In today’s digital era, people, objects and devices are connected via the internet. Consequently, a humongous amount of data is generated daily, which when processed and analyzed can provide valuable insights, which in turn can be leveraged for informed decision making. Today, ground-breaking technologies like IoT (Internet of things) has completely transformed the way people think, behave and work. IoT, which is simply an ecosystem of interconnected devices that communicate with each other while operating independently helps in performing various operations such as identifying, analysis and control mechanisms. In fact, real-time insights gained through IoT can prove to be beneficial for businesses in several ways.   

Since customer satisfaction is a prominent factor that influences the growth of an evolving business, businesses are trying to make the most of this innovative technology by integrating their CRM platforms with it. While IoT helps in driving meaningful insights across various departments including marketing, sales and customer service, the combined power of IoT and CRM can augment efficiency and visibility, which in turn will help the business respond to customer needs in real-time. 

To provide customers with improved customer service, businesses are leveraging the IoT Cloud platform for providing businesses with a complete and integrated view of customer behavior by helping connect a large number of sensors, applications, devices, etc. with billions of events. This is where you might need the support of a Salesforce consultant.  

How does the Salesforce IOT cloud Work?  

The Salesforce IoT cloud platform, which is powered by Thunder is designed to provide personalized CRM experiences to customers. This immensely scalable platform binds data from sales, service and marketing clouds and processes it to provide businesses with insights regarding customer behavior so that they can engage with them in a more relevant way. In other words, businesses can now provide their customers with the services and features they have been looking for.  

Let’s take a quick look as to how the integration of Salesforce IoT cloud with your company’s CRM can take your business to new heights:  

Informed Sales & Marketing Efforts: The two departments which benefit most by the integration of IoT and CRM are the sales and marketing department. While salespeople can cultivate a better rapport with their prospects by gaining insights from data gathered by IoT devices, marketing professionals will have the necessary information regarding customer preferences and needs to create ground-breaking strategies for brand promotion.  

Enhanced Customer Services: The amalgamation of IoT with CRM paves way for businesses to provide superior customer service, which leaves your customers happy and satisfied. By pre-determining the real-time issues of their customers, businesses can create efficient plans to prevent their customers from suffering any type of hassles, their reputation, as well as public relations.  

Updated Pricing Models: By integrating IoT with a CRM system, businesses can position their brand in the market with a competitive pricing model. This becomes possible due to insights gained from live data streaming.  

To Sum Up:  

With Customer expectations constantly evolving, it becomes mandatory to take steps that can provide your business an edge over your competitors. By integrating IoT with your business CRM, you will be able to gain significant insights regarding customer needs and preferences, which in turn can be leveraged to satisfy your customers and maneuver you from the competition. To make the most of your CRM, it makes sense to integrate your CRM with the IoT system for which you may get in touch with a reputed Salesforce consulting company.   

“We won't stop until we see every vehicle on the road being electric,” said Elon Musk, the person who works to revolutionize transportation both on earth and in space. “China is about to ban the internal combustion engine,” said a mining financier, Robert Friedland. Tesla Model 3 needs approximately 65 kilograms of copper per vehicle. Cities are now demanding zero-emission buses. Whether it’s electric cars, buses, trucks, solar energy or wind energy generation – as we transit to a sustainable world, we need more copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, platinum, palladium, zinc and aluminum. That’s why, mining products will be in huge demand. Nevertheless, in the present world, these minerals and other mining products are already a backbone for most industries.

However, just because mining products are vital to run industries and build a low-carbon future, it doesn’t mean that the society should turn a blind eye to the damages caused due to mining operations.

Concerns from communities and governments regarding the environmental effects of digging up the earth to extract metals and minerals is battering the sector. Also, current investors have become restless and new investors are reluctant to finance mining activities as mining operations have not altered significantly since decades. This puts pressure on mine owners to bring a change in traditional mining practices. Such a situation drives many mine owners to bring data-driven practices into their routine mining operations.

Like most industries, the technology that disrupts the traditional ways of mining will be a significant driver of change in mining. The goal is to make mining more effective, sparing, energy intensive and environmental-friendly.

From decades, the mining industry has been deploying PLC and SCADA systems for monitoring and controlling. But these monitoring and control systems are generally proprietary systems and offer limited interoperability with other systems. This is where IoT-based systems prove to be advantageous. IoT-based systems are based on open and highly connected Internet Protocol (IP) network structure. Such open network architectures enable current mining operations to move toward the next generation of smart mining.

Let's look at how IoT implementation empowers mine owners with its ability to transform traditional mining practices and:

Say NO to carelessness

Since the advent of mining, fires and explosions are serious safety issues. Specifically, in coal mines, spontaneous coal seam combustion turns into a catastrophe mainly due to carelessness. Besides, in the biggest coal producer nation like China, approximately 25.1% of their main coal mines are extremely gaseous mines, which after burning could lead to a disaster. Also, the environment surrounding mines can be vulnerable during combustion as massive quantities of toxic gases, including CO2, CO, SO2 and H2S, are emitted when a mine catches fire. Therefore, prevention and protection from fires is important for secured mining production as well as the global environment.

The mechanism of spontaneous combustion of the coal seam is like a typical spontaneous combustion, which requires oxygen. Hence, measuring the concentration of O2 is the key. In addition to O2, other gas contents, such as CO, CO2, N2, CH4, C2H4, C2H6, Rn and so forth, can be evaluated to detect spontaneous coal combustion at the surveillance spot.

As shown in the image above, an IoT-based system continuously monitors the sensed values and displays them to remote users through a web dashboard. Besides, the system can send alerts to such users in the case of detecting abnormal values and it can activate mitigation devices (e.g., forced ventilation) to decrease gas concentrations smartly.

Say NO to waste of resources

There is an increasing demand of mining products, mining equipment and resources – such as conveyors, shearers, boring machines, hydraulic pump stations, hydraulic support stations, crushers, loaders, motor vehicles, water pumps and ventilation fans – to run mining operations continuously. Moreover, to increase profitability form the existing resources, mine owners need an effective and safe resource management platform that can bring resource wastage time to zero. In such situations, an IoT network can help mine owners or managers to know the locations of these expensive resources and its usage statistics. Further, the underground staff can also be monitored via an IoT network.

Dundee Precious Metals sets the best example for this. They have deployed nearly 280 wireless access points over 50 km (31 miles) of tunnels in their flagship gold mine placed in Chelopech, Bulgaria. The firm quadrupled production from 0.5 million to 2 million tons by using an IoT-based system to track miners and vehicles locations, monitor vehicles status and automate safety and maintenance operations.

