“We could build this ourselves for less money.” 

If you’re in IoT product development, you’ve either said these words or heard them in every budget meeting. It’s a natural instinct. When you see the upfront cost of ready-made solutions, the DIY approach seems financially attractive. When it comes to connecting your devices to the cloud, how hard can it be to build your own cellular connectivity, manage your own SIM cards, and create a cloud platform? 

The reality? Building enterprise-grade IoT connectivity in-house can quickly reach $200,000 in development costs alone. More critically, every dollar spent reinventing connectivity is a dollar not invested in your competitive differentiation. Using your own modem and SIM might be cheaper up front, but Blues’ no subscription policy and volume discounts make it a more economical solution in the long term. 

The New BOM: Understanding True IoT Costs 

Traditional Bill of Materials (BOM) calculations focus on component costs, but they miss the complete picture. Think of your BOM like calculating restaurant costs by only considering ingredient prices. You’re missing rent, labor, utilities, insurance, and everything else that keeps the doors open. 

The “New BOM” for IoT devices includes six critical categories that DIY approaches must address:

1. Provisioning and Deployment – Getting devices working in the field

Field provisioning typically costs between $1,000-3,750 per day when you factor in technician time, travel, accommodations, and configuration work. Your skilled engineers spend days in the field instead of improving your core product. That’s a double cost of both their daily rate and lost innovation opportunity.

2. Security and Remote Updates – Protecting devices and keeping them current

DIY security for IoT devices requires building and maintaining your own security infrastructure. Essentially, becoming your own security company. You need skilled security experts, regular vulnerability assessments, threat monitoring, and rapid response capabilities. 

Blues leverages carrier-grade security infrastructure that handles the heavy lifting. Our hardware-based security includes STSAFE Secure Elements with ECC cryptography and NIST P-384 curves, while “off-the-internet” communications use VPN connections with TLS encryption. You get enterprise-grade security without building or maintaining the expertise internally.

3. Cloud platform management – Infrastructure for device communication

Building your own IoT cloud platform requires selecting providers, designing architecture, implementing protocols, and ongoing maintenance to communicate with your devices and access your data. Blues fundamentally changes this equation. Our Notehub cloud platform enables bi-directional communication with your device. We don’t charge a monthly subscription fee; customers are charged based on the number of Events that flow into Notehub, excluding platform events like geolocation or administrative data, so you only pay for what you use.

4. Testing and certification – Regulatory compliance across markets

Regulatory certification can be a complex maze that varies by region and network. FCC, CE, PTCRB, each require specialized testing with premium laboratory fees. Failed tests can lead to extended certification delays, costing months of market entry time. 

Blues Notecards manage all the processes to secure the data on your devices. With comprehensive certifications already secured, you’re not just buying connectivity, you’re buying guaranteed regulatory compliance across global markets.

5. Fulfillment and logistics – Getting products to customers

Getting your devices into your customers’ hands includes more than shipping the product. You need warehouse space, dedicated staff, sophisticated logistics systems, and activation processes for firmware and security protocols. International expansion adds taxation and tariffs that can add $30-40 in fees to a $100 device, squeezing margins even further. 

Blues simplifies fulfillment by eliminating complex activation steps during the process. Notecards come pre-configured, so you avoid the manual configuration, carrier negotiations, and technical setup that typically happen during fulfillment, reducing complexity and costs.

6. Employee time – The hidden cost of internal expertise

Your engineering team’s expertise is your most valuable asset, but DIY connectivity forces them to become telecommunications experts instead of focusing on your product’s unique value. From building prototypes that require manual SIM configuration to providing ongoing customer support for carrier-related issues, every hour spent on connectivity infrastructure is time not invested in innovation that differentiates your product. 

Blues handles the carrier relationships and connectivity troubleshooting so your team can focus on what creates actual value for customers. Instead of your engineers debugging network settings or your support team fielding connectivity calls, you get dedicated expertise that solves problems faster while keeping your internal resources focused on core product development. 

Build or Buy: The Best Choice for Your Business 

The “build vs. buy” decision for IoT connectivity isn’t only about upfront costs or even the cost of hardware and data; it’s about total economic impact over the product lifecycle. When you account for the hidden costs of DIY connectivity, Blues doesn’t just compete on price; it fundamentally changes the economics of connected product development. 

Your engineering team’s expertise is your most valuable asset. Spending it on reinventing connectivity infrastructure is like a software company building their own data centers instead of using cloud services. It’s technically possible, but economically inefficient. 

Blues handles the connectivity complexity so your team can focus on building great products. Whether you’re a startup bringing your first connected device to market or an enterprise scaling global deployments, the economics work in your favor. So, while your competitors spend 18 months building connectivity infrastructure, you’re shipping products and capturing market share. 

Ready to see the complete financial analysis? Download our comprehensive guide ‘Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices‘ and contact our team for a custom ROI analysis based on your specific deployment requirements.” 

Additional Resources 

• Download our guide: Build or Buy: The True Cost of Developing Wireless Connected Devices 
• Discover the case study: How American Crane & Equipment Corporation is cutting cost by 10x with Blues 
• Read the blog: From One-Time Sales to Ongoing Success: The Manufacturer’s Guide to Equipment-as-a-Service