IoT and the Intelligent Enterprise
Authored by Tamara McCleary, CEO of Thulium.
The following post was sponsored by SAP. The opinions and observations, however, are completely my own.
You know what they say, you never know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Just another post on AI and IoT you say? Sure, now hand me your phone. Forever. That’s right, you don’t get it back. How’s that feel?
Admittedly we are dependent upon technology, even reading this, you’re living the digital life. AI, (Artificial Intelligence) and the IoT (Internet of Things), are two of the most powerful Clydesdales in the technology stable. AI, and the IoT are fast disrupting not only the business landscape, but transforming our very way of doing business, and how we live our lives. In case you think this is just another blog post spewing jargon and rehashed AI and IoT tropes, I’m living into the transformation within my own organization, Thulium, and within my own personal life.
As I write this, I’m up 30,000 feet, and tapped into the inflight WiFi, and while its dearth of speed reminds me of my old dial-up connection, it’s irrefutable how far we’ve come in such a short duration of time. Between the Pavlovian bell notifying me that my approved electronic devices can be turned on, and the inflight beverage service, I’ve already received three notifications on my iWatch from my Ring App. On my mobile phone, I see in real-time the airport carpark did indeed plug in my Tesla at the charging station, and as any self-respecting working mom would do, I turned up the heat using the NEST app on my phone because I forgot to adjust the thermostat before leaving my family at o-dark-thirty this morning. Who reading this cannot relate to the world I am describing?
Only a few years ago, I could’ve called this the start to a riveting work of fiction. In today’s world, real life is stranger than fiction. Yes, Francis, there is artificial intelligence, and we are tapped in and tethered culturally. We have been assimilated. Resistance is futile. The IoT and AI in our pockets and handbags have seamlessly woven their way into the very fabric of our existence as human beings, and we’re never going back. Oh, I forgot to give you your phone back, here you go.
While arguably AI is the rage-du-jour for 2019, I would argue that the IoT, while less talked about than the Kardashians, may perhaps have the greatest impact on business over the next 5 years. AI, paired with machine learning, has had significant success in specific applications, even though generalized AI is still out there on our horizon, a vision, but alas not fully realized yet. The IoT however, has spread across many applications and infiltrated a vast number of businesses.
For those who are not as aware of how the IoT is impacting our lives, beyond my inflight experience, let me share a few clarifying examples. Do you have a voice assistant like Siri, Alexa or Google Home? These devices, while powered by AI, are also IoT devices. A newer car or truck? Most likely an IoT connected device. Ever been tempted to track your teenager using the family car? You can thank the IoT. Even your mobile device is an IoT device. Anything and everything connected to the Internet is an IoT device. Beyond consumer devices, companies from farmers to utilities are harnessing the power of the IoT in connected tractors, drones, pumps, valves, switches and even IoT enabled bearings to name a few.
The spread of Internet connectivity among virtually all of the devices around us has created a world of the IoT. Every device has an identity that can be tracked, monitored, giving direction to and receiving information from. While AI will help us utilize all of the new-found data and connections, the IoT itself is having an even more profound effect on the world around us, and our experience of the world around us. By connecting virtually everything, our understanding of our world, and enabling our ability to manipulate our environment even from afar, will make our very near future look magical to those born only a few generations ago. Okay, yes, even I am still pinching myself. We’ve come a long way baby.
This week at Mobile World Congress, one of the extraordinary companies I have the pleasure to work with, SAP, is launching a major update to its Internet of Things offerings with the launch of SAP Leonardo IoT. SAP Leonardo IoT will enable organizations to embed IoT data and technology into almost any line of business solution one can imagine. The integration of SAP Leonardo IoT within organizations will not only bring the power of an immense trove of data to business, it will allow companies to introduce greater productivity and an array of new product offerings to customers.
“SAP delivers valuable insight and drives business results by embedding IoT data into business processes,” said Elvira Wallis, SAP Leonardo IoT senior vice president. “With the launch of SAP Leonardo IoT, SAP solidifies its commitment to the IoT, and in particular Industrial IoT. The combination of IoT and our depth and breadth of high value industry and application expertise helps customers gain greater business value and a stronger competitive advantage.”
That embedded intelligence, merged with the ever-growing connections of the IoT is driving a new type of organization, the Intelligent Enterprise. Through vast networks of devices, computers, mobile platforms and more, all interconnected via the cloud and powered by the dawning of AI, businesses are now beginning to resemble a living organism. If you replace organic cells with devices, nerves with the Internet and cloud, and the brain with AI, we can easily understand how the intelligent enterprise is being birthed before our very eyes.
I would recommend everyone take a moment this week, if you are here in Barcelona with us at Mobile World Congress, or a half a world away reading the coverage; look around you and contemplate our evolving world and your place within it. We have the opportunity to create tremendous good out of the intelligent enterprise. With great power comes an even greater responsibility. How will you use yours?
You can read more about SAP Leonardo IoT here.
Article originally posted on LinkedIn.