An IoT-based system is not only helpful to mine owners but original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well. The open connectivity of IoT architecture enables OEMs to monitor their product performance in their lifetime, even after the product is sold. Such data can be used to initiate a new revenue stream and to improve product design as well.

Say NO to casualties

In the case of a calamity, miners are taught to escape from the mine first with handy self-rescue equipment and enter a refuge alternative when escaping is cut off. Refuge alternatives are designed to provide 96 hours of breathable air, food and water for underground staff. Although refuge alternatives are only planned for use in post-accident occurrences, so their functionality should be checked periodically to ensure that they are working as intended in an emergency. In addition, a system should be in place to signal the surface instantly when a refuge alternative is triggered after a calamity. One way to monitor a refuge alternative's feasibility status from the ground is to attach sensors, such as a magnetic switch sensor, air quality and temperature sensors to the door of a refuge alternative. These sensors detect the occupancy status, air quality and temperature to ensure that a refuge alternative always stays safe.

To sum up, whether you need to cut expenses, lessen downtime, increase productivity or reduce environmental footprint – an IoT-based system is the right choice.

The fact that the Internet of Things technology is the future of robotics and the digital industry as a whole is far from news. And here, how blockchain will help it develop is the most relevant, hot and promising topic of the current time. So, how will blockchain help build intelligent information exchange systems?

How the Internet of Things Works

In a nutshell, the “Internet of Things” (IoT) is such a concept of the internal network for household devices and items. A kind of chat or messenger for coffee makers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, and even cars, thanks to which they can exchange data on the external environment.

Hundreds of smart people around the world are struggling to create a language that will teach everyday objects to communicate with each other. And, it seems that the blockchaindevelopment by app development companies is of little use here. But this is only at first glance.

In particular, IBM is developing this concept. Combining the two concepts is supposed to help:

• track and record all changes in the network;
• create special magazines with the entire history of changes;
• Define a smart contract system for data transfer.

Blockchain, in this case, would help to unite several devices into a single infrastructure. They would thus be able to exchange parts of the property - for example, data or currency. At the same time, the blockchain itself can be used to track the time of transactions at any time.

What do the experts think?

IBM conducted a special survey among IT industry professionals to find out how promising they find blockchain technology concerning the concept of the “Internet of things”.

However, this is the main property of any blockchain, wherever it is used. In the "Internet of things" you can also adjust the level of control over the device: weaken or strengthen. Using the blockchain in this way, you can reduce the risks of hacker attacks on the data exchange system.

Dell, represented by its specialist Jason Compton, believes that blockchain could become an alternative to traditional security systems. Decentralized control will allow you to expand the scheme and make it more easily scalable - that is, you will not have to build a multi-level expensive infrastructure with secure servers that the devices would have to access to exchange data. You can connect them to a peer-to-peer network directly and in any quantity you like.

Blockchain is not only for security

Using distributed registry technologies for IoT devices can not only solve security issues but also add new features and reduce operating costs. Blockchain is a technology that works with transactions and provides interaction in the network. It is great for monitoring processes in IoT.

For example, based on the blockchain, you can support the identification and discovery of devices, facilitate microtransactions between them, and provide proof of payment.

Ways to use the blockchain for the “Internet of things”

There are at least four areas in which the blockchain can be integrated into IoT:

• Creation of a trusting environment;
• Cost-saving;
• Acceleration of transactions;
• Security Improvement.

By the way, they are already working on these technologies to use them in the development of “smart equipment” or its individual components.

Examples of solutions of blockchaindevelopment for IoT

A typical example is the support by the Hyundai industrial corporation of a startup using blockchain technology. The project was called HDAC (Hyundai Digital Asset Currency) and at the end of November 2017 raised about $40 million for development.

The essence of technology that Hyundai is developing is to adapt the blockchain for its own IoT devices. The consensus protocol will unite all devices and act on the principle of smart contracts for the exchange of transactions.

Another company, Filament, is developing an industrial chip for IoT that will automatically encode sensor data and then adapt it for the blockchain. Thus, the exchange of information from the external environment between various equipment in a peer-to-peer decentralized network will be achieved.

The third characteristic example is the IOTA project, which uses the innovative blockchain - Tangle, designed specifically for IoT devices. At the same time, MIOTA tokens are traded on the cryptocurrency market and have impressive capitalization, representing value for investors.

It is worth recognizing that the development of the blockchain for the Internet of things is still far from implementation. In particular, several security-related issues have not yet been resolved, and some legal issues have not been addressed. However, the potential from the interaction of IoT and blockchain is truly enormous.

The automation of industry is steadily advancing into a new era – the fourth industrial revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0), where all things from machines and devices to people and systems will be digitally connected. Industry 4.0 technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will enable industries to better manage their processes, improve efficiencies and boost their productivity. For many, the objectives for implementing 4IR technologies include greater control and predictability of production quality, improved safety and lower costs. Industry 4.0 also adds flexibility to an organization’s operations, enabling them to rapidly respond to shifts in consumer demand. To achieve these objectives cost-efficiently, however, requires taking a platform approach to digital transformation that is as much organizational as technological.

Industries that have been digitalized for decades, such as finance and online retail, treat IT and its infrastructure strategically — as crucial to their competitiveness. Amazon and Alibaba, the world’s two largest online retailers, for example, have invested hugely in their digital technology platforms. Ironically, Amazon’s AWS cloud business is currently its most profitable business, although it was originally only a platform for enabling its retail side. And these are not isolated examples of the importance of technology platforms in the digital era.

In industries where physical assets lie at the heart of operations, digitalization has been a slower and more complicated process. In these industries, Operational Technology (OT) organizations typically manage a wide range of production and logistics equipment — from manufacturing and assembly equipment to quality control and monitoring systems, to various hand-held devices/tools and material handling systems.

Legacy communications technologies and control protocols still prevail for these physical assets — with each supplier implementing their own customized versions of industry standards. That is why digital adoption has been slow; there are multiple layers of communication technologies and control protocols that create data siloes where exchanging of information between them is limited. This makes it difficult for operations to obtain a complete and accurate view of their production facilities.

As manufacturing and other industries are moving toward Industry 4.0, it’s becoming more apparent that this legacy communications architecture must change. Unfortunately, according to 451 Research, only 34% of industrial companies have a formal strategy to actively digitalize their business processes and assets — 10 percentage points less than non-industrial organizations. In order to fully move into an Industry 4.0 era, industrial-focused organizations are beginning to link OT with IT, embrace emerging technologies and build out digital platforms that can securely support new applications and use cases as they develop.

