Why does a token have value when companies can just use the technology?

This may be a dumb question but I cannot find relevant answers anywhere.

I am new to digital coins and reading about various alt-coins for weeks now.

The ones that interest me are not necessarily money like bitcoin but others that have technology for future applications.

For example, Ripple seems good for bank to bank transfers like the swift network whereas IOTA seems good for machine to machine transfers.

This may be oversimplifying it but the difference here is bitcoin's purpose is money whereas other projects purpose is for other applications.

So my question is why do these alt-coins have tokens/coins in the first place, and why do they have value that people trade them and let alone expect them to grow in value?

For example, if the technology behind Ripple/Ethereum/whatever is the value, why don't the actual users (banks, corporations, tech firms) just use the technology for their applications?

Let's take IOTA for example. It's the newer one I'm reading about. Its purpose is for machines to transfer to machines. So what's the point of coins for the public?

Let's imagine 2025 or later and IOTA is a success. Cities across the world are using its technology to allow automated cars to pay for parking or whatever.

You press Pay on a smartphone. Wouldn't you be charged actual money from the app to process the request and the car uses the iotas to pay the parking machine?

Same for Ripple... if banks use the technology behind the scenes to facilitate transfers (like sending a wire from America to Europe), what the point of Ripple coins?

If I read correctly even a bank created its own private version of Ethereum for their use.

Appreciate any help as this is really puzzling me for weeks now.

Thanks!

-James