SPYPOINT, Connected Camera

When SPYPOINT added IoT to their cameras, they had no idea that they would transform from a commoditised hardware provider to a global service company with life-long customers.

SPYPOINT, Connected Camera

"As a long partner of Truphone for global cellular connectivity, Truphone’s IoT/M2M Connectivity Management Platform with its advanced API and flexible billing configuration has been key to streamline our provisioning processes and to monitor our inventory of thousands of SIMs."

Keven Montembeault, Technical Manager at SPYPOINT

Spypoint offers people a unique front-row seat to nature. It does so by creating products that enable its customers to view the natural world as if no-one is watching.

Opportunity

While Spypoint's customers get closer to nature, Spypoint itself wanted to get closer to its customers. The Spypoint leadership team sought to intimately understand how their customers used their products to help them to get even closer to those elusive moments. They envisioned the creation of a new product, a connected trail camera that would send the latest images back to their customers from anywhere in North America. To make this a reality, however, the product had to be not just fool-proof, it had to create an experience that was truly rewarding.

Challenge

The largest challenge for Spypoint users was that they had to physically visit their cameras to retrieve photos. Spypoint wanted to eliminate this step and provide remote access to their device.

The only way to solve this was by embedding fluid connectivity. Spypoint devices operate in remote environments where network coverage is frustratingly unreliable and no single provider could guarantee a stream-worthy data service. Therefore, the device needed to be able to automatically connect to the best available provider at any given location without a hitch. This was both a huge technical and commercial challenge that, until recently, would have been almost insurmountable.

The technical challenge was that legacy SIM cards were only able to connect to one provider at a time. Expecting customers to carry multiple SIM cards and then manually change them in the middle of a forest was beyond absurd. They needed a SIM solution that would facilitate multiple network profiles without having to swap cards.

Commercially, Spypoint also faced an uphill challenge with trying to negotiate and maintain multiple agreements with multiple network operators without making their cloud service too expensive. Additionally, each device had to be certified with every individual mobile network operator, this was a time-consuming process that created spiralling costs with every new country they wanted to introduce.

The company needed a simple solution that enabled devices to connect to any network with one single contract and a simplified centralised billing structure.

Mission

Spypoint was introduced to Truphone who had acquired a proprietary embedded SIM OS. This technology allowed Spypoint to install a single removable SIM that could be remotely programmed to handle multiple profiles and automatically connect to the strongest available network without any user intervention.

The embedded SIM platform was part of Truphone's new Io3 offering, a one-stop, push-button IoT platform designed to allow manufacturers to simply connect any device, in any location, with any application—cloud services, device management or user analytics.

With the Truphone Io3 offering, Spypoint could not only build products with ubiquitous connectivity, it could offer a single-point contract that connected customers to a global network at near-local rates. Io3 only required one device certification for a worldwide network of operators. This gave Spypoint not just the connectivity it needed in North America, but opened up an entire global market of 190 countries, overnight.

Experience

The new connected camera offered an experience beyond anything Spypoint customers had experienced previously. From the comfort of an armchair, they were able to enjoy their latest images with nothing more than a smartphone. Spypoint customers had one simple subscription that allowed their device to automatically use the most effective cellular data network in any locality, virtually eliminating 'grey zones'.

For Spypoint, remote connectivity opened a new world of products and services for its customers. They were not only able to offer remote device camera access but also cloud storage, photo printing service, and international data plans.

The more surprising result was the deep insight they were gaining into their user experience thanks to the volumes of data they were receiving back. Io3 offered them both SIM usage analytics and a reporting suite. This meant that their own customers were revealing to them their most favoured features, allowing the team to rapidly innovate their user experience and make it more fluid and effortless.

Additionally, real-time data usage was being fed back allowing Spypoint to notify users if they are running out of their bundle. Through the Truphone Io3 platform, Spypoint was able to structure a billing plan that offered regionalised shared-data to cope with different user profiles and sales regions and avoid unpredictable costs.

The end result is that Spypoint had managed to turn what was once a mere a box-shifting proposition into an embedded relationship that added significant residual revenue streams to their bottom line. In short, the results have had a resounding impact on Spypoint's entire business model. They are building customers for life who are immensely happy with their new product and their new front-row seat to nature.

Spypoint and Truphone are working together to map out a new future.

Phases

You can read more about Truphone for Things here.

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