Becoming Competent, Confident, and comfortable creating your IoT Strategy speech transcript
- 1. BecomingCompetent,ConfidentandComfortableCreatingYourIoTStrategy Thispast January,I had the pleasure of travelingtoMontreal to meetwithDiogo,who'saclient of mine. Afterourmeeting,we gooutto dinner.He parkshiscar, getsout,takesout hisphone, and appearsto be textingthe parkingmeter!Iapproachhimincredulously,because Iknew that Montreal isa progressive city,butIhadno ideathat theywere SOprogressive thatyoucan actuallytextthe parkingmeter!Iask him, "Diogo,are youtextingthe parkingmeter?"He responds,"No.I'mtextingmywife topayfor the parkingmeter,byusingthe appon her phone!"Welcome tothe SmartCity! We're livingina day& age wheneverythingseemstobe smart.We have smart homes,smart enterprises,andevensmartcities! We're goingtodiscusstechnologythat'savailabletoday, that's currently beingdeployedbyindustryandbusinessleadersall aroundthe world. We're goingto start off withSmart CitiesandGovernmentIoT,then move ontoSmart EnterprisesandIndustrial IoT,andwrappingupwithSmartHomesand ConsumerIoT. Smart Cities: "Smart" technologyisonlyasgoodas the value itprovides.Let'slookathow a few citiesaround the worldare deployingsmarttechnologyinordertobringgreatervalue totheirresidentsand visitors. Whenwe thinkaboutsmart cities,the firstthoughtthatcomesto mindisthe cool technology. You imagine thatyoucan pressa buttonon your phone anda taxi will swoopdownfromthe sky,and whiskyouawayto yourdestination.Ascrazyas itsounds,thisisactuallyhappeningas we speak!Talkingaboutprogressive cities,the Cityof Dubai will be conductinga trial runof it's autonomousaerial taxi service (alsoknownasPassengerDrones) laterthisyear.Thisisthe same citythat deployedRoboCop,aroboticpolice officer. Cominghome froma recenttripto Israel,we landedatKennedyAirportinNew YorkCity.Being that thiswas NewYork,a city knownfortrafficjamsand longwaittimes,the linesat immigration were horrendous! There wasn'tmuchI coulddo aboutit,otherthan justwait patientlyinline. Ibelieve everymajormetropolitanareahassimilarchallengesinthese areas. The city of Dubai islookingtochange that, andgive itself areputationasone of the most - if not THE MOST - progressive citiesinthe world,withregardstoputtingitsresidentsandvisitorsfirst. Dubai is lookingtocap waittimesatimmigrationtoa maximumof 10 minutes. Toaccomplish thistask,theyare lookingatdeployingsome prettysophisticatedsmartcameras,whichbesides beingable tocount the numberof people standinginline,couldalsorecognize thingslike faces and license plate numbers. Artificial intelligence technologywillbe deployedtointegrate with the smart cameras,in orderto measure the actual waittime of each individual line,inreal time. As soonas the waittime reachesits10 minute threshold,anotificationgetssenttothe shift supervisorstatingthat"Waittime inimmigrationhasreached10 minutes.Anotherline needsto be opened." ThissolutionwillhelpDubai differentiateitself inthe global marketplace asacity that servesanddelightstheircitizensandvisitors.The technologywill helpthe governmentrun
- 2. theiroperationsmore efficiently,byopeningnew linesonlywhenneeded,whichalsoreduces theiroperatingcosts. Here'sanotherexample of howDubai differentiatesitself inthe global marketplace: It's 3am. You're the juniorsecurityadministratorforthe cityof Dubai. There’sbeenanincident at the airport. Smoke isall overthe place. Chaosensues.Alarmsandsirensare blaring, andas the juniorofficer,itisyourpleasure tobe wokenupinthe middle of the nightinorderto manage the emergencynotificationof the public. In the past,emergencieshadthe potential toleadtomasspanic,speculations,rumors,andloss of control overthe message. The problemistwo-fold: 1. A lackof immediate emergencycommunication tothe masses. 2. Because of that, viral rumorsspreadquicklyonsocial media,leadingtoinaccurate,and potentiallydangerousinformation. What if,youcouldgenuinelycontrol the message,anditsaccuracy? What if,this waspossible todowithjustone clickof a buttonin the middle of the night,when you're half asleep,orinshock? Dubai is lookingtodeployastate of the art smart emergencynotificationsystem, whichcan notifythe massesof an emergencywithasingle clickof abutton.For example, followingan incidentatthe airport,the city's emergencynotificationsystemmaybroadcastthe following message:"EMERGENCY NOTICE:There has been a fuel tankleakand explosionatthe airport. Please avoidthe airportuntil furthernotice. The nextupdate willbe in15 minutes." This message will be broadcastedto everyone withinagivengeography.Oneverycell phonevia SMS, on everysingle social mediaandchatchannel;suchas, Facebook,Twitter,WhatsApp, Skype,Viber,WeChat,andsoon.It will be seenoneveryelectronicbillboard,andevenTV Tickers!Thinkof an Amberalerton steroids!Once the buttonispressed,thismessage isgoing out to everyone!Thistechnologyensuresthatthe massesare properly notified,andthatthey receive the rightmessage. Furthermore,people can respond tothe emergencymessage.Forexample,"Help!I'mtrapped inthe airportat Concourse B, Gate B12 undera pile of rubble.Ican't move mylegs!"The message will getpickedupthe byEmergencyNotificationManager,whowill thenpassitalong to the firstresponderssothattheycan conduct a propersearch & rescue. Thistechnologyhas the potential tosave manylives,anddesignateDubai asa technological leaderamongherglobal peers.
