Ioterra Ranking Methodology

Ioterra seeks to provide IoT product developers with up-to-date, intuitive, and quantitative information that will help them determine the best-fit service partners and solutions for their initiatives. 

This document details Ioterra’s methodology for collecting information on the Services and Solutions in the Ioterra Marketplace and how this information translates into rankings. 

The information in this document may be beneficial to an IoT buyer who seeks to understand how rankings on Ioterra are prepared. It also may be beneficial to Service and Solution companies listed on Ioterra who seek to understand how to improve their ranking. 

Rankings on Ioterra cannot be purchased. All companies listed in Ioterra, regardless of their membership tier, are subject to the same governing rules related to ranking.

Company (Absolute) vs Domain (Dynamic) Rankings

Ioterra scores marketplace listings along two primary dimensions

• • Company Score – Measures the maturity, capability, and stability of the company providing the service or solution. Companies with high Company scores tend to be well-regarded market leaders.
    • This score is also referred to as the “Absolute” score as it remains the same regardless of search filters applied.
  • Domain Score – Measures the level of specialization of a service/solutions listing for a specific domain (a domain may be an industry vertical, an engineering discipline, a particular layer of the IoT stack, or a combination of the above). Listings with a high domain-score are extremely capable within a particular niche.
    • This score is also referred to as the “Dynamic” score as it varies based on what search filters are applied when evaluating the marketplace listing.

Domain Leaderboards

For each domain, Ioterra creates a Domain Leaderboard. The 2 main axes of the Domain Leaderboard are the Company Score (corresponding to the company’s maturity, capability, and stability) and Domain Score (corresponding to how specialized a company’s services or solutions are for a particular domain). The 4 quadrants are labeled “Specialized Players”, “Specialized Leaders”, “Market Leaders”, and “Emerging Players”.

Ioterra maintains an up-to-date Domain Leaderboard for each domain on the Ioterra website. Additionally, Ioterra publishes a quarterly Leaderboard report for each domain. In order to be eligible for inclusion on a Domain Leaderboard, a company needs to have at least 5 verified reviews on Ioterra.

Service Providers Rankings

Methodology for Calculating Service Company Score

We recognize that many factors go into a successful services business, and that boiling a business down to a single number comes at the cost of missing factors that make business special. It is for this reason that Ioterra (1) does not use the traditional 5-star ratings to quantify service providers, and (2) puts significant emphasis on the Domain (dynamic) scores alongside the Company score.

That said, Ioterra does maintain a Company Score for all of our Service Providers that is meant to provide an indication of the maturity, capability, and stability of each Service Provider.

A Service Provider’s Company Score on Ioterra is based off of the below factors, in descending order of importance:

• • Customer satisfaction and likelihood to recommend
    • Based on qualified customer reviews submitted to Ioterra
  • Number of Projects the Service Provider has included in their Ioterra profile
    • Project quality and difficulty are taken into consideration by Ioterra analysts
  • Popularity of the Service Provider profile on Ioterra
    • Number of visits to the Service Provider profile, their uploaded projects, and their uploaded content relative to other provider pages on Ioterra
  • Number of Content articles the Service Provider has included in their Ioterra profile
    • Quality and popularity of the content are taken into consideration by Ioterra analysts
  • Company Age
    • Based on social networks and public sources
  • Size of the Service Provider
    • Based on employee count on social networks and public sources

Methodology for Calculating Service Provider Domain Score

We strive to guide IoT buyers to the best-fit vendors for any specific challenge. The Domain Score reflects a vendor’s past success and level of expertise in a specific domain. A domain can be an industry vertical (e.g. Medical Devices), a development discipline (e.g. firmware development), or a combination of multiple search parameters. 

A Service Provider’s Domain (Dynamic) Score on Ioterra is based off of the below factors, in descending order of importance:

• • Proof of domain experience through customer assessments
    • Based on qualified customer reviews submitted to Ioterra
  • Projects the Service Provider has included in their Ioterra profile that correspond to a specific domain
    • Project quality and difficulty are taken into consideration by Ioterra analysts
  • Content articles the Service Provider has included in their Ioterra profile that correspond to a specific domain
    • Quality and popularity of the content are taken into consideration by Ioterra analysts
  • Self-selected areas of focus selected by Service Provider
    • Based on a self-assessment performed by the Service Provider when creating their profile

Solution Provider Rankings

Methodology for Calculating Solution Provider Company Score

Solutions Providers on Ioterra have a single Company Score, regardless of how many independent solutions they have listed in the Ioterra Marketplace. 

The Company Score for a Solution Provider is used to provide an indication of the maturity, capability, and stability of the Solution Provider. When evaluating a particular solution, customers will often consider both its Domain Score as well as the Solution Provider’s overall Company Score. 

A Solution Provider’s Company Score on Ioterra is based off of the below factors, in descending order of importance:

• • Customer satisfaction and likelihood to recommend
    • Based on qualified customer reviews submitted to Ioterra across all of the Solutions Provider’s listed solutions.
  • Popularity of the Solution Provider profile on Ioterra
    • Number of visits to the Solution Provider profile, their individual solution listings, and their uploaded content relative to other provider pages on Ioterra.
  • Number of Content articles the Solution Provider has included in their Ioterra profile
    • Quality and popularity of the content are taken into consideration by Ioterra analysts
  • Company Age
    • Based on social networks and public sources
  • Size of the Solution Provider
    • Based on employee count on social networks and public sources

Methodology for Calculating Solution Domain Score

A Domain Score is calculated for each Solution listing that a Solution Provider puts up on Ioterra. The Domain Score reflects the solution’s performance in a specific domain. A domain can be an industry vertical (e.g. Medical Devices), a layer in the IoT stack, or a combination of multiple search parameters. 

A Solution’s Domain (Dynamic) Score on Ioterra is based off of the below factors, in descending order of importance:

• • Proof of domain relevance through customer assessments
    • Based on qualified customer reviews submitted to Ioterra
  • Content articles the Solution Provider has included in their Ioterra profile that correspond to a specific domain
    • Quality and popularity of the content are taken into consideration by Ioterra analysts
  • Self-selected areas of focus selected by Solution Provider
    • Based on a self-assessment performed by the Solution Provider when creating their Solution listing

Time Adjustment of Reviews and Past Projects

Because a provider’s capabilities and focuses often evolve over time, Ioterra’s ranking methodology puts greater weight on more recent reviews received and projects completed by a provider.

Specifically, Ioterra reduces the weighting of older entries in the calculation of a Provider’s Company Score and Domain Score. The weighting of a project or review is in accordance with the below table: