cause any more harm. Afterwards the IoT companion app will offer up various
mechanics and fixers nearby so that they can get repairs done. On the other hand we have
the security we have smart door locks and security cameras.

 Healthcare: HealthCare IoT products will allow us to monitor the health related risks of
our consumers. We will keep regular tabs and notify immediately when there are any
fluctuations or anomalies. Examples of what services and products we will provide can
include: Smart Watches, Smart Health Monitors (Blood Pressure, Blood Sugar, SPO2,
Temperature etc.

 Home Automation: Home Automation IoT products are basically products that make the
consumers’ lives easier. With a little bit of Engineering, these devices can be configured
to provide valuable insights such as Electricity usage, early Electric Surge Detection,
Automated Lighting systems based on Motion Sensors etc. With the Spider IoT app that
comes along with the solution, they can turn light switches on and off through the use of
our app, reduce the electricity usage of certain components and keep tabs on these usages
from anywhere through the help of the application.

3.4 Proposed Pricing Plan:


We will be providing two different pricing strategies for the product and services we will be
providing. First there will be a subscription model. This model will require a reduced installation
fee of 1500 taka for the initial device. Afterwards they will be charged a sum of 300 to 500 taka

Page | 9
per month. They will be signed into a year long binding contract with us for the subscription.
The subscription will avail the consumers extra benefits on their app and services along with free
updates on our IoT devices.
The other model will be that of a one time payment. We will charge 4000 taka for the installation
fee. This model will only provide the consumers with the device and the mobile application and
some basic services and facilities.

4.0 Current Industry Analysis:


IoT is the next revolutionary step hitting the world and the IT sectors in stride. Through sensors,
monitors and networks, these IoT solutions can connect throughout various devices and perform
multitudes of tasks like opening and locking doors remotely, remote electricity usage control,
turning on the TV or other electronics through just voice command, gather information and
analyze to suit a consumers’ daily needs. IoT is the dream of a convenient future and more
connected world than ever before.

Regardless of such a huge dream, IoT products haven’t completely taken off around the world
due to the wireless technologies that have been available in the market not meeting the
requirement to be used alongside IoT solutions. Currently around the world, there are some IoT
devices that are being used such as Amazon’s Echo devices. While these are mostly being used
for general home usage purposes, these products have also not been able to stay in the market for
long. However, DataSoft from Bangladesh have launched projects that are setting up around ten
thousand smart cities around Tokyo in Japan. Japan at the moment seems to be the only country
capable of handling a full scale IoT solution.

But what about the industry of Bangladesh? Bangladesh is not a miracle country that has
miraculously obtained an extremely powerful network service. As such it is foolish to expect a
full-fledged IoT solution in Bangladesh just yet. However with the introduction of 4G, a soon to
be introduction of 5G by 2021 and a wide acceptance of technology among the wider public.
Narrow Band IoT solutions can turn out to be very fruitful. Narrow band IoTs are not as
dedicated as the full-fledged IoT solutions. However these solutions can provide dedicated
solutions to the specific tasks they are assigned to and they can excel at it. In 2018 BTRC has

Page | 10
issued directive in 9 sectors that they are looking into developing Narrow band IoT solutions for.
These are smart building, industry automation, smart grids, water management, waste
management, smart agriculture, telecare, intelligent transport systems, environment management,
smart urban lighting, and smart parking. There are already some limited Narrow Band IoT
solutions effective in the market currently thanks to some of the telecom providers such as
Grameen Phone. These initiatives have made Bangladesh and Sri Lanka the only two countries
to have Narrow Band IoT network set up in the South Asian Sub Continent.

