In order for an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution to be truly transformational its user interface (UI) must present users with data in a way that’s both useful and immediately actionable. Understanding what standards your IIoT app’s user interface needs to meet is essential to the development planning process. If early adopters of your solution find the web dashboard is difficult to identify trends and extract more detailed data from, user adoption and engagement rates could be jeopardized.
User friendly interface
First impressions are an important part of developing the UI of your IIoT solution. User onboarding and registration should require a minimal investment in time. Users should be able to access the IIoT solution’s web dashboard immediately after placing their order so that their physical device will be read upon arrival. Particularly when developing a customer facing IIoT solution to support a product-service business model convenience will be key.
Data simplification
IIoT solutions that enable users to make smarter decisions with easy to understand data visualizations and real time, automated updates result in high productivity gains —whether its end users are internal employees or business customers. Ensure that your IIoT app’s web dashboard prominently highlights critical parameters for users.
Mobile accessibility
When electronic health records (EHRs) were first introduced to healthcare providers, its web application could only be accessed via a computer. In the following years, many reports like this one from leading medical institutions found that EHRs are hurting, rather than improving doctors’ workflow efficiency and job performance. In the past two years, mobile health apps are doing what EHRs largely failed to do by extending EHR data from desktops to smartphones and tablet devices, and providing easy to use UI. Similar stories of data-backed mobile apps transforming industries are extremely common nowadays. Developing your IIoT solution so that it supports remote data monitoring and management should be a minimum requirement.
Simple to use, well designed digital apps that support mobile access frequently become the preferred choice of their market. After following the UI principles outlined above, your IIoT solution will be better poised to assume dominance in the Industrial Internet of Things marketplace.
