IoT

How IoT Is Modifying the Service Industry
admin
November 15, 2021
IoT

How IoT is Modifying the Service Industry

Internet of Things is one of the booming technology that has occupied an important place in the industrial sector and has become part of other futuristic development plans. Today, if you observe your surroundings, you might realize that things are updating and becoming smart. The real-time data shared by the equipment involved in this innovative technology has revolutionized every industry. The real-time data offered are ideal for encountering the challenges of service providers, either its restaurants to automotive shops, or it is a pet grooming shop. 

The topmost issue among other challenges is the growing expectations of the customers. Today customers are looking for fast and consistent service. As per the recent survey conducted, approximately 70 per cent of respondents opted for fast shipping as a decisive factor for online purchases. Now, here fast means immediate, with the same-day delivery market to increase at a rate of over 20 per cent through 2027. However, the expectation of customers is not just limited to e-commerce. Suppose the service provider fails in meeting the timeline of a client. In that case, they will switch to someone else- may be to somewhere that’s already embracing IoT solutions for a better customer experience. IoT offers a plethora of options that can address service challenges, including predictive maintenance, asset tracking, and advanced process automation. But the most significant benefit that IoT drags into service industries come from one capability: service tracking. 

Service Tracking with IoT Solutions:

Service tracking itself defines its meaning, i.e. real-time monitoring of the progress of a task; it can be anything, whether haircut or machine maintenance. An IoT solution empowers you with this visibility automatically. Here’s how IoT services can help in tracking works:

  • Multi low-cost sensors keep a watch on the ongoing task and monitors progress indicators. These are the assets of IoT, sensors implanted in equipment or posted at a distance, like cameras or RF devices. They are known as edge devices, and they accumulate data at the point of work.
  • Internet connectivity sends the data. Edge devices gather processed data but to share the same, they require wireless connectivity. It can be a dedicated narrowband IoT network or 5G network, or even Bluetooth.
  • A cloud-based data managing platform: Observational data stocks into a centralized platform on the cloud. Over there, it is converted into meaningful insight. For instance, if you run an oil change service, cameras installed in your workplace can send a video to the data platform, where software identifies a car rolling out of the bay. This indicates that an oil change process is completed.
  • Front-end software application offers human touchpoints. The final stage of IoT service tracking is sharing data with stakeholders. We can say that it means a branded app that updates your customers with real-time estimates—for example, informing customers that your car will be ready to take in 10 minutes. It can also include a reporting dashboard that helps you point process improvements.

We all know that every IoT Implementation is unique, and this is just like a small picture. It may surprise you that service providers need to pay attention to IoT as it provides extraordinary advantages for service companies.

How is IoT Service Tracking changing the outlook of Service Providers and their Customers?

Service tracking with IoT solutions charters a path to unlimited benefits. Ones who are already embracing IoT in service industries are enjoying the results. Lets us know how IoT service tracking is changing the vision of service industries:

  • Reduced wait times: When tracking your services can be done digitally, and precisely then entire scheduling operation becomes much less wasteful. You skip the best-guess estimates. You are aware of current processes and when the next guest room will be available because the system tracks the ongoing housekeeping processes. An automated system informs the customer about the availability of the room, mentioning the exact time. This type of predictive wait time eliminates frustration and improves customer service.
  • The involvement of an IoT service tracker ensures better operational efficiency. Service tracking saves customers time along with yours. With more efficient scheduling created using IoT solutions, you can see more clients and improve efficiency and profitability. Process data also shares the bottlenecks for workflow optimization. Above all, this allows you to improve productivity, leading to lower prices and providing a sharper competitive edge.
  • The inclusion of an IoT service tracker creates an excellent customer experience. The addition of IoT brings terrific customer experience, which is the key to growth in the service industry. Line-free service, progress updates and cost-saving without negating the quality allures customers to come back again.

No doubt, service tracking is just not a way through which IoT benefits service providers. IoT provides other services like asset tracking for goods and equipment. Sensors installed in core equipment can track the uses to establish a more accurate preventative maintenance. They can even share data with machine learning models to facilitate predictive maintenance.

IoT is one of the fast-growing technology, so there is more on the horizon. It holds everything that can improve services, draw benefits and save time.

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admin
October 19, 2021
IoT

How Can IoT Provide a Truly Effortless Experience?

IoT and IIoT have become a part of almost every industry. Their incomparable contribution to the growth and success of the services or products is remarkable. In fact, features offered by IoT and IIoT for customer service or field service experience have opened opportunities to boost customer loyalty to an exceptional level and have launched a new prospect for revenue generation.

However, the biggest challenge prevails in how to transform IoT advantages into an effortless experience.

The principle of the Effortless experience, described in the book by Matthew Dixon, has changed the concept of customer experience and shares what results in loyal or disloyal customers. The books share that

“Loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be. Most customers don’t want to be “wowed”; they want an effortless experience. And they are far more likely to punish you for bad service than to reward you for good service.”

The benefit provided by IIoT is visible across all industries, and it manifests itself in various forms for various applications. For instance, industrial production abilities enhance maintenance efficiency and labor safety, streamlining production and operational resilience.

Yet, IoT is not just meant to stay as technology but is about developing solutions that can deliver expected results for businesses. The value of field service organizations is rising day by day for operations. The service experiences offered by your technicians will imprint a lasting impact on your customers. It will determine the overall impression of your brand and will influence satisfaction, retention and future sales in a positive or negative way. Along with the delivery of notch-top services, customers expect effortless services too.

So, this makes it elementary to reexamining the way your organization provides services by resolving the complexities of the past and moving towards a future promising an effortless experience.

Concentrate on Effortless:

Is it possible for you to maintain the conversation when customers ask a question via one channel and then use another to ask for an update? Customers often expect history and context to be carried into future interactions regardless of how or when the conversation started. Yet many organizations still struggle and deploy different teams for various service channels.

Integrating the power of a centralized service console such as Salesforce Service Cloud with real-time and adding historical IoT telemetry from a Digital Twin will ease your teams’ work by providing full transparency, assuring context and history are available, 24*7. Besides, your team can carry diagnostics tests remotely by directly accessing historical data and cases along with service contracts plus KPI’s.

