Examination of LoRaWAN® achievements and flaws: Insights from 200 clients over a four-year span
Exploring the Most Successful IoT Solutions Using LoRaWAN Technology
Over the past five years, LoRaWAN, a low-power, long-range, and cost-effective Internet of Things (IoT) networking protocol, has been deployed in various sectors including smart cities, agriculture, asset tracking, and industrial monitoring. Key players such as Actility and Semtech continue to showcase the technology's capabilities at events like the IoT Solutions World Congress 2025.
Our analysis of 200 customers who purchased LoRaWAN gateways, devices, or solutions from us over the past four years reveals the most profitable and successful IoT applications. These include:
- Utility metering for water, gas, and electricity has been consistently deployed in large volumes by global customers since 2017.
- Asset and People Tracking – both indoors and within smaller areas – has proven to be extensive and distinctive compared to outdoor and globally extensive area tracking.
- Smart Building or Facility Management - focusing on indoor occupancy, air quality, energy, and maintenance cost reduction.
Smaller to midsize companies with a clear focus on a few use cases and complete solutions, requiring little to no additional training for deployment, have experienced the most success in terms of revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and retention. In contrast, companies with a broad portfolio of unfocused devices and generic applications have not seen significant growth.
Successful IoT providers should focus on developing best-performing products and solutions that are easy to deploy, operate, and maintain. It is essential for suppliers to provide guidance, examples, and customer references to help their clients address their issues cost-effectively and efficiently. Such approaches often lead to lower deployment costs and ongoing savings in operations and maintenance costs.
On the other hand, IoT customers should seek solutions that work out of the box, can be easily integrated with other IoT platforms, and are optimized for cost-effectiveness and efficiency. They should avoid IoT platforms with generic IoT use cases requiring a licensing fee, custom solution development, and integration of devices while still paying for connectivity. Instead, they should look for complete solutions with integrated devices, as such solutions are more likely to work out of the box and be cost-effective in the long run.
Although LoRaWAN technology has been instrumental in addressing real problems and providing strong returns on investment, it is crucial for providers and customers to concentrate on developing and deploying complete solutions optimized for cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and ease of use. Doing so will increase the success rate of IoT deployments and unlock the full potential of IoT technology.
Enrichment Data Integration- Elecrow's LoRaWAN Modules, like the LR1262 and NRFLRCC68, offer reliable and energy-efficient solutions for global IoT deployments, with the LR1262 module being ideal for battery-operated sensors.- Digi International offers secure infrastructure solutions for massive IoT deployments, maximizing ROI with industrial LoRaWAN applications.- Subscription-based services, pay-per-use models, and partnerships and collaborations can provide effective business models for IoT solutions.- Overreliance on hardware sales, lack of scalability, and insufficient security measures can hinder the success of IoT projects.
- Smart cities can greatly benefit from LoRaWAN technology, as it enables efficient facility management, including indoor occupancy, air quality, energy, and maintenance cost reduction, by integrating sensors and gateways.
- In the realm of smart cities, people tracking solutions using LoRaWAN technology are being developed to improve safety and transportation, extending beyond simple asset tracking to focusing on indoor and smaller area tracking.
- To ensure success in deploying LoRaWAN-powered IoT solutions, it is essential for companies to focus on creating complete, easy-to-deploy, and cost-effective technology packages, offering optimized solutions for areas like smart cities, smart buildings, and asset/people tracking.