However, the industry is still filled with challenges as the market is still very young and in its
growth phase. As it stands currently, the industry has 3 major challenges that it needs to look
into. These are-

 People
 Infrastructure
 Finance

Data driven decisions and Workforce leadership with implementation, establishing and
leadership are very important when it comes to implementation of the IoT solutions. With
infrastructure, the major difficulties are in the fact that we do not have a reliable high speed
internet and network connectivity to maintain the reliability of the connections in the IoT
solution. There is also the matter of seamless electricity connection in the more remote areas of
Bangladesh. However, what is truly holding the rise of IoT is that the players in the market are
not willing to put out a proper IoT based solution to the market as they are worried about the
finances.

While IoT has a great impact on the economy and society as a whole. It is a double edged sword
when it comes to an economy like Bangladesh which is highly dependent on its human
resources. Mass deployment of IoT may result in many people losing their jobs and the rate of
unemployment increasing. However IoT solution can also open up many different avenues of
employment in the monitoring and maintenance departments of the IoT sectors. At the same
time, another reason human resources may become a problem is because we do not have
technologically qualified person to handle these kind of solutions

Page | 11
5.0 Current Market Analysis:
5.1 Porter’s 5 forces:

Porter’s five forces model is a very good way to learn about how the industry is doing and what
the market is like. It gives us a look into competitions, operations, new entrants and other aspects
of the industry to get a good analysis of the market for our products and how the macro
environment will affect the marketing of our products. For Spider IoT, we are currently looking
into bringing gas, electricity and health IoT products. For these, we can see the Porter’s Five
Forces models below-

 Competition in the industry:


Currently, the market for IoT in Bangladesh is fair game. The market is large and people
are open to it. In the market for IoT, we currently have the local market as competitors.
These are mostly very small vendors or manufacturers. These are low quality products
manufactured at home and could be faulty at times.
Datasoft BD is an IT company who is directly working with IoT based solutions.
However, despite being a Bangladesh based IT firm, none of their operations are still
within Bangladesh. Datasoft BD is providing IoT based solutions to Japan. They are
deploying a smart cities within Tokyo. While they are currently working outside of
Bangladesh, they have said that they would also like to work within Bangladesh in the
future as well.
Of other larger competitors we have the telecom companies who are dipping their toes in
the IoT market. Grameen Phone has some small scale IoT products. These include,
Vehicle Tracking and Agriculture based IoT solutions. On the other hand, Robi is looking
into providing a more expansive IoT solution. Robi has gas sniffer, intelligent switches,
asset trackers and vehicle tracking etc. Robi is looking to brand these products as a whole
as a comprehensive smart and digital solution solution. While the competition is currently
very low in the market, as there are still very few players, but the potential for
competition is still high.
 Potential of new entrants into the industry:
The IoT market is still very young in Bangladesh. With the late introduction of 4G into

Page | 12
Bangladesh, Narrow Band IoT has gained popularity among Bangladeshi IT firms. As the
market is still in its growth phase, there are many opportunities for other companies to
come and enter the market. As such, the potential for new entrants in the market is very
high.
 Power of suppliers:
The power of suppliers for the IoT services is very high. The IoT solutions are rarely
manufactured or assembled within Bangladesh. The components such as the scanners and
sniffers are imported from other countries such as China or Europe. These components
are then put together with the monitoring systems that are than provided as the IoT
solutions. As such, it is very costly to import the components for the IoT solution. At the
same time, changing suppliers is also a very costly initiative. As such, the power of the
suppliers is really high in this scenario.
 Power of customers:
The market for the IoT solution is still fairly young in Bangladesh at this point. The
market are still not educated enough in the products to fully understand and embrace the
solutions. As such it is costly to go out and get people to come around to the solutions. As
the market is still young and the consumers don’t necessarily understand the technologies
being used in the items. Hence the customer power for the product is still low.
 Threat of substitute products:
There are currently no direct substitute products available in the market. There are some
products that can detect some of the things like gas leakages, short circuits etc. but they
are not smart devices. They are mostly one off devices that don’t connect to other smart
devices and can not be controlled remotely. As such, threat of substitute products in the
market is low.