The building blocks of an Industry 4.0 platform include industrial IoT (IIoT), cloud, edge computing (MEC), AI and machine learning, digital twins and wireless communications — LTE/4G today, and 5G tomorrow.

IIoT systems connect all the physical assets with the digital platform. IIoT produces digital data that can be collected, integrated and analyzed across operations. Cloud computing enables organizations to quickly scale out resources for storing and processing the new, large volumes of data generated by IIoT. Edge computing, or edge clouds, distribute those parts of the processing that need to be closer to IIoT sensors and machinery for more rapid and precise response to sensor input; which is critical for automation. And as data security becomes an increasingly important part of operations, edge computing will enable critical processing data to remain within the facility premises, thereby protecting its integrity.

The sheer volume and complexity of IIoT data would be overwhelming without AI and machine learning (ML), which filter and process the data to look for actionable patterns. As a result, AI and ML create digital twins; essentially, digital models of the “virtual state” of a physical device, process or system. Leveraging the immense computing power of the cloud, digital twin technology enables these virtual representations to be used to provide predictive maintenance, conduct product or process simulations in order to optimize industrial processes before they are deployed, and in worker training to speed up competency. As a result, digital twins are the foundation component of Industry 4.0.

Given the key role that data plays in industrial automation, it’s clear why the communications network is vital as well. Unfortunately, however, the disparate communications technologies currently in use in many industries cannot provide the digital platform unification that’s required. This is where OT is learning from IT.

Because the platform has to be based on the current digital communications standard — IP — multiservice IP/MPLS networks are helping to accommodate the older communications technology use cases. Cabled networks, such as Ethernet, will still play a role, but linking hundreds of IIoT sensors, as well as mobile robots and vehicles, requires industrial-strength, next-generation wireless. And office wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi, are not up to manufacturing performance requirements in terms of coverage, capacity, latency or security. As a result, digitally transforming organizations moving toward Industry 4.0 are leveraging IP-based LTE/4G to cover the vast majority of today’s requirements. Moving forward, 5G, with its improved performance beyond LTE, will be able to support many new use cases and applications as Industry 4.0 adoption accelerates.

For those organizations that are already investing in IIoT and cloud platforms, the importance of their communications network to enable industrial automation and the digital transformation of their facilities can’t overlook or under-estimated. To ensure that no site, employee, or system is left behind, organizations in industrial-focused fields must also think strategically about their communications platform.

Over the last few decades, productivity growth for some industrial sectors has lagged behind others where digital technologies have been widely adopted. One of the key lessons that asset-intensive industries can learn from these more progressive “digital” businesses is in the power of digital platforms to remain competitive in a fast-changing world.

What is OPC?

The acronym “OPC” stands for “OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) for Process Control”. OLE is based on the Windows COM (Component Object Model) standard.

OPC standard is implemented in server/client pairs. The OPC server is a program that translates the hardware communication protocol used by a PLC into the OPC protocol. The OPC client software is a program that connects to the hardware, such as an HMI. The OPC client communicates with the OPC server to receive data or send commands to the hardware.

How does OPC work?

OPC specification describes the interface between clients and servers, servers and servers, including access to real-time data, monitoring of alarms and events, access to historical data and other applications.

The classic OPC connection scenario is a single server-client connection on a single computer, but there are more options which include:

• Connecting an OPC client to several OPC servers. This is called OPC aggregation.
• Connecting an OPC client to an OPC server over a network. This can be done with OPC tunneling
• Connecting an OPC server to another OPC server to share data. This is known as OPC bridging

Technical Benefits of OPC

In addition to improving OPC server and client connections, the OPC DataHub can connect any OPC server or client to other applications as well, including Excel, a web browser, or any other database. And, it can be used to import OPC data into Linux or QNX.
Usage

Following OPC specifications are used in industries:

• OPC-DA (Data Access): Provides access to real-time data. We can query most recent

values of temperature, pressure, density, acceleration, and other types of process control data from OPC-DA server.

• OPC-HDA (Historical Data Access): This is used to retrieve historical process data for analysis. This data is typically stored in files, databases or remote telemetry systems.
• OPC-AE (Alarms & Events): OPC AE servers are used to accept and exchange

process alarms and events.

• OPC-DX (Data eXchange): It defines the way OPC server data is exchanged with other OPC servers.
• OPC-XML (XML Data Access): It defines schema and data representation formats based upon XML standard. This makes it possible to share & manipulate process control data across all operating systems – Windows, UNIX, Solaris, etc.

Benefits of using OPC standard are:

• Reduced load on the hardware device.
• Increased scalability of the system.
• Because of OPC server, client applications need not know anything about hardware protocol details.
• Though device need not serve multiple clients, So Increased life for the device.
• Interoperability (Unix/Linux and Windows – both platforms are supported by OPC)
• Standardization

eInfochips – OPC implementation

At eInfochips, we have provided embedded solutions for OPC’s industrial automation product line for our clients in embedded solutions. This includes detailed work on:

• BIS systems: Building Integration System , or BIS, is a software package that brings building automation, access control, video surveillance, intrusion, fire alarms and voice evacuation onto one convenient management suite. The classic OPC Server had implemented specific protocol over TCP/IP protocol to monitor and control different types of building integration system panels, which is able to interface with OPC client of the BIS system software.
• System alerts: In OPC Server, we had implemented OPC-DA (Data Access), OPC-HDA (Historical Data Access) and OPC-AE (Alarms & Events) specifications. For controlling and monitoring panels, OPC client fires different commands to the panels by using OPC server e.g. unlock door, lock door, arm area etc.

OPC server developed by eInfochips contains the following modules, functionalities and activities, listed below.

To know more about the IoT services and solutions

• Design, Development and Testing of OPC Classic server for different panels used in a building integration system with specific Automation protocol
• Implementation of following group commands on OPC Server,
  • System
  • Panel
  • Door
  • Area
  • Output
  • Point
• OPC server communication stacks integration (TCP)
• OPC server security – Command Authentication AES 256
• Client and status command implementation

We have also developed OPC Clients for our customers, running on Linux OS to communicate with OPC server over Ethernet. This further communicates with OPC server for Reading and Writing data/parameters. In OPC Client, we had implemented OPC-DA (Data Access), OPC-HDA (Historical Data Access) and OPC-AE (Alarms & Events) specifications. OPC Client will communicate with OPC Server for fetching data from the PLC. At the other end, it will send/receive historical and live data of temperature, pressure, density, acceleration etc. from the OPC server to the cloud for storage and analysis.

