Category

Internet of Things (IoT)

Jul 04
Self Portrait (Leonardo da Vinci, 1512)

SAP Leonardo: Intelligently Connecting People, Things and Businesses

By Internet of Things (IoT) One Comment

SAP Leonardo is the company’s new Internet of Things platform touted as a cloud-based “digital innovation system.”

SAP’s apt tagline: Intelligently connecting People, Things and Business, links the platform’s key constituents: devices, people and businesses to a portfolio of technologies and business services we have come to expect from an IoT business platform, such as device management APIs, big data, BPM, and analytics, and with the obligatory catchwords AI and machine learning sprinkled on top.

SAP Leonardo IoT

SAP Leonardo (Source: SAP)

The concept highlights SAPs strengths in integration and a rich portfolio of microservices that could potentially include billing, enterprise asset management (EAM), contract management, and other key services that make up a complete outcome-based IoT solution. It also includes the all-important business transformation services (which, for some reasons, are classified on Leonardo’s website as Design Thinking).

But you may have not noticed a point that I find critical and SAP does spend much time articulating, and that is people’s Experiences, at the very bottom of the image on the right. Read More

Jun 28
JCB JS290

Telematics Helps JCB Ride Market Growth

By Internet of Things (IoT), Telematics One Comment

Earthmoving and construction equipment company JCB has high aspirations. The world’s third-largest construction equipment manufacturer by volume, is banking on the strong Indian construction and agricultural sectors to drive market growth.

JCB India’s 2016 revenue and sales volume grew almost 40% over 2015. With the Union budget of India for 2017-2018 focus on additional investments in farming and infrastructure building, the company hopes to experience strong growth in 2018, albeit not at the same levels as a couple of years ago. Read More

Jun 14
At The Optometrist (Norman Rockwell, 1956)

OpenText Acquires Covisint: A Telltale of the IoT M&A Market

By Automotive, Internet of Things (IoT), Mergers & Acquisitions No Comments

In an announcement that failed to get headlines, OpenText, a Canadian enterprise information management (EIM) company,  recently disclosed it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Covisint Corporation, best known as the enterprise data interchange (EDI) company whose name nobody was sure how to pronounce.

Covisint was formed in 2000 by a consortium of automotive companies, including General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler. Over the years, the company expanded its EDI platform and services into the healthcare, oil and gas, government, and financial services markets. Read More

Jun 13
Dunes, Oceano (Edward Weston, 1936)

Leading by Example: Technology Companies Help Save Scarce Water Resources

By Internet of Things (IoT) One Comment

This cup of steamy coffee you are sipping from right now while reading this article—how much water do you think was used to make it? You probably guessed it took a more than just 8 ounces of water, but I doubt you got even close to the actual number.  According to Trucost, a company that provides sustainability data, it takes some 135 liters of water to make one cup of coffee (since we just switched to metric units, one 8-oz cup is 0.25 of a liter).  Most of this water was used to grow the coffee beans and soak them during processing.

And it’s not only food processing that uses vast quantities of water. By Trucost’s calculations, about 3,900 liters of water are consumed during the manufacturing of a single t-shirt. And nearly 13 tons of water are required to manufacture a single smartphone, with nearly half of it due to pollution and cleanup during manufacturing and assembly. Read More

May 31
Decalcomanie (Rene Magritte, 1996)

IoT is PLM

By Internet of Things (IoT), PLM One Comment

Is IoT The New PLM?

At the recent LiveWorx technology conference, PTC’s CEO Jim Heppelmann stated “IoT is PLM.” An observation some of us, and, I believe, Mr. Heppelmann himself, have made before. This notion is more profound than some may realize.

Despite the capital ‘L’ of PLM, many product companies do not actually exercise product lifecycle management. Many PLM software systems are reduced to PDM and engineering change management.  In his comments to industry analysts, Mr. Heppelmann observed: “Nobody, not even PTC, is doing product lifecycle management. You build a car, the car leaved the factory and you never hear about it again.”

Connected products offer visibility and insight that most organizations never had before. Read More