Why does Hiber offer subscription-style packages? Roel Jansen explains why.
We have a lot of favourite parts of Hiber's solutions. But one of the neatest is definitely the subscription-based pricing model. It's a bit different from other options on the market, sure. But it also helps us make it the simplest IoT solution we possibly can. We sat down with our CEO, Roel Jansen to talk about why Hiber chose to offer subscription services. Keep reading to hear his thoughts.
Hi Roel, how’s it going?
Yeah, good! It’s rainy here today, but otherwise good.
Sounds…wet.
It is, but the change of season is quite nice, actually.
Well, in any case, thanks for chatting with me. Today we’re here to talk about subscription models in Industrial IoT.
Excellent. A favourite subject of mine.
Great. Can you start off by telling us a little bit about what a “subscription based IoT service” actually looks like and means? It’s a relatively new concept for the industry.
Sure thing. So here at Hiber we’ve decided to set up all of our industrial IoT solutions like HiberHilo and HiberEasypulse as subscription models. What that looks like in practice is that instead of buying technology outright and hiring expensive consultancies to design bespoke systems for things like well monitoring or asset tracking in remote locations, our customers can basically pay a flat yearly fee to use our technology instead. That fee includes the cost of hardware, cost of satellite connectivity, and the cost of software that gives you data insights, plus support and service.
Alright. And what are the advantages of a subscription service instead of a consultancy?
There are quite a few advantages of subscribing instead of buying.
To start, it’s affordable for the customer. They don’t have to buy equipment outright, and they don’t have to hire specialised talent to understand, install, and maintain the whole system. With Hiber, the subscription model enables our customers to get a simple, affordable solution to a really specific IoT problem they’re experiencing.
Another advantage of the subscription-based business model is the fact that it is a partnership that’s enduring. When you hire a consultancy, they will come in and build a fantastic solution for you, but ultimately it’s up to the customer to learn how to use the solution, integrate it into the business, maintain it, and handle it. That’s a lot of responsibility, and it requires full-time employees, in some cases. And if you don't want to do all of this yourself, with technology consultancy firm, you would have to pay for high support and maintenance costs on an hourly basis.
The subscription model, however, means there is an inherent relationship between the customer and the vendor, and it's one that we have to keep nurturing. As a customer, you keep paying a subscription fee. And that fee enables us, as a vendor, to continually invest in the product, add new features, and provide support to customers, free of charge.
Makes sense. It seems like it’s the easiest way to keep developing a product while also helping a customer solve a problem.
Definitely. Even if you have great products already, like we do, there’s always ways to make them even better.
For one, the tech itself is changing so fast, so there are lots of ways to make hardware even tougher, more efficient, faster, et. cetera. But there’s also the software side of things—we really want to make the tools as delightful to use as possible, and there are always ways to improve things like user experience, installation trainings, and more.
Companies like ours need recurring revenue to continue making our product the best in its class. And customers who invest in that subscription see the benefits of constant updates, better technology, and long-term support, all as part of their package.