From effortless to predictable:

Advanced analytics tools and connected products have transformed the concept of knowing your customers, their assets, and equipment. Today, it is easy to acquire tones of relevant data that empowers you to predict the requirements of the customer even before they experience the problem.

Though the information is available but unfortunately unavailable to service teams within their operational tools, a no-code platform to utilize the power of IoT within their service console could be the best solution. This can proactively launch customer service operations to achieve an unparalleled level of customer and field service.

Make Simple Your Differentiator:

Delivering an effortless service can also assist in discovering new growth opportunities via AI/ML insights, which can contribute to great success. It can also boost operational efficiency by modifying the way you connect people, data, and devices using automated workflows and inventory management tools. Besides, risk can be minimized by effortlessly securing your organization, network, and people by identifying oddities and vulnerabilities to connect with confidence.

Finally, improve the user experience by providing differentiated and personalized effortless experiences to increase customer retention and business.

It is apparent that customer service organizations have been endeavoring for years to accomplish short wait times, excellent first-call resolution, and stretched support hours. Competent customer service programmers are not limited to these but also offer access to experts.

Above all this, customers have to be aware of their needs and where to look for a solution. Latest studies have found that organizations that can predict customer needs and make information availability easy are appreciated for excellent customer satisfaction. Additionally, customers are demanding self-service and want it to be effortless.

Conclusion

We all know that to provide an excellent level of customer service, it is essential to predict the needs of the customers before they encounter issues. Adding a no-code platform within their Service Cloud or Field Service environment can be helpful for your team.

We can easily conclude that an effortless experience for customers can be possible only by potentially utilizing IoT within the cloud service. By integrating the power of a centralized service console enriched with real-time and past IoT data, your team will enjoy complete transparency, assuring the context and history of customer contacts are accessible at any time.

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How to Improve Your IoT Device Security
admin
September 20, 2021
IoT

How to Improve Your IoT Device Security?

The Internet of Things has turned out to be the most life-changing invention of the era. The concept of connected devices has simplified day to day life and has upgraded the word ‘comfort’.

Internet of things has penetrated in every section, and with time it will become the spine of all the ruling industries. From smart mobile to smartwatch, from smart energy grids to IoT enabled industry machines, smart houses to smart towns, smart bicycles, smart hospitals, smart buildings, smart fitness trackers, smart refrigerators, smart medical sensors, smart security systems etc. If you see around, you will find out how things are becoming smart day by day, promising more comfort and less ambiguity.

We can simply celebrate the idea of establishing a network of things or physical objects embedded with software, sensors and technologies to connect and exchange data with other connected systems or devices over the internet that has become an idea of the century.

But, to protect this virtual network of physical objects or devices, we have to ensure robust IoT security because it helps shield connected networks and IoT devices. IoT security guarantees that any connected device, smart TV, smart refrigerators or smart locks, etc., is safe and free from hacking.

If IoT security work is executed precisely, it will be challenging for hackers to control IoT devices and steal the user’s digital data.

Let’s know how IoT security could be strengthened to establish a more secure and protected connected future.

Risk-Based Strategy:

A risk-based strategy is a mindset that empowers you to enhance the certainty of achieving outcomes by using techniques or methods that recognize threats and opportunities. This approach can be used during operations while designing the product or at product improvement stages.

Besides this, a risk-based approach also enables you to seize opportunities and skips from losses and enhances the entire working system throughout the organization.

Thus, we can easily conclude that considering a risk-based approach should be the main element of quality management systems, performance excellence processes, including ISO 9001:2015. The risk-based approach also helps you know the risk model of devices, and you can implement relevant security controls in an IoT system.

Updation of Firmware & Software:

IoT security requires timely updating of firmware and software, improving safety and offering plenty of other benefits.

For instance, timely updating software and firmware help repair security loopholes that might happen due to computer bugs. The updated process is meant to revise all the features present in IoT devices and allow you to add or update features to IoT devices and remove the older ones. Updating also allows your operating system to run on the latest version. Suppose, if you don’t opt for updating or renewing your IoT connected devices, then things might turn opposite, and you might not enjoy many benefits in your business.

Well, updating process requires some IoT security testing services to eliminate any kind of security issues within the IoT ecosystem. 

Nevertheless, several IoT testing techniques like threat modelling, firmware analysis, protocol testing, incident response testing, etc., offer more stable and robust solutions.

IoT Device Security Features:

If you own a small connected device or having a complex IoT device network, then try to match the specific security criteria with IoT security testing.

IoT has seven fundamental characteristics; based on your need, you can perform testing to ensure that all device features are working correctly, bug-free, and free from all hacking risks.

  • Connectivity:  In IoT devices, everything is connected, from hardware, sensors, electronics to systems; this means one has to ensure that connected hardware and control systems are able of making connections between various levels or not.
  • Things: Your IoT enabled device may comprise different sensors or sensing materials that need to be attached to appliances and items properly.
  • Data: We all are familiar that Data is the adhesive of IoT, and it is determined as the primary step towards action and intellect.
  • Communication: IoT enabled devices are connected with one or more systems; thus, this allows data to communicate while transferring or sharing through devices. In fact, communication is not limited by distance; it can take place over short or long distances. Let’s take the example of Wi-Fi. We all know that Wi-Fi is simple to connect with software for audio or video calls. Thus, in IoT, the data transferred from one place to another need to be analyzed and tested.
  • Intelligence: IoT devices hold sensing capabilities, or we can call Intelligence, and this capability is gained from Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
  • Action: It can be defined as a consequence of Intelligence, and it can be based on manual interpretation or debates. For instance, in a smart factory, automation assists in taking important decisions to create more profits and reduce errors.
  • Ecosystem: It can be described as a place of the Internet of Things that connects to other communities, technologies, the picture, or goals the IoT can fit. The characteristics mentioned earlier of IoT should be considered while evaluating the security of IoT devices. Besides, following these characteristics enables you to check the security abilities to assure that IoT product is good to use.