- 3. Here is an example of aSmartEnterprise: There isthiscompanyin Germanythat had a problemwithforkliftaccidents.The problems weren'tactually occurringinGermany,where theyhadhighsafetystandards,butratherat their offshore facilitiesindevelopingcountries,where the local lawsaboutsafetywere differentthan inGermany. Now,whenitcomesto somethingasseriousasa forkliftaccident,beingnotified afterit happened,islike closingthe barndoorafterthe horse has escaped.It'salreadyhappened!The real solutionwouldbe to stopthe accidentfromhappeninginthe firstplace! In orderto do that,we needto understand why these accidentskeepoccurring.We know the forklifthitsomethingorsomeone,because it'sprettyobvious.However,how many nearmisses has thisdriverhad before he finallyhitsomeone?Why were there nearmisses?Thiskindof data isnot beingreportedatall,forvariousreasons.So,if youdon't have the underlyingdata, youcan't solve the problem. ThiscompanyturnedtoIoTTechnologytohelpthemsolve this problem. Theyinstalledproximitysensorsoneveryforklift,aswell asthe workgearthe people wore,such as the vestsand hard hats. Anyregisteredviolation(meaning,nearmiss)thatwaspickedupby the sensors, gotsentimmediately tothe shiftsupervisorandplanmanager,and wasloggedin the official companyarchives. Whenit came time for a safetyreview,itwasveryclearto see whichdriversneededadditional training,andinwhat areastheyneededtofocus. ImplementingIoTTechnologyhelpedthis companyincrease the qualityof theirworkandreduce waste bycuttingdownon damaged goods,as well asreducinginjuriesandsavinglives. Talkingaboutsavinglives,let'stouchuponachallenge inthe healthcare industry:information silos. Tohighlightthe problem,Irecentlyheardastoryabout a youngdoctor whowas shocked to discoverthathe orderedthe same test3 differenttimes forthe patient!He firstmetthis patientinthe hecticER, tooka lookat herchart andordereda specifictest.He thensaw her twomore timesasshe was movedaroundtodifferentwardsinthe hospital. Becausethings were veryhectic,he didn'trememberseeingherbefore.He takesalookat herchart and says, "ok,you needthisandthistest",nothavingrealizedthathe'salreadysentthispoorwomanfor the same test,before.Eventhoughthatspecifichospitalhada digital healthsystem, the differentwardsweren'ttiedtogether,resultinginthiserror. While IoTwon'tsolve thatspecificproblem, thisstoryillustratesthe vulnerabilityinleaving healthcare decisionsuptomanual interactionsand humanmemory. One place where IoTcan helpinhealthcare is withwearables,suchassmart bloodpressure monitors,smarttextilesthat take a patient'sEKGreading,smartscales,andmany more devices,all workingtogetherto enable central managementand monitoringof apatient'svitals. The datacapturedfromthe connecteddevicesare automaticallyenteredintothe patient'scharts,sothatall the entered data isaccurate and up to date.