5.2 PESTEL:
A PESTEL analysis is done to monitor and analyze the effect of the macro-environmental factors
for the new projects and organizations. PESTEL analyzes the political, economic, social,
technological, environmental and legal factors and looks into the market possibilities for the
project at hand. For our Spider IoT project, the PESTEL analysis is as the following:

Page | 13
 Political:
The business for Internet of Things based solutions are becoming more and more popular
in Bangladesh and the government has given a lot of incentive on developing IT based
firms and solutions. IT businesses have been developing rapidly within the last years and
the government has been heavily supporting the notion with various events and awards.
DatasoftBD has been receiving much support in their endeavors into the Japanese market
with their IoT solutions. Secondly, safety and security has become a major concern for
Bangladeshi government with the rise of fire and electricity related hazards increasing.
As such, an IT based solution that can effectively and efficiently tackle these mishaps and
prevent it before happening in the first place is favored by many in the governance.
Another sector Bangladeshi government is looking into more is the health sector. With
many of its contracts and facilities ending in 2020, health care is a sector Bangladeshi
government is looking forward to incentivize and cut costs at. An IoT based solution can
help in this sector for the government in this regard.

 Economic:
Current Bangladesh’s economy is on the rise. Recently Bangladesh has been labelled as a
developing country. Bangladesh’s economy also has seen a steady rise and the IT sector
has seen a lot of growth in recent years. With the government supporting IT firms into
leading the way into the future. Currently Bangladesh has a inflation rate of 5.7% and it is
still slowly declining. Bangladesh has also seen a growth in GDP, with the GDP growth
rate being calculated at a 7.3% in the year 2019. Bangladesh claim to have a disposable
income of 65 thousand taka in the year of 2018. The disposable income for Bangladeshi
people and workers have seen a rise and as such, many people are now more willing to
try out new products and services that are of quality instead of going for the cheapest
product in the market. With the decrease in unemployment rate and increase in the
growth of Bangladeshi economy, the business environment is in a healthy place to start
new projects.

Page | 14
 Social:
With the growth in the political and economic dynamics of Bangladesh, Bangladesh has
also seen growth in the social classes and standards. The society and its people are now
more technologically inclined. They are more accepting of new ideas and are more
willing to give them a chance. With the technological inclinations, the people in the
society are more willing to adopt new technologies and use them in different parts of
their life. The society also prefers convenience in their everyday lives and as such will
look into products that can provide them so they can put their minds at ease and focus on
other facets of their life.

 Technological:
Technological improvements and adoption is also a huge factor when it comes to a new
project or business. People are more inclined to adopt and learn new technologies as it
can help with convenience in both day to day life and business. Bangladesh itself has also
improved in terms of technological advancements. The telecom operators have begun
providing 4G services. 4G services are crucial in taking the first step in IoT devices. 4G
services help with Narrow band IoT solutions. Narrow Band IoT solutions are easy to
implement but at the same time can provide a large range of services to the consumers.
By 2021, the telecom operators also want to provide proper 5G services as well. This
would allow even more improvements in the matter of IoT related solutions.

 Environmental:
Bangladesh has varying weather conditions and six of its seasons comes in with very
different weather and environment for the country. While the weather and environment
do not have much effect in the IT related products, it can affect the network and
connectivity of different products and internet connections. As such, while making the
IoT related solutions, we must remember to keep the connections and netwroks as stable
as possible at all times. As such the weather condition of Dhaka city and Bangladesh in
general may affect the usage of IoT based solutions in general

Page | 15
 Legal:
With the advent of Internet and IT in Bangladesh, one of the things that has become
abundantly clear is the matter of cyber security. Throughout the last few years,
Bangladesh government has taken many steps to ensure cyber security, reduce
cybercrimes and breach of privacy. IoT based solutions by nature run the risk of being
vulnerable to different privacy related breaches or cyber hacking. As such, when
preparing IoT solutions, these must be put into consideration as to not get into trouble
with the legal system.