    Furthermore, monitoring for factors allows you to establish specific answerability and responsibility lines for the IoT ecosystem.

Automate Security Whenever Possible:

We all know that there is a considerable demand for connected devices and endpoints. Therefore IoT deployment raises the need to identify the threat, monitor data and other related security levels.

However, the main goal of automation within the development stage will remain the same: to check the security.

Thus, it becomes necessary to check every feature of IoT devices to provide maximum protection to the user.

Data Encryption is important:

Sometimes, it is observed that many companies face a challenge in storing their data in an encrypted format. However, data encryption is the best option to improve IoT security as data will never be transferred in plain text. One can even go for an alternative option like VPN to protect confidential data if unable to encrypt data.

Conclusion

Internet of Things is serving more than expected; most enterprises leverage it to improve staff productivity and reduce human labour. IoT is a futuristic gateway to assure the potential use of resources and assets, the effectiveness of operations management, cut off operational costs, enhance customer services etc.

So, if you are planning to embrace IoT to achieve your business goals, then focus on improving the security of your devices first.

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admin
September 6, 2021
IoT

How is IoT Renovating Hotel and Hospitality Industry into Smart Ones?

IoT is already making so many industries and sectors smart and successful. No doubt, organizations are also embracing this new technology. Hospitality is another industry that devours the benefits of IoT by integrating it with internal management, and the output is more than expected.

We all know that housekeeping and maintenance have been the most critical components of smart hotel management. It is essential to keep a place running smoothly while maintaining quality, as it can affect the guests’ experience. When everything is done accurately, guests may not even notice that maintenance or housekeeping is being performed. In fact, issues are resolved before any guest sees it, or if someone notices it, requests are addresses immediately and seamlessly.

When things are not done as expected, it might go downhill much promptly- guests might complain, ask for recourse or write a negative review which ultimately causes business drop and no repeat business as well.

Thus, it is clear that the housekeeping and maintenance model matching guests’ needs and hotel management is challenging. Compromising quality and thoroughness by spending too little on housekeeping and maintenance may lead to guest dissatisfaction. Or spending too much on maintenance and housekeeping may result in appreciation, but you may feel that you’re spending more than the requirements.

So now, the most significant challenge is to know how to strike the proper perspective smart hotel?

Present Systems for Core Hospitality Functions and its disabilities:

Well, before switching to Smart Hotel, it is necessary to understand the state of current operations. To understand this, you need to ask few questions about housekeeping services like “How many rooms are cleaned every day or weekly? How much time is consumed in cleaning, and how many staff are engaged in it? How many rooms are allotted to a single staff and how assignments are made?

You even need to question on maintenance front, too, like “how often maintenance requests are made? What are the things which need frequent repair? How much is spent on maintenance?” It would be best to determine how often preventative maintenance is performed and how much it stops more significant issues from emerging down the line?
These small but essential questions are challenging to answer as these issues can be resolved only by employing the right system or process.

Many organizations discovered that their systems are:

Manual and Variable:

Apart from housekeeping and maintenance being hands-on and physical work, recordkeeping has also been manual. Every input must be made manually from room allotment to service requests, thus dragging the possibility of errors and sometimes ambiguity.

Disintegrated:

Even if the software is part of hotel management, there are separate systems for each function that troubles to find out who’s doing what or what happened at what time. The process for housekeeping can be different from the maintenance procedure. Sometimes, a system for maintenance requests is varied depending on the type of service or vendor.

Responsive:

We all know that most maintenance systems are dependent on submitting service orders to acknowledge or resolve things that are already broken. This results in a system that reacts to the emerging problems rather than one that actively works to fix them before it happens.

These different and manual systems have been part of the industry for a long time despite having limitations. Now, there are many firms and companies that offer software to digitize and collect housekeeping and maintenance operations. Yet, these solutions are still dependent on some level of human interference. Whether recording time spent completing a particular task or determining if something needs servicing indicates the degree of unpredictability and difference in the data as long as you do not have a smart hotel.

Monitor Smart Hotel Functions in Real-Time and Get Actionable Insights

The Internet of Things empowers hospitality industry professionals to view the current status of essential services like maintenance and housekeeping in entirely new dimensions, analyze past data in a centralized form and utilize data to extract actionable insights to improve the business.

Let us know the benefits of employing IoT based housekeeping and maintenance solutions.

Set Alerts for Dynamic Maintenance

Leak sensors on water lines and bathroom fixtures, vibration sensors on HVAC appliances and airflow sensors in ducts can be helpful. These sensors provide alert when things are damaged or broken, and it can even identify problems before it turns into a big issue. These sensors can be installed on an individual room basis or in common utility areas to get alerts. One can set a limit for moisture, airflow or vibration to get alerts to perform preventive maintenance or promptly address the arising situation accordingly. With sufficient available data, some IoT solutions use machine learning or artificial intelligence to execute complex models for predictive maintenance.

Better Staffing and Resource Planning

Attaching proximity sensors and indoor positioning beacons to either housekeeping staff uniforms or carts can provide data on rooms cleaned at any given time. As staff move from one room to another, these sensors capture the data of time spent by the staff in cleaning a room without manual reporting. By getting zone and room level data, hotel management can know the current state of rooms- cleaned or have to be cleaned. Occupancy sensors installed in rooms can inform staff with a real-time indication of which room to skip to avoid the requirement for repeated manual follow-ups. Collecting and analyzing past housekeeping data can help pinpoint operational bottlenecks to notify total staff headcount and cut housekeeping costs.

Enhanced Guest Experience

Interactive tablets are added in rooms for the comfort of guests to place room service orders like request extra towels or mark their room as ‘Do Not Disturb.’ When these sensors are integrated with housekeeping and maintenance data in a centralized system, front desk employees get access to the real-time dashboard of every room’s status, enabling them to respond to requests and send the required personnel. This ultimately results in an improved service experience where services are prompt and seamless to visitors.

Analytics and Administration Monitoring

Data collected from housekeeping, maintenance and guest service requests can be utilized to bring about reports and metrics like average cleaning time consumed per room, maintenance requests made per week, or average request fulfilment time. Sensors attached to HVAC appliances can be utilized to monitor energy usage and optimize it in response.

