It is quite promising to observe that many companies are already evolving and putting into practice the pilots developed in recent years.
In October 2017, the second edition of IoT Snapshot, Um retrato da adoção e do potencial da internet das coisas no mercado brasileiro, revealed a very promising evolution regarding what the market expects from the Internet of Things (IoT) and how much this technology is being adopted by companies. To cite an example, organizations that are investing in IoT, in the process of adopting it, or planning to adopt the technology in 2018 already represent more than 60% of respondents.
In recent years, many tests, prototypes, experimentations, and learnings have taken place. In addition, different business models, partnerships, and the flourishing of a new market have emerged. But amidst this pioneering environment, we observe companies that have already begun to face a new set of challenges: pilot projects have started to succeed, and it is time to roll out – and now?
Below, I list four factors that have emerged on the agenda of these companies that are already convinced of the benefits of the Internet of Things and now want to use it in practice:
1 - Measuring benefits against investments
Innovation initiatives and IoT projects were, and often still are, being developed with investments and budgets directed toward experimentation. This movement also relied on a good share of industry sponsorship, which wanted to showcase its solutions and position itself in the market.
When these projects reach the scale of real operations, the math changes dimension. Understanding the benefits becomes a critical issue, as investments begin to compete with budgets directed toward other organizational priorities.
2 - Financial and technical-operational robustness of partners
Another shift in level that occurs at this stage concerns the players involved in IoT initiatives. During testing, PoC, or piloting, little robustness is required from the participants involved – especially since many of the required solutions are not developed by major players, but rather by startups focused on very specific market niches.
When a company moves from testing to roll-out attempts, needs such as financial solidity, production volume, operational support for solutions, and other requirements that are much less attractive but cannot fail in a real operation come into play. Balancing the specificities of the solutions with the need for robustness for an operational environment is one of the challenges for those who are maturing.
3 - Team maturity regarding new technologies and processes
Identifying, developing, and retaining qualified and motivated professionals has always been a common challenge for any manager. This complexity increases considerably when we are dealing with topics that are not yet mature.
Many companies rely on a few key professionals who have managed to keep up with these innovations, but they struggle to build teams that enable projects to come to fruition. Having qualified professionals (who are constantly improving) has been, and will likely continue to be, a relevant topic for technology managers.
4 - Information security, business continuity, and governance – risk management
It is well known that, with IoT, the number of connected devices multiplies, and each of them can become a point of vulnerability in companies' technological environments. But even though this fact is common knowledge, the topic of security still does not spontaneously appear as an essential element in IoT architecture. This was proven in the IoT Snapshot 2017 – when prompted, respondents agreed that this is a critical issue, but it was one of the least spontaneously mentioned.
Furthermore, with Internet of Things solutions, technology begins to integrate links in the chain that usually had little technological support. As a result, the scope of business continuity tends to expand significantly. Technology coverage broadens, and proportionally, so does the need for risk management related to security and operational continuity.
In any case, it is very promising to observe that many companies are already evolving and putting into practice the pilots developed in recent years. What were once promises and bets are beginning to materialize as a tangible reality. But IoT, in practice, brings to light new challenges, which are no longer about experimentation, but rather about operation, resilience, and reliability. Therefore, it is necessary to keep a youthful spirit and an even more open mind to new developments, but also to mature and gain robustness to fit into the real operational environment.
Volvo cars and trucks will share traffic alerts
Volvo decided to join the quest for safer traffic and announced that its vehicles will share in real time the information collected by their traffic alert technologies.
As a result, when the hazard lights of a car equipped with the Hazard Light Alert system are activated, an alert will be sent both to other cars equipped with the technology and to Volvo Trucks that have a similar system. The same will happen if the driver of one of these trucks turns on their vehicle's hazard lights.
Based on the information that there are cars slowing down or completely stopped ahead, drivers can take actions that reduce the chance of accidents, such as slowing down or even changing their route.
This is the first time that Volvo Cars has shared with another company (although both are Volvo, the companies belong to different groups) the data shared between cars with the Hazard Light Alert system, which has been a standard feature on several of the brand's models since 2016.
According to the vice president of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre, Malin Ekholm, the expectation is that new collaborations will occur in this regard. “The more vehicles we have sharing real-time safety data, the safer our roads become. We look forward to establishing new collaborations with other partners who share our commitment to traffic safety,” she said in a press release.
For now, communication between cars and trucks will only happen between vehicles sold in Sweden and Norway. To ensure compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into force at the end of May, the data will be anonymized and aggregated.
References:
http://cio.com.br/opiniao/
https://www.tecmundo.com.br/mobilidade-urbana-smart-cities