# Towards a Maturity Model for IoT Adoption by B2C Companies
## 9 Conclusions and Further Work  
The aim of this research was the development of the maturity model for IoT adoption in the companies operating in the B2C market. Two research questions guided the direction of this research:  
R1: How can B2C organisations assess their current position in the IoT adoption process? R2: How can B2C organisations achieve the next maturity level of the IoT adoption? Considering the lack of IoT adoption maturity models specifically designed for B2C companies, this paper attempted to create one and fill this gap. In this regard, besides studying the IoT implementation in general, a considerable amount of time was also spent on studying the perspective of customers in this process and reflecting it in the major pillars of the model. As a result, the maturity model includes a separate sub-dimension describing the attitude and trust of customers towards the IoT adoption and the company, as well as the communication strategy the company employs to positively influence these two parameters. It can be seen that only after putting major effort in communicating with and educating customers about the IoT solution the company implements, it can achieve a high level of IoT adoption maturity. What is more, the B2C-specific characteristics are present in the sub-dimension Culture of Change. Here, high levels of IoT adoption maturity are only achievable after the customer-centric approach becomes the main driver of changes. Such transformations appear to be even more relevant in the present context because, ultimately, having high capabilities in the areas of data collection, management, and analytics allows a company to understand customer behaviour very well and build its business strategy around it. These two characteristics are what differentiates the IoT adoption maturity model developed in this research from the others. Accounting for the customer perspective on top of the essential IoT implementation factors usually present in existing maturity models will hopefully make the IoT adoption process for B2C companies more complete and effective. Another distinctive factor of this model lies in its development methodology. Model dimensions and sub-dimensions identification relies not only on scientific sources but also on the opinions of industry experts and real successful implementation cases. The use in the model building of such a combination of practical experience and proven scientific theories makes it valuable for the actual companies because they can be sure that the content of this model lies not far from what they usually deal with in their business operations. Moreover, the validation of the model and development of maturity definitions across the levels was performed in close collaboration with the experts. This approach also contributed to the applicability of the developed model in the business world. The answer to the research questions is, ultimately, the maturity model itself. Companies can use it as a tool to both assist them in the assessment of their current IoT adoption maturity level, and as a guide for the improvement in their position across the key areas. Achieving the characteristics of the succeeding maturity level is what the companies that wish to improve their maturity should work towards. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that while this model attempts to provide a complete view on all areas involved in and important for IoT adoption, the actual complexity of this process might stretch beyond it, involving other uncovered factors and relationships. Therefore, it ought to be used as a guide for IoT adoption and not as an easy step-by-step action plan, which guarantees a successful end result. This research is subject to a couple of limitations. The most major one--that in the end might have limited the validity threads of the paper--is communication and collaboration with the industry. Finding experts to participate in the research turned out to be difficult, even though the proper planning was present.