Thus organizations are aware of metrics that can be deployed for suitable operational changes.

Different Sensors, Networks, and Software to Meet Your Needs

Sensors used in an IoT solution will depend on the particular demands of the Smart Hospitality use case. For example, to track housekeeping activities through indoor positioning, current hardware technology consists of WiFi tracking tags, BLE beacons, or RFID tags. For maintenance purpose, leak sensors, there is ultrasonic-based and mechanical impeller leak sensors. Vibration sensor technologies comprise piezoelectric and MEMS-based accelerometers.

In Smart Hotel network connectivity, sensors can cooperate with the cloud through a variety of wired and wireless protocols, like

  • WiFi or Ethernet
  • LoRa and other LPWAN protocols
  • Cellular (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

In the end, you’ll need an IoT software platform to ingest, convert, and envision the data. This may also comprise the skill to connect or remove sensors to various appliances and assets, set alerts and create customized reports.

Thus we can conclude that IoT supports hospitality organizations to stay ahead of the curve in the guest experience and streamline operations.

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IoT Data-The key to the smart connected world
admin
August 23, 2021
IoT

IoT Data: The Key to The Smart Connected World

Today, imagination has the power to become real, and all this is possible through the Internet of Things. It has empowered humankind with the ability to convert vision, thoughts and imagination into reality. From smartwatch to smart Tv, smart building to the smart town, every impossible and futuristic dream is becoming part of day-to-day life. So, it is pretty clear that every connected product leads to almost endless possibilities, from enhancing products to creating synergies that almost seemed impossible in the past.

Businesses manufacturing smart products or using IoT to streamline efficiencies are dependent on one thing: data. Data plays a critical role in making the whole IoT system effective and efficient. The data points collected from connected devices communicating to one another create a tapestry of insights for organizations that hold the skill to efficiently and precisely curate and analyze them.

Let’s know about things more closely.

Smarter Products

Usually, there is a lot of guesswork with smart product development. Suppose we summarise the current tech status, then yes. In that case, we are still in the primary stage of IoT, especially in selecting the data connected product development though we are surrounded by an ‘n’ number of IoT connected devices and products. However, manufacturers are learning that smart products offer tremendous insight into which features are used the most, which are sometimes utilized and sometimes not.

No doubt, there is a wealth of information available on smart product relationships. Let us understand this by taking an example of a connected kitchen. In a connected kitchen, multiple devices interact with one another. The data collected shows the quantitative impact that connected products cause on each other, and in some cases, it even identifies relationships that have not been clear at first glance.

IoT data can inform manufacturers when something operates incorrectly, and which factor is behind the emergence of the issues.

For instance, it can check if it is an isolated incident, or the issue arises whenever specific factors leading to the problem occur? This information can highlight anything from fundamental performance problems to possible safety issues. The data permits manufacturers to analyze it and enable them to make intelligent updates to the product or develop a new one, or in some cases, it suggests discontinuing the product altogether.

Safer, More Efficient Production

To utilize the values provided by IoT data to the next meta-level, it is essential to check how connectivity can help in the development of smart products.

The Industrial Internet of Things, i.e. IIoT, is the next new thing of the IoT revolution. In the manufacturing sector, connected devices offer a wealth of information related to certain aspects of smart product development.

As discussed in the smart kitchen example, data from connected devices can inform managers about production delays and the possible reasons for this delay.

Suppose there may be lags from one stage of the manufacturing process to the next, and that may not be detected without the connected data.

Sensors attached to the devices also warn about the part of machinery that needs to be repaired or is about to fail altogether. This gives a manager the ability to address the issues before the fall down happens and prevents the possible production slowdown or failure.

IIoT data can also help in discovering possible manufacturing safety hazards, like dangerous interactions between connected machinery. Besides this, smart wearables can observe the health status of the employees working in the plant. It monitors the vital signs, which can signal possible health issues. By integrating past and present data, it is possible to improve the overall safety of the plant, which ultimately results in better results.

Thus it is clear that either for uniform operation or to ensure the safest possible work environment, IIoT data offers insights into managing a continuous flow of production, which ultimately plays a vital role in delivering a product to market and ensures fulfilment post-launch demand.

Getting Data Where It Needs to Be

Gathering data and churning valuable information from it is a significant step toward market differentiation. The connected devices offer extensive data, and it is crucial to segregate valuable data from the flooding data. 

Now, its time to know the three things that every organization needs to do:

  • Crush the silos: We are crossing the stage where each department had its own sets of data that never went beyond its four walls, and this whole system is essential as it associates with IoT data. The entire system of IoT data is dependent on how data interacts to produce new insights. Today, innovative product manufacturers who embrace IoT on a micro and macro level are the ones who will shine in the coming future and will benefit the most. They will ensure that appropriate data gets to those who want to use it.
  • Share progress updates: When disruptive new insights are available, make sure that stakeholders know them and demonstrate why insights are vital to individual departments as well as organizations. This whole process, which involves sharing information, ensures that everyone is aware of the overall status of the product and its current development stage.
  • Avoid oversharing: It is undoubtedly imperative to enhance data sightlines, but it should not overload stakeholders. There is an immense flow of data that might eat up time in making helpful reports, but it would lead to a delay in the project and might hit critical product development.

Wrap up:

IoT holds a great future; in fact, we can say that IoT is the future. Coming decades will be transformative for innovative product manufacturers who comprehend the art of IoT and its data analysis. These future-oriented companies will offer products featuring more personalized, powerful, and intuitive services than ever before. These IoT-based organizations will create a new digital ecosystem where everything will be interconnected and inform each other. So, be ready to see a world where devices communicate and offer the best possible assistance and solutions.

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How are Wearables Improving the Connected World Concept
admin
August 4, 2021
IoT, Technology

How are Wearables Improving the “Connected World” Concept?

Today, if we look around, we can easily sense that we live in a connected world ruled by sensing technology and intelligent devices. Every organization is attempting to climb the connected ladder between brands and customers to launch the most efficient and innovative product in the market. Few Research Centre took a survey and shared that wearable is the most popular smart device as one in five Americans owns it. 

