Event date: September 26-27, 2016
Millennium Hotel London Mayfair
Rethink! Internet of Retail Minds is a 2 day event and a new international knowledge exchange platform bringing together all professionals who play an active role in the retail and Internet of Things scene. In 20 real-life case studies, state-of-the-art keynotes, and interactive World Café sessions, 35+ influential speakers will share their knowledge into key topics such as the future technologies and developments in the retail industry, digital marketing, big data & analytics, and omni-channel customer touchpoints. (more…)
July 18, 2016
Posted by: IoT global network
In the second part of his blog, Neil Oliver, the technical marketing manager at Accutronics, continues to examine how IoT advances are impacting the health and healthcare of users. (more…)
July 15, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
We have been aware of global warming for decades, but 2015 saw world leaders take united action with the UN climate conference of parties (COP) reaching a landmark agreement to limit the rise of global temperatures to less than two degrees Celsius. This puts pressure on renewable energy to play a bigger role in how we power the world around us. However, can it keep up as we move into the age of the always-on smart city? Here Steve Hughes, managing director of power quality specialist, REO UK, explores how the smart grid could hold the key if it evolves properly. (more…)
July 8, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
Event date: September 7 – 9, 2016
Sands Expo, Las Vegas, NV
THE INDUSTRY HOTSPOT FOR EVERYTHING WIRELESS. Wireless innovation is changing everything. Join us in Las Vegas, September 7, 8 and 9, 2016, for CTIA Super Mobility 2016 and connect with the technology, people and ideas driving every aspect of the evolving wireless ecosystem—all in one Smart City. (more…)
July 7, 2016
Posted by: IoT global network
Every year in Louisville, Kentucky, hackers and security experts gather for DerbyCon, writes Rob Phillips, the sales and marketing director of Accutronics. While a get-together of hackers may sound troubling on its own, what’s truly disturbing is what came out of last year’s conference. Medical cyber crime is on the rise, and there are thousands of critical medical devices which can currently be located online and hacked directly. (more…)
Posted by: George Malim
A couple of years ago, Quirky, a highly touted invention startup, created a connected Egg Minder,writes Gordon Hui, the vice president of strategy at Smart Design. (more…)
June 27, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
The Internet of Things (IoT) revolution is gearing up to dramatically alter various industrial sectors of the economy including manufacturing, healthcare, energy and transportation amongst others, which together account for nearly two-thirds of the global GDP, writes Sukamal Banerjee, the executive vice president of engineering and R&D services at HCL Technologies. (more…)
June 22, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
Event date: November 1-2, 2016
London
LPWAN World Forum is a 2 day conference and exhibition covering Low Power Wide Area Networks and its impact on IoT technology.
Hear from over 40 visionary speakers and leading case studies on how LPWANs are enabling a much wider range of M2M and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. (more…)
June 14, 2016
Posted by: IoT global network
Many predict that by 2020 there will be more than 50 billion connected devices in circulation, which equates to about seven connected devices for every person in the world, writes Richard Kirk, the senior vice president at AlienVault. The vast majority of this growth will be consumer devices, many of which will be in our most private space – the home. (more…)
June 8, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
As IoT becomes increasingly pervasive, a new and alternative services sector is evolving, called servitization – also known as outcome-based services, writes Joe Kenny, the senior director for Global Customer Transformation at field service management specialist, ServiceMax.
By integrating services with products, you can create bundles that are of greater value than products alone. As manufacturers move from being purely product providers to becoming service providers as well, it adds value to their products and generates additional revenue. In other words, service-based outcomes take you out of competing on price alone.
According to Ashton Business School, servitization delivers a 5-10% jump in annual services revenue, profits two to three times greater than those on product sales alone, cost reductions for customers as high as 30%, as well as the opportunity to increase service revenues even further by supporting existing third party or competitive products. This creates an ongoing relationship with the customer that effectively locks out competitors.
Machines are already able to self-diagnose themselves, and report back when they need servicing or require action to be taken to avoid breaking down. This is a game changer for any company with a service department, as well as the wider field service management industry. But shifting business models requires thought and planning. So let’s look at some of the key considerations on the business transformation journey to servitization.
First, validate your business model. Chances are you’ll be making potentially more money but in different ways which will require a rethink. Machines, products and consumers are now all able to communicate with each other in real time, which opens up a myriad of possibilities for monetising revenue in different ways.
Think through the customer experience, and look to add value or provide value in the ecosystem either upstream, downstream or both. By building a better customer experience that’s of value or creating more viability of an asset’s use, you’ll not only be able to unlock new value for your customer, but also potentially profit from it. Be careful not to create vulnerabilities or unnecessary technical baggage to a customer transaction or service. Opt for simple logical value. In my view, simple, reliable and consistent wins over cool every time so don’t over complicate things.
Second, look at security around how the data is collected, protected using encryption, stored and communicated. A good reference is The IoT Security Foundation, which is vendor neutral, non-profit and full of expert resources for knowledge sharing, best practice and advice.
Third, take a look at who owns the data captured and the consolidated trends. We now have laws that cover control data captured, data protection, ownership and the protection of personal information. Talk to your legal department and review these aspects, and include them in your end user agreements – clearly state what data is collected and how relates to protection and usage rules.
Fourth, ensure you understand the technology you are using. Have you designed for quality of reporting, and for failure, scalability, reliability? How will you know the sensors are reporting back with valid measurements? It’s really important to test, test and test again – everything from sensor locations, fixings, power supply, communication methods and circuit redundancy.
Fifth, check Industry 4.0 for ideas. In other words, check for standards and emerging templates or blueprints. You can be creative but it’s worth doing your research to get plenty of advice. Always build trial or proof of concept on small scale then methodically learn what business outcomes you can drive or improve – but keep a holistic focus on improving value. And consider how are you going to install, maintain, upgrade, retrofit, or decommission your solution, and once deployed, make sure you recalibrate your expectations on a continual basis.
There are a few obstacles to overcome, but the reality is we have been monitoring sensors in machines for years. As an industry, we already know what good, reliable data looks like and most companies are familiar with the thresholds of proper testing and validation.
The convergence of IoT and servitization is transforming business models in the service arena, opening new possibilities for proactive maintenance, prescriptive management and recall management. Your only decision is how to transform your business to take advantage of them.
May 19, 2016
Posted by: George Malim