Applying Iot as a leverage for business model innovation and digital transformation

Abstract

New digital business models are disrupting established businesses and creating new ways of doing and understanding business. Consequently, companies are forced to identify new business models to ensure future growth and development, and digital transformation and digital technologies may be the key. Literature reveals clear research gaps in our understanding of how digital transformation impacts business model innovation and in understanding the role of individual digital technologies (e.g. Internet-of-Things, IoT) in developing new business models. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand how digital transformation and the application of IoT provide leverage to digital business models (DBM). Drawing on business models and digital transformation as theoretical lenses, we explore how digital transformation and IoT are applied as leverages for DBMs. The study identifies six pathways of how companies use IoT applications and devises in developing DBM. This paper contributes theoretically to digital transformation and business model literature in understanding the influence of IoT and digital transformation on digital business models. Furthermore, the study provides key challenges and implications for managers to consider in successful use of IoT in digital business development.