Wearables are changing the way of communication, monitoring and sharing information between consumers. They are playing a pivotal role in progressing the concept “connected world” we are living in. Even after having many desirable features, the overall wearable market has not hit dynamic market growth as analysts predicted. 

Ericsson shared that almost 1 in 10 wearable users no longer use their wearable devices, and one-third have already abandoned them after a couple of weeks. The main reason behind this unpredictable behaviour is that consumers do not know what they need. 

For lifestyle purposes or health reasons, customers try wearables as an experiment or eagerness and forget about it if they are unimpressed by the inadequate functionality of the connected device. On the other hand, instead of investigating the customer’s requirements or addressing customers’ needs, brands are just throwing products out to the market to know what functionality is beneficial and marketable. 

One of America’s renowned multinational technology and e-commerce companies recently announced a catalogue of half a dozen different smart wearable products.

Based on the people’s curiosity and past experiences, researchers still conclude that wearables could make their place in the market. International brands are aggressively working to produce wearables that can stick in the market. 

The COVID-19 pandemic hit has also caused a significant impact on the wearables market. Gartner shared about the shift in the choices of people amid COVID. In 2020 wearable market saw a momentary push in heath wearables which concluded that customers and vendors are more interested in health-focused wearables. 

Therefore it is pretty clear that niche products do not meet customer needs. Consumers are looking for multi functionalities in a device or say “all-in-one” wearables are winners. But to develop such wearables, there is a need for more functionality, low energy consuming sensors and other latest technologies.

Sensing the Wearable demand

IDC predicts that there would be over 55 billion connected devices globally by 2025. This implies that every person on earth would own seven or more connected devices. The entire design should have the right factor, along with portability and user-friendliness. At the heart of this design are embedded sensors. 

From consumer wearables that support a healthier lifestyle to medical wearables that help decide a patient’s vital signs by sensing components promptly are some of the advanced help these technologies offer to lives, consumers enjoy the safety, productivity, and health incentives. 

The embedded sensors allow complex interaction between people and devices, enhancing the user experience to make daily interactions with smart technology more comfortable and natural. These sensors make it feel like the devices around us intuitively understand what we want them to do. Important needs of embedded sensor technology for connected devices are small size and low-power consumption and overall ease of ‘wearability’ for added comfort and functionality.

Small and low energy consuming sensors offer the best way of tracking a person’s health, physical activity, exercise; RF components assure the best connectivity and location determination, and wireless charging makes everyday life much simple, and it is almost as if the devices “charge themselves.” 

The most crucial feature of sensor technology is to make our lives more convenient through seamless, simple interactions between people and sensing devices so that users can emphasize their other essential works.  

It is evident that with an advance in wearable industries, there will be a requirement for more accurate, reliable and compact sensing technologies for long-term functionality in wearables. 

Functionality comes with Challenges

Consumers expect “all-in-one” smart devices, and wearable devices are moving towards that. From texting to calling, timekeeping to vital monitoring is becoming part of today’s wearables. However, adopting this “new standard” carries challenges and issues with wearable battery life and power management structure.

No doubt, it is tough to compact multiple sensors for capabilities into a thin, small and lightweight device. The addition of new functionality drags a challenge of power management.

Ways to overcome efficiency issues include:

  • By transferring data wirelessly by using LoRa, NB-IoT, etc.
  • Unloading high power functions to solutions like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
  • Selecting an effective microcontroller (MCU) for power management purposes to reduce power consumption – especially when the device is not in use.
  • Utilizing pin-type charging or wireless charging rather than a USB plug-in connection.
  • Improving overall sensor technology.

Wireless power is becoming part of a multifaceted world of small things. Designers demand a highly integrated semiconductor solution with minimum loss rates, robust performance, and outstanding linearity.

Boosting Battery Technology

Battery life is the most significant barrier to the growth of wearable tech today. Smart wearable devices need efficacious power management to run many various functionalities at once. Customers demand batteries that last for a long time and are easy to recharge. Most wearables have lithium-ion (Li-ion) or Lithium-ion polymer (Li-poly) batteries; these conventional batteries only fit basic on-functionality wearables with simple sensors and low power capabilities. They are unable to keep up with the demand of adding more functionality to a single device.

In the end, it’s the solution that is evaluated no matter which battery is installed in it. Semiconductor companies are endeavouring to address this need for new battery alternatives by designing battery management technologies, especially for wearables, instead of new battery technology.

What About Security?

Tracking health and location details, collecting personal and contactless payment information are some of the uses of wearables in daily life. Wearables are immensely collecting sensitive user data, causing security issues to the forefront, especially IoT security.

As per the report shared by Nokia’s Threat Intelligence, the percentage of IoT infections increased by 100%in 2020 and IoT devices make up 32.7% of the total infected devices now.

Wearables are an extension of the user’s smartphone; both devices create a significant security risk for the customer and connected wireless network if not secured properly. If a wearable or mobile phone is connected to a public network, it could be at high risk of valuable information piracy if the security infrastructure is not updated. It could be a great chance for hackers.  

Currently, there is not enough space to improve security measures in wearables due to their small form factor. However, manufacturers are adding two-factor authentication, facial recognition, active sensing, and fingerprint sensing to shield wearables from end to end thoroughly to maintain security. 

Safe, guarded, and efficient high-value semiconductor components will support IoT in the connected world.

IoT Connectivity Future

Wearables will speed up the merge of the digital and physical world. PwC highlights that wearable technology has just started influencing enterprises; in the coming future, semiconductor companies will lead this enterprise charge by delivering a better and high-value semiconductor for the fast-growing IoT application. With the availability and integration of more intelligent technology like artificial intelligence, connected devices will become more automatic, providing a world where our devices take better care of us.

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How is IoT Making Buildings Smart and Efficient
admin
July 21, 2021
IoT

How is IoT Making Buildings Smart and Efficient?