5.3 Market Survey:


As the target market currently for Spider IoT are middle class and higher people within Dhaka,
this survey was conducted among this target market to get their responses about the state of the
IoT market and what they thought about it.
In addition to looking at the market through the Porter’s 5 forces model and PESTEL analysis, a
market survey can also help in finding out and getting a good look into what the market is like,
what the market opinion is and how much it is in line with the analysis done by the Porter’s 5
forces and PESTEL analysis model. A market survey done through a small questionnaire has led
to some of the following insights about the market.One of the biggest concerns for many of the
IoT solution providers is that the market is not very aware of what IoT is yet. They don’t have a
complete understanding of the product and what IoT truly is.

Page | 16
Not much Very

Figure 1: How well are people acquainted with IoT solution

If we look at the chart given above we can see that the concern is justified as many of the
consumers in the market are not well acquainted with what an IoT is exactly. With 44% of the
people saying they are the not as much acquainted with what an IoT is. As such, it is clear that
there is a lack of knowledge about what an IoT solution is among the general consumers. While
this can be a huge detriment to bringing in a product like an IoT solution, even a Narrow Band
IoT solution, the following scenario shows another side of the market that businesses can make
use of.

Figure 2: Services that respondents use

When asked about if the respondents have used any of the following services such as vehicle
trackers, device trackers, Health monitoring applications or RFID cards or permits etc. many of
Page | 17
the participants said that they have used many of the surveys listed. As we can see from the
figure above, we can see that about 54.1% of the respondents have used a device tracker such as
tracking their mobiles or smart watches or any other devices. 43.2% of the respondents have
used some form of Health monitoring apps and about 45.9% of the respondents have used RFID
cards or permits. At the same time nearly 30% of the respondents have noted to use vehicle
tracking systems while a smaller amount of respondents have used smart door lock (about 5.4%)
and Smart Electricity meters (about16.2%). This shows that while many of the consumers may
not be well aware or knowledgeable of the products and solutions in question, they have still
used it in their day to day life, even if it is in a shorter scale. This chart in conjunction with the
following chart highlights an interesting aspect of the market for IoT solutions.

Figure 3: Comfort using the available IoT services

In the chart, we can see that despite not being aware of IoT based solutions, 30.2% to 39.5% of
the respondents were still quite comfortable with using these types of services. This chart shows
that for the general consumer it is not a matter of whether or not they are made aware of the
complex work process behind the solutions, it is more so dependent on how the product or
service is marketed towards the general consumers. If the service can provide convenience to the
consumers, they are more likely to adopt to the services.

Page | 18
Figure 4: Sectors the respondents want IoT to improve

When asked about which other sector the consumers are more likely to see IoT solutions in the
future out of the options provided, the majority said that they are more likely to see IoT based
solutions in the security and safety sectors of the market. After that, the respondents seem to
believe that the next step in the IoT solutions are health, education and general home usages.

Figure 5: What the respondents look for when purchasing IoT solutions

In the chart above, we get an approximate idea of what the consumers are looking for when they
will look to purchase an IoT based solutions. The outlook among the general consumer base is
that Service Quality is the most important factor for them when it comes to making decisions

Page | 19
about purchasing a solution. While technology used in making the solution also plays a big part
in the consumers’ decision making process, they are also very wary of the price of the product as
well. However, as the market is still very young, the general consumers are less worried about
the perceived brand value of the products at the moment.

Figure 6: Respondents trust on IoT usage

When asked about how likely they were to trust an IoT based solution in their everyday lives in
the upcoming days, 39.5% of the resopondents said that they were more likely to trust an IoT
based solutions in their everyday life according to the charts while 25.6% are willing to
completely trust an IoT based solutions while 18.6% are still a bit more wary about the entire
concept.

Page | 20
Figure 7: Respondents thoughts on the daily usage of IoT in the future

Regardless, of the respondents, about 44.2% are still not completely certain whether IoT based
solutions will become a daily necessity or not. However 27.9% are think it is very likely for IoT
solutions to become a necessity. However, the consensur among the respondents seem to be that
IoT based solutions will eventually become a daily necessity as time goesw on and technology
advances.