- 5. IntelligentIoTMessaging Talkingaboutconnecteddevices, the biggiantssuchas,Amazon,Google,andevenApple,are all investingintoamulti-billiondollarindustryinordertogainaccessto your smart home.There are so manywaysto access yourdevices.There are apps,whichyoudownloadontoyourmobile phone.Thenyouhave voice activatedinterfaces,suchasAlexaandGoogle Home.Thenthere are otherswhoare investinginchatbots,enablingyoutocommunicate withyourdevicesusing textmessaging.Whichone isbetter?How doyoudecide onthe right interface foryourIoT solution? Itstartswithan understanding of the Internetitself. The Internetis a ubiquitoushubof communication,allowingpeople tofreelycommunicatewith one anotherregardlessof the preferredmethodof eachparty.It doesn’tmatterif one person choosestouse theirmobile phoneandthe other,adesktopcomputer.One personmay choose Safari on theirMac, and the other,Chrome on theirAndroidbasedphone.The communication isseamless.Soto,I believethateverysmartdevice shouldbe accessible topeopleina ubiquitousmanner,where itdoesn’tmatterwhatdevice,oreven whichcommunications channel the personchooses.It’saboutthe message,andnotthe device ormediumused.Ialso believethatinnovatorsdon’tneedtobreakthe banktoreinventthe wheel,whenthe communicationspathhasalreadybeenbuiltforus,andhas beenadoptedbythe masses. I believe thistobe the startof a revolution - where disparatesmartdevicesfromevery manufacturerimaginable,are able tocommunicate withpeople,aseasilyaspeople communicate withone another! The technologyiscalledIntelligentIoTMessaging,whichisdefinedasthe abilityforproducts and software tocommunicate withpeople andthings,usingnatural language,overany preferredmessagingchannel,suchasSMS Text,Social Media or Chat Channels,suchas Facebook,Twitter,WhatsApp,Skype,WeChat,andsoon. Inessence,youcanspeak(or text) withyourdevicesaseasilyasspeakingwithafriend. Today,if I have,for example,asmart refrigerator,Itypicallyhave togothroughan app. There are numerousdisadvantages tothat,especiallyif Ialreadyhave 20,30, 50 apps on myphone.I probablydon'twantto downloadyetanotherapp,justto talkto my appliances. WithIntelligent IoT Messaging,youcan message yourappliance directly.There isreallynoneedforanapp. In manywaysit's fairto say that modernapplianceshave becomeverycomplex.Soforpeople, like anelderlygrandmother,itcanbe verydifficultforhertooperate her new oven,because it has over300 differentprograms,andthe interface isessentiallyatabletcomputer! But- she knowshowto text! She can essentiallytextthe oventoturnon at the desiredtemperature.Her ovenwill textherbackwhenit'spreheated,anditwill textheragainwhenthe timergoesoff,so she nevermissesabeat. The challenge withusinganappisthat it's a fixedinterface.Whatyousee iswhatyou get.What if your customerswantyourproduct to dosomethingthatit can't dotoday,but theydon't tell youwhat theywant.How can youknow what's intheirminds? There isno practical way to collectthiskindof data onan app. However,withatextor voice basedinterface,people will enterincommands,whetherornottheyevenexistinthe
- 6. programming!WithIntelligentIoTMessagingeveryreceivedcommandisrecorded,sothatin essence,youcannowread yourcustomer'sminds! I'll tell youa story about a roboticvacuum cleanercompany inSingapore.One challengewith vacuumcleanersisthat they're notexactlyconducive tohavingworkablephone conversations! ThiscompanydeploysIntelligentIoTMessaging,andinthe first24 hours,theirsystemrecorded manycommandsto "shut up",withsome colorful metaphors insertedin betweenthosewords. Apparently,theywantedamute feature! Within40minutes, thiscompany wasable toactually deliverthis"differentiating"feature,whilethe competitionwasn'tevenaware of the need! Thinkaboutit! Within40 minutes of analyzingtheirreport,acompanywasable to implement a customeraffectingchange totheirIoTsolution,worldwide - whiletheircompetitionwas completelyinthe darkthatthe needevenexisted! Talkaboutspeedingupdevelopmenttime. We're talkingTeslalevel stuffhere! If youimplementthiskindof technologyforyourIoT solution,howwillyourcompetitionevenbe able tocompare withyou? Prettycool stuff,no? What aboutvoice? Aswe discussed,the bigplayersare investingalotof moneyintoavoice basedinterface forthe SmartHome. Imagine the following:Its7:30 inthe morning.You're a single parentwho'stryingtogetthe kids to school on time.You're alsothe CEO of a hightechIoT firm,and you're scheduledtodelivera presentationtothe boardof directorsinexactlyone hour.Your 7 year oldcan't findhissocks. Your 10 year oldcan't findhisshoes.The busis comingin 5 minutes. Asyou're