Internet of Things is making space for its growth in almost every sector. We can say that the day is not far when the Internet of things will become a primordial need of every industry. It has just not changed the outlook of the manufacturing or retail or logistic industry or dairy but is contributing in enhancing the profits as well as helping in providing better service to customers. 

So, today most of the sectors are willing to adopt the most innovative technology, i.e. IoT, because of the favours and benefits provided by it. As per surveys, the global IoT market would grow by $421.28 billion during 2021-2025 — a CAGR of 33% and $8 billion in 2019 to $19 billion by 2027 in the construction industry. 

Well, if we talk about managing facilities and buildings, you might take some time to calculate the work and task and feel burdensome. Maintaining facilities in a building requires effort and cautiousness because a bit of delay may end up in an unhealthy environment along with disappointment. 

So, let us see how IoT applications are helping in managing facilities and buildings. 

Today, facility managers have to work proactively to stay competitive and ahead of the curve. They should have knowledge of technology and innovations. They should offer new digital services and ensure that their buildings are adapted for the future while ensuring the most reliable environment for everyone who will be using it. 

Let us check some of the ways through which IoT is improving buildings and facilities. 

How is IoT improving facility management?

Internet of Things-enabled devices can improve facility management and make premises a better place for employees and everyone else working with the organization.

The advantages of including IoT in building management are:

  • IoT reduces operational costs by creating cost-effective, energy-efficient buildings that operate efficiently and handle resources in the most optimal way.
  • IoT keeps employees safe and healthy by encouraging clean, tidy, and hygienic environments that are regulated and cleaned as per the need caused by the constant movement of humans.
  • IoT promises to maximize productivity, ensuring all team members have everything they require to complete their tasks and stay relaxed and concentrated all the time.
  • IoT devices ensure safety and risk mitigation; they detect risk areas, automate relevant action, and keep physical and digital assets safe and secure as long as possible.

Facility Management Examples:

Managing Desk and Workplace Occupancy using IoT:

As the COVID-19 pandemic has hit globally, one of the biggest challenges was running a business to sustain the economy. Most of the organizations and companies adopted the startling trend and provided remote employment. There is a massive rise in remote working, i.e. from early COVID-19 to March 2021; remote employment increased from 15% to 70%. 

It is supposed that this work from home facility won’t be a temporary change- about half of the employees expect this work from home culture would continue for them into the near future, and 31% believe it will be permanent.

Internet of Things can support businesses in managing their premises effectively and efficiently during this challenging time. In coming years occupancy can fluctuate between days as we move towards a model where employees will join the office a few days each week. 

IoT enabled devices such as sensors attached to desks can trace, predict and inform office occupancy. It creates digital plans that would allow employees to find space promptly. It offers the tools to optimize the existing space by grouping desks as per the need of the office. IoT even saves energy and helps in freeing up space for new uses.

Air Quality Monitoring using IoT:

Air quality issues have been a significant concern, but pandemics brought this issue into the spotlight. Air quality and proper ventilation have always been a priority concern in offices. Before COVID-19, poor ventilation has caused:

  • Easily disease developed
  • High possibility of respiratory diseases such as asthma
  • Allergies
  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Dry eyes

Improper ventilation also impacts productivity- one study saw that poor ventilation at the workplace decreased employees’ cognitive ability, making them perform worse at their jobs and decreasing their productivity. 

One of the best solutions to this issue is adopting IoT devices to measure air quality conditions such as humidity, temperature, CO2 levels, etc. This feature enables pinpointing the areas for concern and taking relevant actions to create a safe and healthy environment for employees which ultimately improves productivity for the entire team.

Washroom Monitoring using IoT:

A clean washroom is a priority and no doubt, keeping a restroom clean in a busy office with limited cleaning staff and resources is challenging. Keeping the washroom tidy is an essential part of managing a pleasant, healthy and safe environment.

Thankfully, IoT is a saviour in this situation also. IoT devices can track the washroom business, enabling the prediction of when rooms will require cleaning and how many times in a day.

Thus, one can allocate a building’s cleaning resources more efficiently and help cleaning staff spend time more effectively. Therefore, this helps develop a cleaner and more enjoyable environment for employees in the organization and reduces extra expenditure and saves resources.

Conclusion:

Smart buildings hold a great scope in future. IoT is becoming part of every sector. It is widely used, more affordable and can manage a wide variety of jobs. No doubt it will soon become part of the furniture in offices and other commercial building globally.

We can doubtlessly say that IoT technology is ideal for facility management and brings the smart building revolution. It just not benefits the organization but also take care of employees. It smoothens the working process of the organization without compromising on quality.

If you become a part of this expanding trend now, you’ll be capable of managing your facilities in the most effective, productive and cost-efficient way. But if you are still in a dilemma and choose to work using the old-tradition method, you might face failure and loss.

So, don’t waste your time and become a part of this trend.

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Generating Continuous Value for IoT Using Ecosystem Approach
admin
July 13, 2021
Digital Transformation, IoT

Generating Continuous Value for IoT Using Ecosystem Approach?

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted almost all sectors. Still, on the other hand, it opened a plethora of opportunities to improve the existing business culture by showing us the path of Digital Transformation. Today, the industry stands on the doorsteps of its much-awaited renewal. It is evident that manufacturing leaders have to adopt digital transformation but have to accelerate innovation while managing crucial processes like enhancing capacity without compromising product quality.

Thus, digital transformation is the new focus in the manufacturing industry, and no doubt, effective collaboration will be the best way to keep both things smooth and productive at the same time. However, this will not be easy as workforces have gone and are still mostly remote.

Pandemic Impact:

As the virus blanketed the globe, it became pretty clear that there would be a fight for survival among industries. There would be winners and losers. Before the pandemic situation, the manufacturing sector had been slow in adopting the digital transformation and lacked a data-centric mindset that has already transformed other industries. Even those who embraced multimillion-dollar Industry 4.0 or IoT initiatives were not receiving any excellent results to showcase their efforts. Unfortunately, when the pandemic knocked the globe, resources to support implementations went at the edge.

Not just they lost the data they needed to adapt at the moment but also potential value..