To know more about how we can help you with OPC implementation for your building automation needs, Learn more about our Industrial Automation Solutions or digital engineering services

When Refrigerators Attack - How Cyber Criminals Infect Appliances, and How Manufacturers Can Stop Them

Alan Grau, VP of IoT, Embedded Systems, Sectigo

Homes and businesses worldwide are vulnerable to attacks from cyber thieves and other bad actors – and not just through their computer networks. The embedded electronics inside appliances present an easy path of entry. It’s already been happening. According to Business Insider and Proofpoint, one of the first refrigerator incidents occurred in late 2013 when a refrigerator-based botnet was used to attack businesses.

Some of these attacks, such as infecting appliances with botnet malware, don’t really have much effect upon a family’s security and safety. In fact, if a “smart” refrigerator gets infected by a bot, the homeowner might not even notice anything wrong.

However, connected-appliance based cyberattacks are not limited to just refrigerators – and they are rarely one-off incidents. Almost any type of appliance can be hacked and used to host a botnet that could attack the web. According to Wired Magazine, a botnet of compromised water heaters, space heaters, air conditioners and other big power consuming home appliances, could suddenly turn on simultaneously, creating an immense power draw that could cripple the country’s power grid.

A bot, quite simply, is an infected computer. Many cyberattacks, like the Mirai Malware and the Dyn attacks, infect a network of computers, including “smart” connected devices such as home appliances, security cameras, baby monitors, air conditioning/heating controls, televisions, etc., and turn them all into compromised servers. These compromised servers then act as nodes in an attack and together create a botnet. They can participate in a variety of coordinated attacks, infecting other devices and expanding the network of bots, or participating in Denial of Service attacks.

Caption: A bad actor or cyber criminal can send infected messages to a home or business network that targets various appliances or machines. Once infected, that machine is under the control of the bad actor and can be used to send out thousands of infected messages to new targets worldwide. The botnets can also send out millions of dummy messages to a single target – overwhelming it and putting it out of service. 

Without any apparent symptoms or notice, a criminally enhanced refrigerator could be generating and sending out thousands of attacks every minute. In addition to the homeowner or business manager never realizing what is going on, these attacks may be unstoppable until unless the machine itself is disconnected from its web connection.

Additionally, the infected refrigerator could spread malware from the kitchen to the home’s “smart” TVs, to the home’s computer networks, to other smart devices in the home, and even to connected smart phones. Every target could be transformed into malicious bots that distribute millions of infected spam messages and cyber-attacks.

So how do we combat this threat?

Unfortunately, end users really have no power to fix this problem. There is probably no way for a homeowner, office manager – or even an experienced refrigerator repair person – to talk to a refrigerator’s electronics. No way to get into the appliance’s software and middleware to identify and kill an infection. However, if the homeowner suspects an infection, they could disconnect the refrigerator from the its internet connection to make it “dumb” again.

Fridge caught sending spam emails in botnet attack - In the first documented attack of its kind, the Internet of Things has been used as part of an attack that sent out over 750,000 spam emails

It is up to device manufacturers to protect against these attacks. 

So how do manufacturers combat this type of attack? How can they ensure that appliances in homes and offices do not get infected to cause mayhem?

Security starts in the design process for the refrigerator itself, as well as for the appliances’ various electronic components and control surfaces. Most appliance manufacturers get their control sub-assemblies from a wide network of smaller manufacturers, sometimes with a worldwide supply chain. These suppliers need to make sure that the chips and sub-assemblies they use are secure from hacks.

Two important security practices can be utilized by appliance makers:

• Embedded Firewall with blacklist and whitelist support – Protect appliances and edge devices from attacks by building firewall technology directly into the appliance. An embedded firewall can review incoming messages from the web or over the home network and, via a built in, and regularly updated blacklist, reject any that are not previously approved.

• Secure Remote Updates and Alerts – Validate that the firmware inside the device is authenticated and unmodified before permitting installation of any new firmware updates. Updates ensure the incoming software components have not been modified and are authenticated software downloads modules from the appliance manufacturer.

Most consumer and device manufacturers have heard about the potential for attacks on smart devices like door locks, baby monitors, and home thermostats, but this risk awareness needs to expand to types of connected systems – including appliances. An infected refrigerator sending out malware is not just a funny story. These systems have been attacked and used to spread malware.  Ensuring the security of these devices is necessary to protect home network, slow the spread of malware and even protect credit card numbers or other personal data stored in smart home devices.

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EXTRA PROOF POINT FOR COLUMN

Refer to: https://www.cnet.com/news/fridge-caught-sending-spam-emails-in-botnet-attack/

 Author Bio - Alan Grau, VP of IoT, Embedded Solutions, Sectigo

Alan has 25 years of experience in telecommunications and the embedded software marketplace. He is VP of IoT, Embedded Solutions IoT at Sectigo, the world’s largest commercial Certificate Authority and provider of purpose-built, automated PKI solutions. Alan joined Sectigo in May 2019 as part of the company’s acquisition of Icon Labs, a leading provider of security software for IoT and embedded devices, where he was CTO and co-founder, as well as the architect of Icon Labs' award-winning Floodgate Firewall. He is a frequent industry speaker and blogger and holds multiple patents related to telecommunication and security.

Prior to founding Icon Labs, Alan worked for AT&T Bell Labs and Motorola.  He has an MS in computer science from Northwestern University.

About Sectigo

Sectigo provides award-winning, purpose-built and automated PKI management solutions to secure websites, connected devices, applications, and digital identities. As the largest commercial Certificate Authority, trusted by enterprises globally for more than 20 years, and more than 100 million SSL certificates issued in over 200 countries, Sectigo has the proven performance and experience to meet the growing needs of securing today’s digital landscape. For more information, visit www.sectigo.com.

The end of 2020 will see over 30 billion devices connected to the internet, empowering the lives of residents all across the globe. 

This sounds too good to be accurate, but seeing the trends we are witnessing right now, it will eventually turn out to be this rapid! 

A few years back, the idea of a smart home would not have appealed to you since you were not reasonably familiar with home automation concepts. 

Today, however, the tables have turned. Technological homes, with easy access to home automation systems and smart home devices, are a popular choice among millennial homebuyers. 

People who have already invested in their dream home are looking forward to upgrading their sacred space with automated devices. 

But what exactly is home automation? 

If you are still not familiar with the term, let’s get you caught up first! 

Home automation or put, smart home technology refers to a range and suite of automated devices and home appliances that are connected to a single point of the network, shared by them commonly, with the ability to be controlled and managed remotely and independently. 

In other words, home automation devices refer to essential home system devices that can be controlled entirely by the homeowners, with full access to their management, single-handedly from a remote location. 