frantically runningthroughthe house,packinglunchesandgettingeveryone'sbelongingstogether,you speakintoyourblue toothheadset:"Hey,Siri. Sendatextmessage tocoffee maker.Make me a large coffee,black,nosugar."Siri confirmsthatthe message hasbeensent. What youjust witnessed,wasthe sale of time,andthis,myfriends,isthe true value of voice basedtechnologyinIoT,andthe reasonwhyso much moneyisbeinginvestedintoit.People, nowadays,are busierthanever.Youdon't have a minute towipe yournose,letalone eat breakfast.Youdon't have time tograb your phone andopenan app.All youwant isa cup of coffee togetyou throughyourmorning!By voice enablingyourcoffee maker,youjust soldthis poor woman back some of the valuable time inherday.Time,isthe new currency,andthat is what'sdrivingthe massadoptionof voice basedapplicationswithIoT. That sounds great!What couldbe betterthanthat? As theysayat the Apple Keynotes,there isOne..More..Thing... Natural Language Textmessaging. We justdiscussedthe value of implementingvoice intoyourIoTsolution.However,there isa distinctionbetweenavoice interface,like Alexa,andutilizingthe voice capabilities of atext basedmessagingchannel,suchasSiri andWhatsApp. Let'sgo througha scenario. You're at a client'soffice 100 milesaway.Your14 year oldson,callsyou - "Mom, I needmilk!" Seriously!Yourtechnologywizardwhoknowshow toordereveryvideogame onthe planet
- 7. can't order milkhimself!"AskAlexa,honey",yousay."Idon'tknow whatto get!",he says." Have you everbeenthere? At thispoint,whatoptionsdoyouhave to feedyour poorhungryhelplesstechnologywizard? Alexaisout,because yourvoice interface is100 milesaway,andyourson's nottalking.Youhave exactly15 secondsto devote tothisproblembefore havingtogetback to more important things,like yourclientsittingacrossthe table fromyou. Anyideasfromthe audience? You can senda simple textmessage toyourrefrigerator,innatural language,thatsays"Order lowfat milk."The refrigeratorconnectstoyourAmazonaccount - ordersmilkfromAmazon Fresh,andwithinanhour a drone deliversittoyourfrontstep.All ittook was5 secondsof your time,andyouwere able to feedyourhungrychild - fromwork! Suppose youwere drivingwhenyoursoncalledyou,youcouldaskSiri totextyourrefrigerator, and accomplishthe same thingfromthe road!Insteadof DEVELOPINGor CREATING a voice interface,you're lettingAppleorGoogle dothe heavylifting,andyou're justleveragingwhat theyalreadybuilt,to rapidlyextend accesstoyourIoT solution,toanywhere inthe world! Talkingaboutsmart refrigerators,if youare a manufacturerof a smart refrigerator,whatisone thingthat's betterthanjustsellingsomeone asmartrefrigerator? How aboutsellingasmartrefrigeratorthatkeepsyouearningmoneyevery timesomeone restocksit?
- 8. There isa terminthe marketcalledConversational Commerce.Justasthe name sounds, Conversational Commerce referstousingnatural language withinamessengerapplication(such as text,Skype,WhatsApp,etc.) orusingvoice assistance(suchasSiri,Alex,andothers) to interactwitha businessforaninquiry,purchase,orcustomerservice. For example,youwouldtextyourrefrigerator"Dowe have milk?"Usinga combinationof artificial intelligence andnatural language processing(NLP),yourrefrigeratorwouldtextyou back "Yes,but at yourcurrent rate of consumption,itwill be gone tomorrow.Wouldyoulike me to place an orderwithPeapod?" Thistechnologyisnotscience fictionfromStarTrek,it'sactuallyavailable today! Here is anotherinterestingscenario: The Smart Coffee Maker- Imagine this.Onone verytiredmorning,youwhip outyourphone and textyourcoffee maker:"Make me a coffee,extrastrong,black,nosugar."Your coffeemakerobedientlytextsyoubacka confirmation.Then,yougetanothertext:"Heyboss, coffee makerhere!Myfilterneedschanginginfivemore uses. The three-packisonsale this weekatAmazon(savesyou$2.00). Wouldyoulike tobuyit?" Amazed,youtextback,"Yes".It responds,"Done.DeliveryconfirmedforthisWednesday."Justlikethat! Think of how implementingthe righttechnology,enablesyoutochange the nature of a sale froma transaction,to a recurringrevenue stream.
- 9. In conclusion,we are livinginveryexcitingtimes!Whatusedtobe science fiction,isnow reality. From passengerdronesandrobo-copsinDubai,tosaferforklifts all aroundthe world. From smart grandmastextingtheirovens,tosupermomscommandingtheircoffee makers. Governmentsandbusinessesaroundthe worldare leveragingthe latestinIoTtechnologyin orderto betterserve theircitizens, delighttheircustomers,increase revenues,andevensave lives. My questionforyouis,howwill H2M communication change YOURbusiness? Tweetthe response to#AskTheCEO. Thankyou!