Digital Transformation:

Today the most asked question is why invest in digital transformation at the corporate level when there is no usable data from the factory floor? 

Well, Smart manufacturing does not demand to have an entire organization devoted to its success. In manufacturing, it can begin with capturing insights from the very initial operation- the machine assets that make products and people handling the machine. The assets are one of the most significant capital investments for any manufacturing industry, and it produces thousands of data points every second. Still, these valuable data are not captured and analyzed to improve the efficacy leading to no improvement or growth. Today’s factories are based on manual processes that result in massive inefficiencies and disturbs every part of the organization.

Insights along with correct action-driven from this data can lay the foundation for manufacturers to grow their business and stand above the competitors. Even the chances of errors and inefficiency are negligible.

Machine Data Infrastructure:

As we already know, there were many manufacturers, organizations, consultants and system integrators who attempted to rebuild the machine data infrastructure from scratch and produced varying degrees of achievement as a part of large IoT initiatives.

Even while leveraging a horizontal IIoT platform, the whole setup requires months or years. Once it is completed, the mechanism for capturing and contextualizing machine data has to build, and it needs regular maintenance. Not only are the expenses of sustaining these solutions limit, but the missing opportunity and value affiliated with misallocating resources to produce something that already exists causes a competitive disadvantage for the manufacturer.

Accurate real-time data automatically collected and transformed from machine assets produce a solid base for driving bottom-line value. When joined with visibility and actionability via alerts, analytics and automation triggered by the data, one can observe a 15-20% improvement in utilization performance in months.

Once this is over, the value achievement can be fast and multi-directional by integrating the data into other siloed data on enterprise factory and industry systems, i.e. from product designing to production, product quality, maintenance and logistics to run endless automation and accomplishment of exceptional value.

This enables an ecosystem of manufacturers and partners to speed up value attainment and reduce the risk of initiative failure by optimally adjusting the entities having individual skills, in particular IIoT initiatives.

IIoT Ecosystem:

IIoT Ecosystem includes manufacturers, machine builders, machine builder distributors, technology and solution providers, service providers, software providers, system integrators and consultants. Each has its unique skill, expertise, or intellectual property that can be used to drive a successful IIoT initiative. When the resources mentioned above are disarranged or sub-optimized, IIoT initiatives fail to deliver on the insured value proposition or fail entirely.

So, the question is, where should the manufacturer focus? Analytics, including both Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence algorithms, can be developed and applied at the edge as well as in the cloud using analytics technologies. The correct alignment of skills and technologies produces the optimal formula for the manufacturer’s speedy and regular value generation.

Successful IIoT initiatives need selecting the right technologies and perfect alignment of the different entities in the IIoT Ecosystem that participate in the industry. In the IIoT Ecosystem, the alignment should be done based on each participant’s unique technology, IP and domain expertise to extract maximum benefit and reduce risk.

The emphasis should be on quick data transformation, excellent application, integration and automation into other best factory systems.

Pivot, Respond, Adapt:

As I already shared that many manufacturers suffered a lot during the pandemic times, and no doubt much of that suffering was out of their hands. But who were the ones who surpassed all the challenges and succeeded? Who were winners when the whole world was encountering losses at different levels? Well, the organizations that can pivot, respond and adapt at the tough times. It wasn’t easy, but they were prepared with the data, the tools and the mindset to win.

For manufacturers who had to spend a lot on difficult-to-implement should pump the breaks in favour of vertical solutions that can benefit immediately.

It’s time to switch to the new world of digital transformation. Are you ready for it?

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How is IoT Transforming the Retail Business?
admin
June 30, 2021
IoT

How is IoT (Internet Of Things) Transforming the Retail Business?

Today, almost all industries are utilizing the benefits offered by the Internet of Things. One of the biggest markets affecting the industry, i.e. retail industry, is also encountering an exciting transformation with innovative IoT applications.

Retailers and marketers are enjoying unlimited opportunities with IoT applications to collect and produce more intense insights into customer response and purchasing patterns.

IoT applications aids retailers in increasing productivity, sales and enhances the overall customer experience. Such benefits have improved the image of IoT and made it a centre of attraction among retailers across the globe.

Marketers and businesses expect the revenue of IoT in retail to stretch around 35.5 billion USD by the end of 2025. Today retailers can use IoT technology in their business in different ways to get the most optimal result.

How IoT helps retailers in improving business?

Nowadays, retailers are adopting IoT to enhance customer experience, reduce costs, drive growth and enhance overall performance. Let’s see how IoT supports retailers in improving business.

Smart Shelves:

In a retail business, it has been observed that a considerable amount of time and energy is spent in keeping track of items, i.e. to confirm the availability of a product and know the condition of the product. Using smart shelves is a better solution to end the hassle. IoT technology in retail helps automate monitoring products and reduces the possibility of any possible vandalism.

Retailers attach sensors and RFID tags on the shelves to monitor the products and gather the data. The readers have to scan products on both display shelves and stock shelves.

IoT enabled smart shelve informs the retailer about when items are incorrectly placed on the shelf or running low. It helps to control the management of inventory in a precise and cost-effective way. The RFID tags are attached to a reader that gives the smart shelves the capability to identify in-store thefts. Hence, it cuts off the extra expenditure spend on security personnel.

Automated Checkouts:

Most of the time, store’s checkout counters are the busiest place holding lines of customers for their turn to pay the bills. IoT technology has solutions for this issue as well. It resolves the issue effectively by establishing a system that can read tags on each item when customers leave the store.

The checkout system matches the items with RFID tags and automatically deduct the cost from the customer’s mobile payment application. The automated checkout system improves the customer experience and increases the probability of their revisit to the store for next shopping.

Personalized Discounts:

Loyal customers expect some privileges like personal discounts or rewards for their loyalty. One of the best ways to meet their expectation is setting up sensors that send loyalty discounts to loyal customers when they reach the specific products with their smartphones.

Another way is to adopt IoT to monitor those items that the customer has been searching online and send a personalized discount when the item is available in-store. Through engaging offers Internet of Things can surprise the customers and sustain their loyalty.

