Setting the Stage

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Real-time location systems (RTLS) make most sense as part of digital transformation when companies change to a disruptive new business model. But 5 out of 6 digital transformation programs fail! Only 16% are successful. Lack of resources and budgets is the perceived reason, however, this holds true only for 14% of projects. Lack of management support (33%) and resistance from employees (39%) kill the vast majority of digital transformation attempts *).

Old industries require Digital Transformation to stay relevant

Getting digital transformation right is often the best - if not the only - way of winning and implementing a successful RTLS projects, a fact prominently ignored in RTLS sales circles.
RTLS drives and depends on Digital Transformation.
Technical excellence and a diverse partner eco system is a key ingredient. Together they enable smooth planning, implementation and maintenance in a scalable way. Is this enough for successful roll-outs? No, not on its own anyway! Employees and senior management need to be fully on board and buy into scope and direction of digital transformation of their business.

 Digital transformation follows market penetration phases similar to the well-known product lifecycle S-curve (Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards) - just much, much faster.

 In this context we reviewed Go-To-Market (GTM) approaches for RTLS companies and how they changed over time with two key findings:
  1. More often digital transformation was not part of the game plan.
  2. As the business matures GTM evolves through three phases: a) Getting off the ground b) Proving relevance and c) Scaling the business.
Combinations and omissions are possible, however, in general the findings apply to the broader RTLS community.

 For those of you who believe RTLS is just another (location) sensor for the IOT: No worries. Location folks discover the power of combining their stuff with sensors and analytics. And IOT folks realize that location is a critical ingredient for any sensor-based use case. Boundaries disappear if not gone already. And location tracking including all its facets continues to fascinate us...

 This blog is about RTLS GTM challenges and how to overcome them.

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 *) Karolin Frankenberger, University St. Gallen (Switzerland) 2019 Digital Transformation: Mastering Change with Business Model Innovation.

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