Figure 8: Respondents thoughts on the pricing model of IoT solutions

When asked about what kind of pricing model they would prefer for an IoT based solution, the
respondents said they would prefer a mixed pricing model for these. A subscription service is
optimal for an IoT based solution, however many consumers are unwilling to pay a subscription

Page | 21
service and would rather purchase it one time. But with proper incentives and selling points the
consumers are more likely to go for a mixed model for the pricing system of the IoT based
solutions.

Figure 9: What the respondents would like extra for subscription model

In the chart above, when asked what they would like as incentive for subscription model when it
came to IoT based solutions, the respondents said that they would like additional services the
most with a nearly. Along with additional services, quite a few respondents said that they would
like periodic maintenance for their IoT solutions to make sure they are in top conditions and a
monthly report to keep up to date and work as a receipt.

5.4 SWOT:
SWOT analysis gives us a comprehensive and comparative look at where we stand in the market.
SWOT takes in consideration the current market scenario, industry overview and the product at
hand and gives a comprehensive and comparative analysis on the standing of it. This analysis is
essential as it helps a project, product or service to look at what their relative strengths are based
on the market they are in, what qualities do they have, what attributes they need to focus on and
what are their weakness. A SWOT analysis also helps in figuring out where the opportunity and

Page | 22
potential for the market is and what challenges there are that is obstructing the path to reaching
that potential currently. A SWOT analysis for the Spider IoT digital solution are as followed-

5.4.1 Strength:
Strength denotes the quality that stands out in the market and when in comparison to the
competition. For Spider IoT the strengths are as followed based on the market analysis
that has been done:

 High Tech product compared to the local market and available products
 The asking price is cheaper than that of other direct competitors
 Spider IoT is proposing a mixed model for its pricing strategy which the market
seems to prefer
 A good after sales service model
 A robust Central Monitoring System that promises to stay open 24/7
 A variety of service through one single application
 New services and updates will be patched in free of charge if part of the
subscription model

5.4.2 Weakness:
Along with what Spider IoT is good at, we must also be willing to look into things that
hold us back as well. What can be classified as weakness for Spider IoT are as followed:

 Slow Supply chain. The product takes long to be imported over.


 Lacks marketing compared to contemporaries
 Low funding compared to contemporaries

Page | 23
5.4.3 Opportunity:
Opportunity is the name of the game in the field of IoT. The market is brimming with
opportunities for anyone who wants to take the leap into the market. The opportunities in
the market include:

 A completely young and fresh market


 Little to no competitors in the market
 Technological adoption is high among the consumers
 The safety and security field for the IoT sector is of interest to the general
consumers
 Corporations are also looking into purchasing IoT solutions to streamline their
process and security
 Country economy is in a growth phase meaning a good time for new businesses
and business growth in general
 Green environment movement has created demand for IoT based solutions among
the younger generation
 With the advent of 4G, the potential for narrow Band IoT has been brought to the
lime light
 The government is pushing for the development of IT sector in light of the
development Digital Bangladesh
 Technology is constantly being advanced and 5G technology is said to be brought
in by
2021 which would lead to more development for the IoT sector

5.4.4 Challenges:
Just as any industry with a vast opportunities, there are some critical challenges that a
company or project must face. They may not be much in numbers but many of these

Page | 24
challenges may be fatal and way more severe if left unsolved. Challenges for Spider IoT
include

 Bangladesh’s economy heavily depends on human resources. As such bringing in


IoT based solutions may cause backlash among the working community.
 Lack of skilled human resources to maintain such products
 The infrastructure surrounding these products are still very weak compared to
other countries
 A lot of people in Bangladesh are still unaware of what an IoT solution is. Making
them aware without complicating the service is a challenge that the IT firm will
have to face
 The funding for the project isn’t very high. As such, the funding needs to be
distributed intelligently to make due

6.0 Financial Feasibility:


Alongside current market research and industry research, to judge the feasibility of a project we
must also do financial feasibility tests to ensure the feasibility. For the financial feasibility tests
we are going to do capital budgeting. We will take information from the budget and sales
forecast and look into the break even point, gross profit, gross margins, Net Present Value.
Payback Period and Internal Rate of Return.