Thus adding IoT into a daily business needs foresightedness and creativity. The innovative and smart approach attracts more valuable and long-term customers.

In-Store Layout Optimization:

By Implementing analytics on the data collected using infrared sensors, the store’s layout can be optimized by placing the products at their appropriate place. Also, placing the popular products at the front and least liked at the back can offer a comfortable way to customers to reach the desired item.

Suppose a customer is searching for a popular Smart TV in-store, but it is placed behind an old DVD player’s stock; thus, it is blocking the way to the TV. This inconvenience might result in losing a potential customer. Therefore, in-store layout optimization plays a vital role in a retail business.

The use of IoT applications helps a customer find and locate their desired products in-store, help find the best route to reach their selected items, and check the details of the product provided by the smart shelves.

Optimized Supply Chain Management:

The RFID tags and GPS sensors attached to each product provides precise data about the products’ condition like temperature, humidity, time spent in transportation, and other product-related factors. When the collected data is processed and analyzed to gain insights, it can improve transport and the overall supply chain. In addition, IoT sensors alert the person in charge in case of any emergency and enable them to take necessary actions immediately to avoid substantial loss.

Conclusion:

Internet of Things is transforming the outlook of the retail industry by implementing smart solutions. The adoption of IoT solutions in the retail business can help in improving customer experience, reduce operational costs, improves inventory management and high-quality services.

By extracting valuable insights through IoT and Data analytics, retailers can manage and schedule their operations, including inventory management, supply chain, boost marketing conversions, and ROIs. Thus these features will attract retailers to adopt IoT into their businesses in the upcoming year to enhance their benefits.

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How technology is reframing the supply chain
admin
June 16, 2021
IoT, Technology

How Technology is Reframing the Supply Chain?

Technology-driven disruption is changing the outlook of supply chain management from top to bottom. The change that emerged by the disruption can be challenging, so many organizations are not sure of adopting the new business process. However, surveys conducted by different organizations show the clear benefits of digital transformation in the supply chain.

  • The survey conducted by Deloitte states that 76% of respondents belonging to different industries noted that the development of digital and analytics abilities contributes a lot in delivering the overall supply chain strategy.
  • A survey by PwC shares that top digital adopters accepted that they saw technology-driven improvements such as enhanced revenues, reduced costs and more secure delivery along with decreased inventories.
  • McKinsey also foretells that by 2030, there would be an entirely new logistics standard drove by emerging technologies such as robots, 3D printing, analytics, and more.

The emerging technology will definitely transform supply chain management. Let’s explore a few trends which may become a part of life in the coming years.

How is technology changing supply chain management?

Let us check now how digital and physical technologies impact supplier management and its very structure.

The blockchain offers end-to-end supply chain visibility

Blockchain technology improves transparency, efficacy, and resiliency in the supply chain by guaranteeing that data is trusted and safe.

IBM reports that many problems with supply chain data were caused earlier due to human errors and inefficiency. However, in another survey, it is noted that 70% of supply chain leaders shared their positive experience and said that they saw significant improvements in data quality, integrity, visibility, and speed when human interference was eliminated.

This implies that including a single, real-time source of truth, either blockchain or distributed ledger technology, can drop unnecessary complexities and offer reliable insights across the complete supply chain.

The accurate insights can significantly improve the entire supply network, from superior resiliency to better performance to changed expectations among vendors, associates, and consumers.

Automation reduces costs in goods shipping, logistics, and delivery

Amazon has already imprinted its name with its upcoming drone delivery, and many other giant companies are also leveraging new technologies to streamline their delivery services.

Many companies have embraced several AI-powered solutions to enhance the customer experience, lessen delivery costs, etc.

Let us check their methods:

  • ORION: It is a proprietary route optimization tool to slash over 100 million delivery miles.
  • Edge is an in-house logistics and operation platform that uses real-time data to assist employees in making more rational decisions and actions.
  • Testing drone delivery is another plan for better deliveries.

This is just one example; many other companies have switched to automation using different platforms or technologies. In fact, in the coming year, we will see more automation in every point of the supply chain, from robots to automated ships.

How supply chain management software improves workforce productivity?

As workplaces adopt new technologies and integrate them with their processes, new software solutions replace old ones. Supply chain platforms such as Requis, SAP’s supply chain management software, Oracle Fusion Cloud SCM, Suuchi, etc., are designed to offer comprehensive solutions for the digital supply chain.

The features offered by these platforms may vary from vendor to vendor, and each has its aimed audience and set of use cases.

Remarkable features of these platforms comprise:

  • A dashboard that connects supply chain managers’ most-performed tasks to a single location
  • Real-time data, analytics, and reporting
  • Project management, communication, and collaboration tools
  • Shipment management
  • Dynamic inventory allocation and management

All the advanced platforms are designed with digital innovation in mind and can integrate with emerging technologies like the Internet of Things ( IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).

Emerging technology will enable autonomous supply chains

Today trends like autonomous supply chain planning and autonomous manufacturing have become part of different organizations. However, the term itself defines that every stage is automated in an autonomous supply chain to provide the most efficient and error-free result.

Automation will impact supply chains in the following ways:

  • A.I. in procurement can perform essential tasks that humans earlier performed, including decision-making tasks like analysis, supplier assessments, compliance, etc.
  • Today 3D printing and robotics are frequently automating manufacturing to improve efficiency and reduce production timelines.
  • Automation will also reduce human interference, which means that only a few humans will be required to perform technical and manual operations in cargo forwarding, logistics, and delivery, ultimately resulting in a leaner workforce.
  • Autonomous supply networks will be more secure, error-free, cost-effective, and more feasible than other things.

The inclusion of an autonomous system or the latest technology in the supply chain loop will not cause unemployment but will shift the humans from one process to another for a better outcome.

Final thoughts

The development in technology and adoption of the same has changed the business outlook. To ensure employee productivity and relevance in driving digital transformations forwards, companies should organize upskilling and cross-training. This is one of the prime purposes for digital adoption; in-house training programs are increasing in recent years.

Digital transformation in the supply chain can meet customer expectation, influence product development and distribution, supply chain flexibility and many other things.

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