Software
IoT Platform
Term from the vending glossary
Cloud backend that collects and analyzes real-time device data (sales, temperatures, fill levels, faults) from networked vending machines. Foundation for predictive maintenance, route optimization, and KPI reporting. Manufacturer-specific (WMF CoffeeConnect, Melitta Connect) or manufacturer-agnostic (Nayax).
The IoT platform is the layer between the devices and the back-office software: it receives telemetry module reports, buffers them, normalizes different device protocols, and makes them available via interfaces. Without it, every analytics system would need to understand every device model individually.
For the operator, the critical property is not the user interface, but the provision of your own data. If you don't get an open interface, you cannot switch platforms later without losing the history — and the history is what makes forecasts possible in the first place.