How HappyOrNot
created an
IoT solution using
Verizon’s Cat-M1
power-saving mode

When HappyOrNot first designed its solution in consultation with prospective customers from various industries, its overarching vision was that the terminals should simply work. Rather than requiring cables or complicated setup processes, they should run right out of the box. Another priority requirement was that power consumption needed to be as low as possible, relying only on batteries for long life in the field. This was critical because long-lasting batteries would help reduce RMAs (or the number of devices that needed to be returned and replaced) as well as the number of times the company needed to send out technician trucks to replace batteries. “That’s where IoT solutions became a critical component,” explained Väänänen. “Because of IoT networks, we can have terminals that are highly available for our customers.”

For these reasons, HappyOrNot selected Verizon’s 4G LTE network, which offers innovative LTE-M and Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) technologies, to connect the company’s Smiley Terminals in the United States. HappyOrNot’s solution takes advantage of the power-saving mode features available in Verizon’s Cat-M1 network to deliver the seamless user experience and best-in-class IoT network coverage HappyOrNot’s customers require. “Our service promise required us to partner with the best IoT network provider,” said Levaniemi.

  The Cat-M1 network coverage was the best and most usable for our needs, and we wanted to be among the very first to unlock all the possibilities that the Verizon IoT network has to offer our customers.”

– Ville Levaniemi, Co-Founder, HappyOrNot

Cost efficiency was another important factor when selecting the right IoT solution for HappyOrNot’s U.S. customers. By leveraging the simple monetizing options from Verizon, HappyOrNot can make its service available to as many customers as possible and—crucially—enable the collection of as many unique data points as those customers require. Verizon’s reputation for reliable network connectivity was also a factor in the decision-making process. “One piece of feedback we get from our customers is that the first thing they do every morning is check their happiness results—how happy employees or customers were yesterday, for example. For that reason, it is essential for us to have a network partner who we can trust and who provides great service,” said Väänänen.

HappyOrNot also took advantage of Verizon’s ThingSpace application programming interface (API) to automatically connect and manage its Smiley Terminals. “That’s an important part of the whole setup process because the early moments of that possible customer experience influence whether our own customers are happy or not,” said Levaniemi. “We need to be able to activate our customers’ service automatically and quickly. Similarily, there’s also the capability to deactivate in the rare occurrence when that needs to be done.” And with Verizon’s virtual private network (VPN) encrypting the data transmissions, HappyOrNot could keep its customers’ data private and secure.

HappyOrNot found the process involved with implementing Verizon’s Cat-M1 connectivity smooth. “The process was pretty straightforward. Communication has been going well, and the support has been great,” said Väänänen.

Crucially, this strong relationship enables HappyOrNot to deliver on its most important customer promise. “We promise our customers an easy-to-use, intuitive experience—and this is where Verizon is really helping. The promise that we are giving customers is that when they are getting a terminal from us, they can put it together within five minutes,” added Damaris Bode, Partnership Director for the Americas at HappyOrNot.

“It’s important that we have a reliable and scalable partner for in-moment point of service data capture where we can keep that promise to our customer for their hundreds of locations. Being able to keep that promise to the customer as well as the end customer who pushes the button is crucial in the moment of point of service. This is where Verizon is really a very valuable partner,” she added. With reliable Cat-M1 coverage and an IoT solution in place, HappyOrNot can give its U.S. customers the capability to collect instant customer feedback, at scale, well into the future.