If you are paying attention, it is being said that we are experiencing a new revolution, based on technology, and the connectedness of things. Smart devices are being released at a higher pace than ever before. I am able to monitor my appliances in my home, and even manage them from my smart phone, and so much more.
That’s not what is really creating the revolution. At the core of the entire revolution is DATA. That’s what we’re all about, right? The ability for you to manage your smart appliances or for businesses to have a view into their smart devices is secondary to capturing information about the embedded device that is connected. This information can be used to introduce new revenue streams to a business that weren’t available before.
I assisted in the installation of a smart Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system in my college decades ago. The result of installing a system that was able to monitor rooms across the campus saved the school a large percentage of the costs simply by turning on or off systems when a room wasn’t occupied. Today, systems are even smarter. They not only detect the current presence of people in a room. Because data can be gathered and tracked, the systems are able to predict when a room may be occupied at a future time. It can then determine what is the most cost effective solution for managing temperature.
That’s a simple scenario. I have a colleague who has designed a system even more sophisticated. A company has a service for maintaining their products out in the field. Because they have real time statistics regarding the performance of their products due to embedded, online, data collection, they are able to pro-actively manage their products. They can predict the best time to replace a product, or when service may be required, rather than waiting for the device to fail in some fashion.
The connectedness of life impacts you today. It will impact you even more tomorrow. Are you ready for the connectedness of things? Are there things we need to be boning up on so we are ready when our company sees this as the future?
Cheers,
Ben