What is IoT? What's the Benefits? How to Unleash it for Your Business?

"The boom in the rate at which we are starting to collect, analyze and ultimately glean knowledge from data is like the Cambrian explosion, the period during which prehistoric creatures developed the five senses." Masayoshi Son, Chairman of the Board, Sprint & CEO, Softbank

The World Economic Forum predicts that over the next decade, the Internet of Things revolution will dramatically alter manufacturing, energy, agriculture, transportation and other industrial sectors of the economy which, together, account for nearly two-thirds of the global gross domestic product (GDP). It will also fundamentally transform how people will work through new interactions between humans and machines.

“IoT has a total potential economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion a year by 2025,” McKinsey

Over the past few years, some IoT devices have become standard, including thermostats that automatically adjust the temperature and production-line sensors that inform workshop management of machine condition. Consequently providing valuable data allowing businesses to be agile enough to react quickly. Now IoT innovators are enabling more sophisticated IoT technologies for self-driving cars, drone-delivery services, smart connected cities and other advanced applications. These “smart” IoT devices have sensors that communicate seamlessly over the Internet with other devices or the cloud. IoT renders smart generated data that make the world safer, more productive, and healthier.

During Enterprise IoT Summit, Jan Geldmacher, President of Sprint Business outlines the top 6 business benefits of IoT:

Today, I'm involved in projects related to connecting my enterprise customers business with thousands of IoT devices. Allowing a business to connect to a wireless network has its advantages to the Enterprise customer. Often times a business unit can be held back from IoT projects through IT limitations. IT doesn't want a Facilities application running on the corporate infrastructure in fear of security issues. The advantage of running an IoT application on a wireless network is it doesn't touch the corporate network. Furthermore, connecting the IoT connections to a wireless network allows for faster installation. A DSL connections can take up to 6 weeks to install, whereas in comparison a wireless connection is instantaneous once you have the hardware. As well, wireless pricing is more competitive for IoT. Sprint Business offers a robust IoT solution for the Enterprise, offering a secure connection & an ecosystem of partners to help provide an end to end solution.

"Sprint can help you bring together all the components needed to design a "custom" IoT solution, that will transform your business," Jan Geldmacher, President of Sprint Business

At Enterprise IoT Summit 2017 Jan Geldmacher, President of Sprint Business shares during his Keynote- market trends, innovative IoT insights, solutions & the network of the future.

"The 3 Mega trends effecting our customers; Changing Workforce, Globalization & Digitization... How will you use technology to address these? " Jan Geldmacher, President of Sprint Business

What are some IoT projects that Sprint is involved in today? Do you have any use cases to leverage these?

1. Pepper the Smart Robot-

Softbank robotics has created Pepper the robot, a smart connected IoT device. She reads facial expressions, emotions, tone of voice and is able to react to it. Pepper is smart enough to know if you are sad or angry, so she may tell you a joke to sooth you. Currently, Sprint uses Pepper in some of their retail stores to greet & engage with customers. Pepper offers smart interactions with customers. Through it's partnership with Softbank, Sprint is able to provide Pepper as a connected IoT solution to it's Enterprise customers along with extending API's for developers. Jan Geldmacher, President of Sprint Business, suggests it's now time to innovate & think about what is next for your enterprise and your customers.

2. Connected Vehicles-

In the connected vehicle space, Sprint partnered with Fiat-Chrysler to enable smart connected vehicles. Consumer Reports recognized Fiat-Chrysler UConnect as a a standout. Through Sprint IoT sensors the UConnect provides Vehicle Health reports, OEM data for quality analytics, provides predictive maintenance & data to see potential problems, remote services like unlocking or unlocking the car, in-vehicle applications (Wi-Fi, music, Yelp, etc.), and access to Customer Care call center. Sprint expects to do more ventures like this in the future.

3. Smart Grid-

Tollgrade, a global leader of Smart Grid Sensors with Predictive Grid? Analytics, partnered with Sprint to connect the sensors for the aging power grid.  The smart grid sensors provide real-time grid health data that predicts outages before they happen and better grid uptime through the proactive & monitor free solution. The smart grid sensors together with Sprint's network coupled with Command Center 2.0 monitoring tool offers a high quality IoT solution for Tollgrade customers. The IoT solution provides valuable information that enhances the customer experience, boosts revenue, and reduces internal cost.

4. Smart Connected City-

Cisco Systems and Sprint, as part of their Strategic Alliance Partnership, helped to create a smart connected city for the City government of Kansas City, Missouri. Bridging Wireless & WiFi the Smart Cities helped to improve the quality of life for its citizens. The Sprint network is the backbone and the technology is leveraged by those who live, play, and work in the Smart City.

What problem can you solve within your business in a smarter & innovative way? What is your use case for these solutions? IoT can be that solution for you. Now is the time to think differently, apply technology & unleash the possibilities through IoT!

If you are interested in learning more about Sprint's IoT solutions, testing an IoT idea, and/ or want to know how I can help your business, private message me.