Which eSIM Strategy will Reinvent your IoT Program?

How can you overcome the IoT challenges of inconsistent wireless coverage, roaming fees, and network shut-downs? It’s a topic we’ve been discussing in our current eSIM technology blog series. All of the above-mentioned challenges occur because IoT devices can only connect to a single carrier and a single technology (i.e. 2G, 3G, etc.). Soon, eSIM technology will allow you to remotely switch your IoT devices to another carrier and resolve these issues.

For a quick refresher, read this eSIM blog about IoT challenges and this blog that takes a peek at the economic and business benefits eSIM.

Three Primary eSIM Use Cases

To begin exploring how eSIM can help solve your IoT challenges, let’s look at three of the most common scenarios where eSIM is the answer:

• Natively Connected: For organizations that need connectivity embedded into their solution or product, the natively connected eSIM use case provides global, plug-and-play connectivity with “built-in” network access and support for additional eSIM capabilities in the future.
• Future-Proofing: For organizations that use fixed, field-based IoT devices, the future-proofing eSIM use case helps extend lifespans and reduce maintenance. This type of eSIM solution provides the ability to switch between carriers over-the-air (OTA), eliminating the time and cost of physically servicing devices.
• Auto Provisioning: For organizations that need to reduce roaming costs - such as those with global deployments that cross national borders - the auto-provisioning eSIM use case delivers streamlined localization and flexible connectivity to multiple carriers via OTA provisioning.

With this background in mind, let’s explore each eSIM use case to determine which may solve your IoT challenges.

Natively Connected

One of the biggest IoT challenges is maintaining uninterrupted connectivity - particularly for mission-critical applications such as heart defibrillators and autonomous vehicles. If your organization is struggling with inconsistent connectivity problems, consider a natively connected eSIM. Natively connected devices maintain resilient connectivity through the ability fallback to alternative networks when the primary network fails. A natively connected eSIM is also beneficial if you’re currently selling IoT equipment and you’d like to expand your offerings to include bundled connectivity services – a highly profitable recurring revenue stream.

Future-Proofing

If your IoT solution involves mass deployments of field-based devices, such as smart meters, a future-proofing eSIM use case will help you eliminate expensive truck-rolls and physical SIM swaps each time a network is shut down or a carrier change is required. You will be able to keep the device in the field for its entire lifecycle, essentially future-proofing it from maintenance for many years.

The future-proofing use case is particularly effective for devices located in extreme conditions or “heavy-duty” environments. These include deployments where your devices may be exposed to dirt and dust (such as soil moisture sensors), high vibration environments (bridge and highway infrastructure applications), or in situations where the device is at risk of tampering, damage, or theft, such as remote ATMs.

Auto Provisioning

If you’re in the business of building, kitting, and selling IoT solutions, the auto-provisioning eSIM will make deployments easier for you and your customers. Auto-provisioning eSIM solutions streamline your supply chain with single-SKU SIM cards, eliminating the complexity of matching the right SIM to the right device. Auto-provisioning also helps reduce your costs by eliminating the need to maintain inventory on multiple types of SIMs. With auto-provisioning, you can remotely set up each device on the optimal local network and reduce roaming fees.

Ready for eSIM?

Regardless of your business and technical requirements, eSIM is poised to deliver efficiencies, reduced costs, and improved performance. In our next blog, we’ll walk through an eSIM readiness assessment to help you identify how eSIM will solve your specific challenges.

If you want to jump-start your eSIM deployment, learn more about our eSIM starter kit, which includes three test SIM cards with global connectivity for three months.