Conservative Pricing Model:

First let us test the financial feasibility for the conservative pricing model for the Spider IoT
product. For the conservative pricing model, Spider IoT will look to ask for 1500 taka
installment fee and 300 taka subscription fee. At the same time, we will also be providing a one
time buyer pricing model for 4000 taka. For the sales forecasting we will be looking into
historical data and estimates to get a value for the first sales number for our product. In the sales
forecast (Appendix,) we can see that the project takes two years to come out of the negative net
profit. While the profit margin starts off at very low it goes into a steadier rate of growth around

Page | 25
the end of third year. However the sales projection doesn’t always take into the time value of
money into consideration. As such, we will also look into NPV, IRR and Payback Period to
properly check for the feasibility. For the initial investment we will be getting a 7crore taka
funding based on our budget estimates (Appendix). We will be getting the funding from the
government with a discount rate of 9%

Firstly let us start with Payback Period for the conservative pricing model. The payback period
formula is:

By the sales forecast we are going to have 5 years to make a full recovery. By inputting the
necessary values from the sales forecasts, we can see that the payback period is 20.375 years.
This payback period is way more than the 5 years assumptions. We can see that the average
payback is 3,435,652 taka. With a discount rate of 9%, the average discount payback is
1,871,382 taka per year. As such the discounted payback period is 37.406 years.

After the Payback period we will take a look at NPV for the conservative sales forecasting. The
NPV formula is as following:

With the investment of 7crore taka and annual cash flow we get from the sales forecast we can
see that the NPV for this project -60,647,042tk. It is a very high negative NPV value which
makes the investment and the project undesirable. The Internal Rate of Return for the model is -
21.75%. along with the negative NPV, it seems that the Internal Rate of Return for the model is
also negative.

Page | 26
Aggressive Pricing Model:

For the aggressive model Spider IoT looks to keep the installment fee for the subscription model
and the one time payment fee the same, we will charge a bit more for the subscription fee. The
subscription fee will be 500 taka. With this in mind, we will calculate the same models again to
find out the feasibility of going with this models.

From the sales forecasting we can see that for this model we will have a positive net profit by the
end of first year. The net profit margin also starts off very erratic in the beginning and slowly
gets into a steadier and constant growth rate by third year. With this model from the calculation
of Net Profits we will reach the break even point by the end of first year.

But we have to remember that this still doesn’t take into consideration the time value of money.
As such, we must also calculate the Payback Period, IRR and NPV for this model as for the full

picture of the service. Just like the previous model we will also start with the Payback Period
Calculation. The initial investment for the project will still not change. We will be receiving a 7
crore taka of funding from the government with a 9% discount rate. The cash inflow and
outflows can be taken from the sales forecasting. We then use these data in the payback period
formula:

By inputting the data into the payback period formula, we can see that the payback period for the
aggressive model is 4.261 years. It is less than 5 years and it is much more desirable than the
conservative model. The cash flow return rate for the model is 10.67% per year with a
discounted cash flow of 4.860 years.

Page | 27
Next we shall look into the NPV for the project. With the annual cash flow and initial investment
of 7crore taka. By using the formula for NPV:

We can see that the NPV for the aggressive model of pricing is 4,742,502.88 taka. The Internal
Rate of Return is 10.662%. Both of the values are positive and as such make the investment and
the project more desirable in nature.