Home automation system works like a centralized unit, just like any smartphone app, only this one resides with you under your roof. 

From audio/visual devices to security cameras, thermostats, lighting, other major and minor appliances around your home. 

Everything can be controlled remotely while being connected to the common home internet connection, and controlled via manual means or employing a smartphone. 

The future is now! 

Home automation device turns out to be a great luxury in today’s era. They often lead you directly into the sphere of high-functionality devices, which was not possible a few decades before. 

This technological development of the course is still expanding and will continue to grow for several decades until our lives have become more straightforward, more convenient, and more comfortable than ever before. 

Smart home devices or Smart City like these are leading us to relive our animated fantasy and enter a world that resembles The Jetsons. 

The futuristic Jetsons family has offered us our share of adrenaline, right from the very beginning and continues to do so even today. 

Imagine being able to control the smallest, yet the most significant changes around us! 

The lighting, the temperature, your security provisions, your food, drink, and clothing habits; all with a touch of simple screens and voice control actions. 

Spoilt by the feasibility of choices 

The idea of reliving your childhood fantasy, just like the Jetsons family might sound like a massive deal to you but is not too far away. 

The concept is not too far out of our reach. It is not too much of a technological cliche as well. 

The future is now and is feasible and easily accessible, more than what you can think! 

There is, of course, a bundle of benefits that comes along with this easy access. 

The benefits of smart home automation on a global scale 

It is very convenient 

The prime reason why people opt for smart home automation devices on a large scale is because of the convenience it offers. People gain full access, remotely, to their entire home. 

This even includes controlling the temperature of their homes through devices. As stated before, controlling the heat, the music, the multimedia content you get, the audio and visual aids.

Every single element offers you the luxury to spend your time as per your likings, without having to be bound by responsibilities of any kind. 

You do not always have to get out of the comfort of your cozy bed on a chilly winter night to switch your lights off. 

With simple touches over your smartphone and simple gestures, you can do that! 

You do not necessarily have to take some time out of your busy schedule to get updates from around the world; voice-controlled smart devices will keep you updated of the news briefs while you work. 

You are safe at all times

Another reason that adds to the popularity of smart home automation systems is the fact that you can finally live in peace, even when you are leaving your home to go on a vacation. 

It sounds like a miracle to homeowners in quiet towns around the globe; however, it is very accurate! 

You can rely on technology to check up on the safety of your belongings and your home, without having to rely on neighbors who are, of course, friendly, but are humans capable of simple errors. 

Smart security setups can micromanage your home’s safety, even when you are miles away! You will be notified automatically, without any delays in cases of abnormalities. 

It is excellent for people of all ages! 

Smart home automation also takes excellent care of the elderly population, sometimes better than us humans. 

They do not require manual devices to take care of themselves, rather smart help monitors them every second of the day and helps them with their medication, moving around, calling medical assistance and other necessary support. 

Home automation systems are energy efficient 

Not to forget the energy efficiency that we gain from smart home devices. 

The endless use of AI-powered tools around the house does not put a significant impact on the balance of our ecosystem. It aims at restoring the balance. 

You save energy, improve the overall efficiency with the help of smart home technology. 

The lights switch on and off automatically, through smart sense, when you leave your home without turning them off. 

The intelligent sense detects your presence and warmth to do the necessary tasks, thereby saving up energy and carbon in the environment. 

The trajectory 

On an individual level, it seems fun and exciting, to be surrounded by devices that manage your daily routine as per your linkings, but on a global scale, this has turned out to be a game-changer for tech corporations. 

The amount of interest generated via smart home automated devices has turned out to be a significant force, turning the tech markets around on a massive whirlwind. 

The biggest Mobile Application Development Company are today competing against each other, to outdo each other. 

Facebook, Google, Apple, Windows, anyone, and everyone is in this rat race to be the ultimate winner. Bigger and more convenient solutions are being thought about, as far as the significant-tech corporations are concerned. 

Thousands of billions of dollars are being budgeted entirely to develop AI and IoT based devices to make today’s homes and families futuristic. 

The overall statistics state that the smart home device markets have managed to cross $70 Billion mark in 2018 and will continue to increase by over 15% on an annual basis. 

This way, the market is expected to reach over $150 billion by 2025. The growth is tremendous and is, of course, driven by a lot of factors, that have already been mentioned above. 

These factors and the convenience these automated devices offer have managed to drive considerable growth towards the market in the form of willing families and individuals who want to incorporate technology into their lives.  

Watching the trends and the boom in the smart home automation system markets, Governments all across the globe are taking measures to increase the stability of these devices, enhance the security these devices offer and to manage and regulate their benefits and uses around the planet. 

Together, major tech corporations and the Governments are aiming at making the world more tech-friendly!

The way businesses are carried out today has changed at the fundamental level with IoT. By connecting sensors and devices with the internet, we have reached a new height of progress and innovation, which was not previously possible. This new height is all about data connectivity, analytics, and automation. In the coming times, we will see more of IoT enabled devices and systems getting common in our lives due to the traction gained in terms of home automation and industries. The industries which understand the potential of IoT implementation are more likely to flourish and drive innovation in the niche during the next decade.

What is IoT?

IoT stands for Internet of Things which can be called as a network of physical objects which communicate and interact with each other as well as their environment through an internet connection. This simply means that with more number of devices around us being connected over the internet, it will enable companies to control them remotely, collect more amounts of data as well as enable automation.

The effect of IoT has increased drastically across different industries today. The way IoT has revolutionized them and is playing a key role in its progress has to be well noted.

IoT in Manufacturing

The contribution of IoT in the manufacturing industry is very high and you can say that it is the one that enjoys the highest IoT investment. The investment is taking place at two levels. One is working towards cost reduction and optimizing systems called as inward facing and the other is towards improving customer usage called as outward facing. 

Manufacturers are making use of IoT to carry on predictive maintenance, optimize their processes and to monitor equipment. In order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of manufacturing operations, the use of IoT devices in terms of smart manufacturing is playing a huge role. Smart manufacturing is all about making the existing manufacturing equipment equipped with sensors. This may not be required with the new manufacturing equipment as they have such sensors pre-installed. 

Smart planning is all about offering the supply chain with the smart floor. Information can be captured in real-time and actionable insights can be put to use. Smart manufacturing is all about covering each and every area in manufacturing, which includes plant operations, inventory control product design, demand & supply management, etc. With smart manufacturing, manufacturers get complete visibility of the business which helps them to optimize the supply and demand chain while streamlining the business processes. 

