For most IoT programs, getting devices connected is only the beginning.
The real challenge starts after deployment, when devices are living in the field operating across multiple networks, geographies, and environments. At that point, simply knowing a device is “connected” is no longer enough. Organizations need to understand what devices are doing, where they are communicating, how they are behaving, and whether they are functioning as intended.
That operational visibility can make the difference between proactively preventing issues and reacting after costly disruptions occur.
In a recent episode of IoT Real Talk, Aeris Chief Commercial Officer and Head of IoT Business Unit Mark Cratsenburg joined hosts Susanna Song and Jon Connett to discuss why operational visibility has become essential for modern IoT deployments.
Connectivity Is Only the Starting Point
According to Cratsenburg, there is a major distinction between connectivity status and operational insight.
“Connected is basically a yes or no answer,” he explained. “Is the device on the network? Is it passing data? That’s table stakes.”
Operational visibility goes much deeper. It answers questions such as:
- What application is the device communicating with?
- Is it behaving the way the application was designed?
- Is it sending unexpected amounts of data?
- Is it communicated with destinations it should not be reached?
For small pilots, basic connectivity monitoring may be sufficient. But once deployments scale to thousands or millions of devices, even small anomalies can quickly become expensive operational problems.
“At that size, a small issue isn’t small for very long,” said Cratsenburg. “One device doing something wrong turns into 100,000 devices doing something wrong.”
Why Visibility Matters at Scale
Many IoT operational issues stem from change management. A software update, backend modification, or application change can unexpectedly alter device behavior.
Examples include failed OTA (over-the-air) updates, devices suddenly consuming significantly more data than expected, or applications causing devices to communicate with unauthorized destinations.
Without visibility, organizations often do not discover these issues until they have caused service disruptions, customer impact, or unexpected carrier costs.
That is where operational monitoring is critical.
Avoiding “Bill Shock”
One of the most immediate consequences of poor visibility is unexpected data consumption, commonly referred to as “bill shock.”
Cratsenburg shared a simple but effective example: a device unexpectedly connecting to Netflix and consuming gigabytes of data before anyone notices.
“When you actually get the bill, that’s when it gets real,” he said. “Operational visibility lets you catch it in real time instead of waiting until the end of the month.”
Instead of discovering the issue after receiving a five-figure invoice, teams can identify abnormal behavior immediately and act before costs escalate.
Operational Visibility Impacts Revenue and Customer Experience
The value of visibility extends far beyond billing.
Connett pointed out that many IoT and OT systems directly support revenue-generating operations. Whether it is a factory floor, connected vending machine, airline tablet, or payment terminal, downtime translates directly into lost revenue and degraded customer experience.
“It’s either costing me money or preventing me from earning money,” Connett explained.
Cratsenburg highlighted Swiss Air as an example. Tablets used by pilots and flight attendants must remain secure, operational, and connected to the correct backend systems at all times. These devices support workflows ranging from passenger management to flight operations.
If something breaks, troubleshooting speed becomes critical.
“With operational visibility, you can quickly determine whether the issue is with the tablet, the application, or the network,” Cratsenburg said.
Without that insight, teams are often forced into lengthy troubleshooting processes involving manual carrier traces and delayed diagnostics.
Moving from Reactive to Proactive Operations
One of the biggest advantages of operational visibility is the ability to shift from reactive troubleshooting to proactive prevention.
Monitoring platforms can identify anomalies early, before they escalate into widespread outages or business disruptions. Increasingly, AI-driven analytics are helping organizations detect patterns and identify operational risks before operators or customers notice them.
“Most people think of monitoring as a problem fixer,” Cratsenburg said. “But you can actually use it to prevent problems from becoming problems in the first place.”
This becomes especially important during large-scale software rollouts.
Cratsenburg described a hypothetical scenario involving two million connected vending machines receiving a nighttime software update. If the update accidentally breaks payment functionality, organizations without operational insight may not realize the issue until every machine has already been affected.
With real-time visibility, teams can identify abnormal behavior early in the rollout and stop deployment before the issue spreads.
Operational Visibility Also Strengthens Security
The conversation also highlighted the growing overlap between operational monitoring and cybersecurity.
Song referenced a real-world example where abnormal billing behavior eventually helped uncover a prior cyberattack. Visibility into network activity and device behavior can provide early indicators of compromise or unauthorized access.
In many cases, the same monitoring capabilities that improve operational performance also strengthen security posture by identifying:
- Unexpected traffic destinations
- Abnormal communication patterns
- Unauthorized application usage
- Sudden behavioral deviations
As Connett noted, reducing the “blast radius” of operational or security incidents is critical for minimizing business risk.
What to Look for in an IoT Monitoring Solution
Not all monitoring platforms are designed for IoT scale and complexity.
Connett emphasized that cost efficiency, scalability, and architectural design are especially important in IoT environments. Traditional IT monitoring approaches can become prohibitively expensive or operationally inefficient when applied to millions of connected devices.
Organizations evaluating monitoring solutions should consider:
- Minimal latency impact
- Low bandwidth and infrastructure overhead
- Inline visibility without excessive packet inspection
- Global consistency across operators and regions
- Scalability across millions of devices
- Reduced reliance on overlay tools or fragmented integrations
In global IoT deployments, stitching together visibility across multiple carriers and platforms often creates major operational blind spots. Unified visibility becomes a significant operational advantage.
The Future of IoT Operations
As IoT ecosystems continue to grow in scale and complexity, operational visibility is quickly becoming a business requirement rather than an optional capability.
Organizations can no longer afford to operate blind once devices are deployed in the field. Understanding how devices behave in real time is essential for maintaining reliability, controlling costs, improving security, and protecting revenue-generating operations.
With AI increasingly integrated into monitoring platforms, the industry is also moving toward more predictive and automated operational intelligence.
“The end-device operational experience and quality of service will become significantly higher,” said Cratsenburg. “That’s where the industry is headed.”
Want to hear the full conversation?
Listen to this episode of IoT Real Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or visit aeris.com/iot podcast.