7.0 Findings Summary:


From the industry overview, current market analysis and financial feasibility analysis we can
present the following findings on the market feasibility for the Spider IoT solution:

 Despite some of the infrastructure drawbacks, the market is feasible for a Narrow Band
IoT solution thanks to the introduction of 4G
 Small scale Narrow Band IoT is already being used by many consumer. But it has to be
marketed simply and make the consumer understand what the product is and is supposed
to do without complicating it with the complex details of the IoT workflow
 The market for IoT solutions is still young with untapped potential and little to no
competitors in the market.
 The power of suppliers are high and as such, it is required to have a good relation
between the business and its suppliers.
 The threat of substitute products in the market is still very low as many of the products in
the market are not of high quality and are not necessarily a proper IoT solution and more
of a detection tool
 The biggest concern regarding implementing IoT solution is the security of the
consumers. Privacy for the consumers is very important and as such it is extremely
necessary for a business to ensure it

Page | 28
 The consumer market is expecting the IoT market will grow in General Home Usage,
Safety and Security, Health and Education.
 Seamless Electricity is a problem in the more suburban areas of Bangladesh, as such the
IoT products are more applicable in the city areas of Bangladesh
 The Market is not very knowledgeable about the IoT products but market survey shows
that despite not being well acquainted the market is open to using IoT based solutions
 For IoT solutions, the service quality is more important to the consumer market than
pricing or brand value.
 The Market prefers a mixed model instead of a pure fixed or subscription model
 The conservative pricing model has a negative NPV and IRR and a long payback period
that far exceeds the period set. As such, the conservative pricing model is undesirable for
business in general
 The aggressive pricing model has a positive NPV and IRR and the payback period is
within the return period making the pricing model more desirable compared to the
conservative pricing model

8.0 Recommendations:
From the analysis of the different aspects of the market. It seems that Spider IoT are on the right
track. However there are some recommendations to be given as well. First of all, Spider IoT
should go with the more aggressive pricing model as the financial feasibility shows a more
desirable position for that instead of considering both pricing model. Secondly, they should hold
some events and seminars and make communications that looks to educate the market about
what IoT solutions are as simply as possible. Doing this will help consumers to make more
educated decisions. The market for the IoT solutions are still young, as such there is little to no
competition at the moment as such, SpiderIoT should enter the market as soon as possible so that
they can easily take a share of the market. For the target market, Spider IoT needs to take into
consideration the city areas of Bangladesh. Spider IoT can start with Dhaka city and slowly
move onto other cities of Bangladesh. It is because IoT solutions require seamless network

Page | 29
connection and electricity to work. For the cities outside of Dhaka, rechargeable batteries can
play huge role as it can keep on working even if it doesn’t have electricity inflow for a while. As
power of suppliers in the market is very high, Spider IoT should definitely negotiate and get a
good relationship with the suppliers so that they can ensure a reliable and fast supply. SpiderIoT
must also convey and emphasize the security aspects of their solution. Spider IoT have been
targeting the consumer market largely for the most part. However, there is still a big market in
business to business selling. For example, the gas sniffer can be very marketable to restaurants
and hotels while the health tracker can be provided to different care centers. Many corporates
will also take in the IoT service as a whole to make their security more efficient and reliable. As
such, Spider IoT should also look into marketing the products to businesses alongside
consumers. Lastly, for consumers to continue to avail the subscription service, SpiderIoT must
elaborate on more aftersales services such as a periodic maintenance check up, availing vendors
and repairmen for when IoT solution detects electrical or gas related anomaly. A part of the
subscription should also be saved in a form of insurance so that this can be used to cover for a
repair or basic health issues on our behalf.

9.0 Conclusion:
IoT solutions is slowly becoming the new trend. With Bangladesh advancing in technology and
adopting 4G and eventually 5G, IoT will slowly start to take over the trend. Human beings have
taken in adavances, it is only natural that they will do it forever. We had gone from shackles to
locks to locks being integrated into the doors. People will also welcome the IoT products as well,
as long as we can truly assess the market and take decisions in accordance.

Page | 30

You might also like