IoT in Transportation

If we try to look into IoT investment, then you will find that IoT holds the second highest position in this arena. One of the best gifts that we have from IoT is self-driving cars. Some of the big names in the industry like Uber, BMW, Ford, GM, and Google have been heavily investing in this area to make use of innovative technologies to come up with self-driving cars. Such kind of self-driving cars will simplify transportation, reduce pollution and even save more lives by preventing accidents. 

More number of public transportation and freight vehicles is using sensors to optimize fuel consumption, schedule maintenance and fleet management. Even some of the vehicles come with digital data recorders which record driving under heavy acceleration so as to indicate the driver of any fatal accidents which might occur. 

IoT in Agriculture

By using IoT technologies, farming and agriculture have been able to make greater benefits. With the help of IoT device installations, the farmers are able to collect valuable data which reveals about their livestock and crops in a number of ways. They can survey land using drones and even measure the resources available on the farms. When all these things come together, it helps the farmers with a new way of carrying out things like precision farming. The role of IoT in agriculture and farming will increase significantly as the demand for food keeps on increasing. 

IoT impacting Healthcare

As per many experts, it has been said that the healthcare industry is going to be one of the main areas where spending on IoT will be considerably high. We already have a number of equipment which does things in a better way like share patient reports and images, helps with ICU management, real-time location systems, finding problems and troubleshooting and medicine dispensing. It is possible for IoT to streamline the data coming from medical service providers and send them back with the help of technologies like mobility solutions and wearables. 

When medical devices are connected with IoT sensors, the doctors will get right information delivered that too with reduced errors. This positively affects the quality of service and diagnosis process. The use of smart beds is also increasing across a number of hospitals. Such beds are capable of sensing the patient and adjusting it automatically so as to offer proper support. 

Improving patient care at homes is possible using IoT applications. Smart medication dispensers can notify the patient automatically when it is time to take the medicines and can also be used to upload the reports on the cloud platform for the doctors to check and make changes in the dose. 

IoT has proved itself and so it is going to stay here for a long time. The use of IoT across the healthcare industry will keep improving as they are looking for better ways to leverage technology so as to improve efficiency. With data sharing becoming simpler in the coming times, the use of IoT applications across the sector will grow too. 

IoT in Retail

What if one day you don’t have to worry about the shortage of supplies in your fridge? What if it can order the items on its own when the stock in the fridge starts to go low? The potential of IoT in the retail industry is high. It is time for us to face smart retailing. A smart supply chain which is based on IoT already exists. There are applications for automated delivery systems, real-time inventory management, product tracking, auto-billing, etc. and here, new trends are visible fast. 

With a smart retail store, it is possible to analyze and understand the shopping journey of the customers through footfalls. Earlier, businesses carried out long surveys to understand the market demands and this was an expensive affair. Now the use of foot-traffic monitoring has increased as a part of smart stores to analyze the areas where the customer is having a problem with finding goods and which are the best selling products. This way it will become possible to assign an executive to the customer so as to help with quick shopping. Based on store traffic monitoring, businesses can improve the in-store shopping experience. This way, by making use of mobile devices, retailers will have a better chance to engage customers and implement new digital marketing strategies. 

With the online marketplace growing exponentially, retailers are looking for ways to grab the attention of the customers and bring them to their stores. For the same, they need to get their hand on data and analytics, which can help them increase footfalls. Based on the data and analytics, IoT can help retailers make the right decisions. Keeping it short, retailers should focus on using IoT applications which can be used to serve the customers in an enhanced manner. 

IoT in Fintech

When we talk of fintech businesses or financial services organizations, their main concern is security. This is the reason why they depend on the network of visual sensors and cameras, which can offer them reliable facilities. When it comes to IoT deployment, the financial services organizations are quite good in numbers and even they are good at visual analytics adoption. Financial companies are going for mobile phones as their endpoint choice along with sensors and cameras. When it comes to IoT implementation, financial forms have many goals to achieve, but the main one is to have better connectivity for their networks as well as employ greater security for their services. 

IoT in Smart Homes & Buildings

IoT has greatly influenced the way we live and work. If we talk about living space, IoT has brought to light the concept of the smart home automation system. This system is all about different connected products which work towards making life more convenient, more comfortable and more pleasant. By using intelligent homes, it becomes possible for the homeowners to build up a pleasant environment within the four walls while working towards efficient energy management and enhanced security through proper customization. To build and monitor smart homes, a number of IoT technologies are available. 

Some of the leading consumer product manufacturing companies in the market are Philips, Haier, and Amazon. You can get news headlines to read to you while you are working, by asking Alexa, the voice assistant of Amazon Echo. 

A perfect example of a smart home design is Philips Hue. This bulb offers you 600 to 800 color lumens to choose from. It can change based on your mood. This product is compatible with other smart home platforms like Apple’s iPhone Home Kit and Amazon Echo. 

In the coming years, the number of smart home devices is going to go high. The smart appliances will includes washing machines, refrigerators, TV, dryers, etc. Then you have smart home energy equipment which provides for thermostats and smart lighting while smart home security systems which include cameras, sensors, alarm systems, etc. Saving energy and reduction in electricity costs can be seen as the major advantage of IoT implementation in smart home concept. 

IoT impact on energy

One of the early adopters of IoT is the utility industry. It is possible to make a better recording of energy consumption using smart meters. This will help the companies offering utility services to efficiently and accurately bill their customers based on consumption. 

Moreover, with the help of smart meters, it will become possible to track down and send back to the grid the amount of energy the users of green technologies consume. And based on that, credit them and pay some incentives as a part of encouraging them towards using environment-friendly options. 

Conclusion

If you are looking for the next level of automation, then IoT is the answer. In the coming time, IoT implementation will become more comfortable with the innovation of new technologies and it will make things faster and secure too. This makes life better at home, as well as at work. IoT is adding in more and more things to the digital environment and it is to make everything easy right from smart kitchen to smart offices, smart traffic to smart parking spaces.

                                                                                             Source - Salesforce

“By 2020, 85% of customer interactions will be managed without a human” – Gartner
Prior to jump into depth to sharing about ‘customer experience optimization through AI technology’ let’s first understand ‘what is customer experience?’. The perception or the value created about the brand to the customer, is called customer experience. The process to increase the awareness with positive intent towards the brand, is called customer experience optimization.

To optimize the customer experience, Business needs to first of all understand all moves to be taken by customer while landing initially onto portal to either purchasing the product or services without facing any hassle. Nowadays, AI technology has been implemented across all industries due to have its immense capability to drive strategic data as well as to respond customers quickly that cause business growth.

