using the internet of things (iot) to understand customers

An Intertech Course

The Internet of Things (IoT) for business

Employee Engagement

Copyright © Tom Salonek and Intertech, Inc. • www.Intertech.com • 800-866-9884 Slide 2

Overview• What really is the Internet of Things• Data collection, and the value of that data• Things to consider about data collection• Real world example• Q&A

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What is IoT?• The Internet of Things consists

of Things• What are these things?

• Consumer home devices• Kickstarter gadgets• Industry specific devices

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Where are we today?

Source: Gartner (August 2015)

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Home Consumer Devices / Kickstarter Gadgets• Light bulbs like Philips Hue• Thermostats like Nest or EcoBee3• Locks like August Smart Lock• Sprinkler Controllers, Weather Stations, Slow cookers, etc.

* All of these devices have a business model and sometimes an entire company built around them. This is not what we are talking about today.

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Industry Specific Devices• Already exist right now in some

sort of "dumb" capacity• This is where your data is

currently trapped. We use IoT to free it so we can act on it

• Temperature / Pressure Sensors out in the field

• Motion Sensors• Location of a truck in the field

or a part on an assembly line• Charge level of a battery• Any data point that helps us

make a smarter business decision

Things are a software developer's Api bridge to the physical world

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Data Value• When thinking about deploying IoT it is important to consider what

value gathering all the data will provide to your business or project• Is it helpful to know…

• the tire pressure of every truck out in the field?• how many paper towels are left in a dispenser?• how many times a clothing store rack has been spun?• the temperature inside of a cooling unit?

• Let your product owners drive what data is important, just like any other feature• Let the engineers help them understand what is possible

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Data!

Great, we have all of this data now what are we going to do with it?• Big Data

• Thousands and tens of thousands of sensors pumping data• Consider what needs to be stored and what can be purged

• Some data is only interesting for a short time period

• Enter data scientists• Trend Analysis• What does it all mean?

Warning!Don't collect data you don't have a business case for

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Things to consider about Data Collection • Consider who owns the data

• Did the customer agree to submit the data back to you?• Does the customer want the data themselves?• Is it your own device? Then no problem

• Security of that device and data• Some of this data can get very personal• Use standard security practices of the web

• The volume of data collected can feel intrusive, be aware of this feeling• Collected passively

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React to the data• Early warning signs of a part failure

• Do your engineers know that if the pressure reading on a tank starts to get out of spec they can repair it before the failure is catastrophic?

• This saves you money

• Send a notification to someone to perform an action (refill the hand sanitizer dispenser on the 3rd floor)

• Send a message to another smart Thing to change behavior• Adjust something on that tank that is showing early warning signs of

failure until it is repaired

• Be able to recommend services or features on a customer's product based on it's behavior in the field

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Real World Example (battery charging)

The Challenge:• Data trapped in thousands of battery chargers all around the country

• Golf carts• Fork lifts• Floor sweepers

• Each charger knows how it's battery is taking a charge• Each charger provides a specialized charging profile to a battery

based on the age of the battery, set by the owner of the battery• Individual batteries are very expensive to replace and their life can be

greatly increased if treated with the correct charging profile

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Real World Example (battery charging) cont.

Solution - Free the data:• Each battery charger is equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology• Intertech created a custom iOS and Android application to talk to the

battery chargers and pull the charging history • Using the phone's internet connection as a bridge, sent that data up to

the customer's Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure so it could be analyzed• Every time a customer connects to a battery charger data is uploaded

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Act on the data:• Make sure the battery is in the correct fleet rotation

• Client can see that certain batteries are not being used• Get those golf carts out of the back row

• Can see early warning signs of a bad cell in a battery• Contact their client and let them know. Adding value to their product and

service offerings

• Switch an aging battery to the correct profile to increase its life span• This is a big value add to the customer as they replace batteries much less

often and get better performance out of the batteries they have

• Allows the engineers to get real world sample data of the profiles they are developing, and adjust as they see fit

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In the end:• “Dumb” battery chargers are not able to communicate their local data• Using a cell phone as the data bridge allowed us to get connectivity to

places that are hard to reach• Poor Wi-Fi coverage in many cart barns and warehouses

• Enables visibility into batteries charging all over the world in all different situations• Gives electrical engineers a view of data they’ve never had before

• Solution is simple, data collection is targeted and specific to a goal

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Questions & Answers

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Summary• Internet of Things is all about data

• Free the data trapped in your current things

• What data do you care about• Start small, don't get lost in your data

• Be conscious of the data you are collecting• How will you act on the data to make smarter business decisions?

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Thank You

using the internet of things (iot) to understand customers

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