Very-Delivering IoT-Powered Competitive Advantage

Today’s changing and uncertain market conditions have forced companies to rethink their business strategies – demanding agile IoT deployments, next-gen product management of traditional solutions, and implementation of the latest technologies. Several players have attempted and failed to accomplish this near-impossible feat, which is why the market agrees that pivotal moments like these require tenacity and ambition. “That’s where we come in. At Very, we bring our drive and savvy to bring complex products online, connect global supply chains, and translate IoT innovations into the real world,” begins Ben Wald, Founder at Very.

Founded in 2011, Very serves as the leading one-stop-shop for IoT product development. Known for tackling IoT projects at any stage and seeing them through until the end, the Montana-based firm helps engineering leaders get their major IoT projects over the line on time and on budget — in weeks, not months. The company makes this ‘Very possible’ through its arsenal of services, including product design, mobile app development, hardware engineering, software development, machine learning, and support and maintenance post-launch. Ensuring that their clients always enjoy leading-edge technologies, Very’s team of developers make use of top tier tools including Nerves, Elixir, AWS IoT, AWS SageMaker, React Native, Onshape, and SciPy.

“Every Very project starts with our rigorous Technical Design Sprint, designed to define business needs, give context to end-users, and better understand the solution we’re bringing to market,” explains Ryan Prosser, CEO of Very. “With end-users at the core of a successful IoT product deployment, we identify the situations in which they will use the product and its features, and we determine their motivations.” These regular deep-dives into the customers’ industries and users give Very unmatched expertise in developing complex solutions across varying market segments and situations. Additionally, the company invests time and resources into developing internal tools that increase the speed and quality of their in-house development process. “Our engineers also contribute time and resources to open-source projects like Nerves,” he adds.

While further explaining Very’s plethora of capabilities, Prosser takes us through an impressive partnership with Loxx Boxx, a startup dedicated to delivery package protection. Very took over this challenge and – in just eight months – designed, engineered, and delivered their flagship product — a web-connected steel lockbox for their customers to protect their deliveries. Taking their client’s vision a few steps further, Very enabled Loxx Boxx’s consumers to automatically track all of their packages from shipment to delivery along with real-time notifications. In addition, Very also enabled the users to monitor the temperature inside the Boxx for temperature-sensitive deliveries, like groceries. “What was most important to the startup, however, was to get IP ownership along with the hardware design, firmware, and assistance in the manufacturing of over 1,000 devices,” adds Prosser.

In addition to mitigating risk and maximizing opportunity for their clients, Very builds long-term partnerships focused on the big picture, and “every product we ship is measured against the business imperatives vital to our clients’ success,” assures Wald. Maintaining its edge in the business, Very is looking at further extending its user-centric ideas to encompass machine learning development and IoT development. To date, Very has launched more than 250 products across industries and has grown to a team of more than 60 full-time engineers. During this journey, Very has earned numerous accolades, which has recently placed it among the goliaths such as Apple, Dell, and IBM. In five years, Very will remain focused on maintaining its dominance in the US market while increasing its footprints globally across the UK and Canada.