Problems that can be solved using AI:

Nowadays, Customers have multiple options when it comes to choose any product or service so Business should be proactive indeed on planning for futuristic action to engage the customer in order to compete with their potential competitors in the market. AI captures the existing data of current business and suggest the next step to be taken by implementing machine learning algorithm.

How AI plays a key role in making customer experience optimized

AI uses the machine learning algorithm to deliver human sense to customer. AI boost up the business process in such a way that the same service can be delivered in a quick and effective way. Being a customer, we face challenge in accessing support service such as long waiting time to connect with support agent, immediate actions to be taken on account, accessing personal details securely in no time etc. While accessing service or product solution, customer stuck at some point and they look for urgent help by contacting Phone/chat support team through number of channels such as Phone, email, web chat that usually consumes more than expected which may cause customer interest toward the brand.

Rather than getting help from support team, Customer always shows their positive intent to resolve the issue by self that enables customer to find the answer quickly, perform the required actions within no time, no additional charge with high secure, share less their sentiment to other human in very secure way. AI helps the customer to access key information based on their keywords they input to the application. Rich collection of content is prepared that allows computer system to sense the customer need and when required, customer access the custom fit content in no time.

Impact/Benefit of Artificial Intelligence on Business:

AI helps the business to automate and improve complex analytical tasks, to look at strategic data in real-time, adjusting its behavior with minimal need for supervision as well as to Increase efficiency and accuracy.

Below are the following benefits that are accessed by business on AI implementation:

• Increase operational performance that results less effort & time
• Helps stakeholder to take business decision quickly
• Eliminate human error with AI based algorithm
• Prediction analysis through analytics
• Data extraction through solid algorithm
• Increase Profitability
• Intelligent advice suggestion

One of the interesting part about AI, it follows pre-trained machine learning models and out-of-the box services that integrates with key customer experience process and solutions. AI can be used in almost unimaginable number of ways including sentiment analysis to understand the next move of a prospect/customer and recommend products based on customer interest.

The benefit is not only limited to customer; it is very useful for support process where agent access the knowledge base which contains the information that need to be shared with customer. Each of the little information can’t be memorized by human henceforth AI comes into the picture that helps the support team to guide the customer in right way quickly. AI provides the prediction analysis, and data plays an important role to succeed. AI utilize the captured data into computer system and apply the algorithm to make custom fit solution for end users. With consideration of customer intent, AI is solving many business problems on continuous rate that makes the AI as disruptive solution.

The oil and gas industry is rapidly getting revolutionized by the Internet of Things. By adopting IoT applications in this industry, it will become possible for them to multiply their profits all the while concentrating on improving safety measures.

As per the experts, it is possible to boost the profit numbers as well as get rid of any unplanned outages by choosing to go with IoT implementation. It is said that by 2019 the global IoT market is said to reach the worth of $1.7 trillion.

Some of the ways in which IoT is said to revolutionize the oil and gas industry are:

Revenue

Every business is based on the idea of generating revenue and when we are looking at things from the perspective of the oil and gas industry, they are said to have a huge impact on the global GDP. As per the study of Oxford Economics carried out in 2015, in the time of few years, the adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) at the industry level will increase the global GDP and it is expected to reach around $816 billion in a decade.

With oil prices staying low, it now becomes impossible for the oil companies to make huge profits and so, it is time for them to grab the new opportunity by investing in innovative technologies. Spending some money on such technologies would be better than working on cost-cutting ideas. As the industry will start becoming more competitive the saved time and financial benefits received will turn out to be very invaluable.

Enhanced operational efficiency

Today the majority of the workforce in the oil and gas industry is occupied by the Baby Boomer- aged people. This means it will not take much time for them to retire and soon their place will be left vacant. By using remote visibility and big data analysis together, it will become possible for the companies to properly manage their assets as well as optimize productions by learning from their findings. It is possible to bring down the time needed for troubleshooting from days to a few minutes, simply by opting for IoT. This will help the business to put their time into the operational areas.

Safety risk reduced

One of the main concerns in the oil and gas industry is safety. Now this means both externally and internally. IIoT can help the industry to know and point out different potential issues before they become capable enough to be safety hazards or real problems. Efficient and constant regulation of oil rigs becomes possible with remote troubleshooting. When you have proper IoT implementation in this area, you can be sure of lesser potential dangers in terms of work and less traveling for the employees.

Real-time data

For the oil and gas industry, data plays a very crucial role and big data is not a new thing here. When we compare it with other industries, accuracy and efficiency are very much valued here.

It is possible to see the evident economic difference by increasing efficiency through smaller improvements. Accurate and quick data is what helps with gaining profits in the oil and gas industry. With proper Industrial IoT integration in oil and gas industry, it is possible to monitor oil production in real-time by making use of sensors embedded in thereand it becomes possible for the companies to gather information by applying right automation within data communication systems. This helps them to make informed decisions after properly assessing their assets.

The basic idea here is that by building an effective IIoT environment, the companies will be able to collect useful information from the massive amount of accumulated data. When we talk in terms of IoT, the pumpoff controllers that are present inoil and gas companies are said to play a key role in IoT implementation and this helps the industry to enjoy the benefitsof web services.

End-to-end connected pipeline

This industry needs to have a proper pipeline system to transport huge amounts of oil and natural gas. The cost-effective and safest way to achieve this is by embedding IoT sensors to the central controlling system of the pipeline. By 2025, it is expected that there will be 64 billion devices which will be responsible for sending and collecting data. The IoT sensors used in those pipeline systems monitor different parameters like pressure, temperature, flow, etc. Such information helps in real-time controlling of the moving resources. In order to smoothly control the flow within the pipelines from remote locations, IoT smart valves are installed at different points on the pipeline.

Reduced environmental impact

We can say that right from reducing traveling to bringing down safety risk, IoT implementation in this industry is said to cause a decreased impact on the environment. Some of the benefits of IoT implementation should be the focus in the oil and gas industry are the less emission of carbon, avoiding oil spills, using less energy and avoiding any expected accidents. With IIoT implementation, it is possible to control and monitor resource and energy usage.

Preventive maintenance

A small amount of data which are captured by the legacy systems from the equipment are used up by the oil and gas industry. This data is analyzed for better insights. Now, by using a large number of data points over multiple devices, it will become possible to collect data simultaneously and then combine them together to know about any potential failure in the machines and equipment. By properly using IoT in this industry, it is possible to predict productivity, increase efficiency as well as prevent equipment failures.

Wrapping it up

If we look at the supply chain in the oil and gas industry, proper integration and implementation of IoT in here is said to influence and affect everything right from operations to customer engagement. This industry is here for a long time now and IoT has the power to change it very rapidly towards growth and profits in the right manner all the while making it self-sufficient to catch up with the strong competition.

For years, I have been written about the promise and perils of the Internet of Things (IoT). In many of my articles I described how the IoT could help transform society and kickstart the next industrial revolution. However, I think after talking these summer days with people outside this "industry" that most of them are lost with the IoT. We still cannot define in a unique and clear way what IoT is and much less explain how thanks to IoT it will change our lives, without using the example of the connected refrigerator.

At the beginning of 2015, I wondered if we would be able to build the Internet of Things. Taking a look at the most recent IoT Landscape I continue seeing how the fragmentation of the market, the lack of standards and the challenge of security continue damaging the growth of IoT. The evolution that not the revolution of IoT, has been slower than I expected and desired. Today not only Telcos admit IoT is failing to meet expectations.

Why are we lost in IoT? Let´s see some arguments.

Lost in IoT connectivity

With so many IoT connectivity options on the market, choosing the right one for your project can be complicated. It scares me to think that billions of devices will be connected in a few years to decentralized IoT networks and with no interconnectivity between them, unless we use millions of edge nodes that transfer messages among devices connected in multiple networks. If it is already difficult to justify the ROI of a use case considering a single type of connectivity, it is almost impossible to justify that these devices can communicate with other devices on different IoT subnets.

In case we consider the doubt small, we add the issue of end-to-end security and the need in some use cases networking in meshes with no single point of failure. Here comes new IoT technologies such as Blockchain to help or to confuse.

It seems that it is easy to get lost among so much connectivity technology. Isn’t true?

Suggested read: IoT Connectivity Options: Comparing Short-, Long-Range Technologies

How will Edge computing impact the global connectivity landscape?

Lost among hundreds of IoT Platforms

At least we already intuit some of the platforms that will survive among the +700 that some analysts have identified. I have only been able to analyze with more or less depth about 100. Surely my methodology of Superheroes and Supervillanos will advance the end of most of them.

It is no longer just one IoT Platform, stupid! Although they want to make it easy for us, companies like AWS, Microsoft or Google add concepts such as Serverless, Data Lakes, AI, Edge Computing, DLT and all the artillery of Cloud services to the core features of the IoT platform. I get lost in its architecture and I feel that if I get too close to one of these black holes, they will end up absorbing me.

Glad to know that “Verizon retools ThingSpace IoT platform to focus on connectivity” and system integrators are they are abandoning their in house development to embrace leaders vendors’ products.

The IoT analysts are also not helping much with its reports. IoT Platform vendors are disputing relevant positions in their graphs but we are lost when do not see any vendor in the leader quadrant of Gartner and most of them are Niche Players.

Lost between the Edge and the Clouds

In “Do not let the fog hide the clouds in the Internet of Things” , I warned about the degree of complexity that Fog / Edge Computing added to the already complex solutions in the IoT Clouds. Now nothing seems to be of great value if we do not include Edge Computing in our IoT solutions. And there our confusion arises again.

The Babel tower of Alliance & Consortiums is consolidating but we keep losing in acronyms. Industrial Internet companies felt relief with the news “ – The Industrial Internet Consortium® (IIC™) and the OpenFog Consortium® (OpenFog) unite to combine the two largest and most influential international consortia in Industrial IoT, fog and edge computing. While The Open Group Open Process Automation™ Forum (OPAF) is defining the next generation edge computing standards for industrial operators.

And again, the question arises, do we wait or start my Industrial IoT project? For now, I choose "Industrial IoT - Edge Computing Vendors Overview"​ as my first book. You can read my post here. 

Lost in the Proof of Concept (PoC)

Businesses are spending $745 billion worldwide on IoT hardware and software in 2019 alone. Yet, three out of every four IoT implementations are failing.

Microsoft launched a new research report — IoT Signals — intended to quantify enterprise internet of things (IoT) adoption around the world. The survey of over 3,000 IT team leaders and executives provides a detailed look at the burgeoning multi-billion-dollar segment’s greatest challenges and benefits, as well as related trends. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that 30% of respondents say their IoT projects failed in the proof-of-concept stage, often because the implementation became too expensive or the bottom-line benefits were unclear.

There are technical reasons for example the use of Rasberry Pi or Arduino boards in the PoC and realise that you need other more expensive hardware for the project.

There are economic reasons when you try to escalate your PoC to real implementations and then the ROI doesn’t look as well as in the pilot.

There are organization reasons when leaders are failing to go all in. If you can’t get the CEO on board, then the probability to finish in the PoC is almost 100%.

If you are lost in the PoC, these tips can help you implementing IIOT.

1. Solve a problem worth solving
2. Keep it quick and simple
3. Manage the Human Factor

Sources: https://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/blog/IoT-Agenda/Break-out-of-IoT-proof-of-concept-purgatory

https://www.avnet.com/wps/portal/us/resources/technical-articles/article/iot/5-signs-proof-concept-purgatory/

https://titoma.com/blog/industrial-iot-avoid-pilot-purgatory

Microsoft: 30% of IoT projects fail in the proof-of-concept stage

Lost in select the right IoT Ecosystems

In Harbor Research article “ Has Anyone Seen A Real Internet of Things Ecosystem?” ,dated November 2013, the analyst firm wrote that no really significant ecosystem or network of collaborators had emerged in the IoT arena in spite there was early and very interesting efforts being made by several players. This article does not need changes.

Since I wrote “The value of partnership in Industrial Internet of Things”, I have heard, read and repeated hundreds of times how important it is to belong to an IoT ecosystem and how difficult it is to choose the one that suits you best.

All or at least most of those who read my articles know that there is no company in the world, no matter how great it is, it can do everything in IoT. Creating an IoT ecosystem either horizontal (technology) or vertical (industry) requires a lot of talent managers able to maintain win-win transactions over the time. And according to the results, it seems to me that it is becoming very complicated.

I am working in an article in which I will analyse 4 examples of IoT ecosystems that represent a big portion of the value chain in the multiple IoT markets: IoT Hardware Ecosystem, IoT telco Operator, IoT Cloud Platform Vendor and IoT System Integrators. Hope this article could help you, if you are lost with IoT ecosystems.

https://dblaza.blogspot.com/2014/04/will-strong-iot-ecosystem-beat-out-push.html

Remember, you are not the only one lost in IoT

When it comes to achieving a return on their investment from IoT, businesses really need rethink how they are deploying it so that they can manage remotely and secure their assets, use the sensors and devices data to make better real time decisions and be able to monetise it. However, for both to happen, and for IoT project to not end up in the purgatory, businesses need independent and expert advice at several levels to find the right people to lead the project and the right technology and partners to make implementation successful.

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