Mobile Apps, Blind Spots, Tomatoes and IoT Sensors

Master Tomato Gardener

A lot is written on mobile technologies, the Internet of Things, social media and analytics, but little is written on how all these might work together in a retail environment.  I think best by writing, so let's think this through together.

Blind spots are defined as, “Areas where a person's view is obstructed.” Many business decisions today are still made based on conjecture (unsubstantiated assumptions), because the data needed to make a data-driven decision lies in an operational “blind spot.”

Smart companies when designing mobile applications consider how they can personalize the user experience.  They ask themselves how they can utilize all the accumulated data they have collected on their customers or prospects, plus third-party data sources, to make the experience as beautiful and pleasurable as possible.  To start, they can often access the following kinds of data from their own and/or purchased databases to personalize the experience:

• Name
• Age
• Gender
• Address
• Demographic data
• Income estimate
• Credit history
• Education level
• Marital status
• Children
• Lifestyle
• Social media profile and sentiment
• Job title
• Purchase history
• Locations of purchases
• Preferences, tastes and style
• Browsing/Shopping history

This data, however, is basic.  It is merely a digital profile. It has many blind spots.  It is often not based on real-time data.  As competition stiffens, the above profile data will not be enough to deliver a competitive advantage.  Companies will need to find ways to reduce blind spots in their data so they can increase the degree of personalization.

Sensors connected to the IoT (Internet of Things) will play an important role in reducing blind spots. Sensors, often cost only a few dollars, and can be set-up to detect or measure physical properties, and then wirelessly communicate the results to a designated server.  Also as smartphones (aka sensor platforms) increase the number of sensors they include, and then make these sensors available to mobile application developers through APIs, the competitive playing field will shift to how these sensors can be used to increase the level of personalization.

Let’s imagine a garden supply company, GardenHelpers, developing a mobile application.  The goal of the application is to provide competitive differentiation in the market by offering personalized garden advice and solutions.  The GardenHelpers use the following smartphone sensors in their design to provide more personalized gardening advice:

• GPS sensor (location data)
• Cell Tower signal strength (location data)
• Magnetometer sensor (location of sun)
• Ambient light sensor (available sunlight)
• Barometer sensor (altitude)

GardenHelpers combine the sensor data with date and time, plus third-party information such as:

• GIS (geospatial information system on terrain, slopes, angles, watershed, etc.) data
• Historic weather information
• Government soil quality information
• Government crop data, recommendations and advice

GardenHelpers also encourages the user to capture the GPS coordinates, via their smartphone, on each corner of their garden to input the estimated garden size, and to capture the amount of sunlight at various times of the day through the ambient light sensor.  This information is compared with area weather data and the amount of shade and sunlight on their garden is estimated.

GardenHelpers now understands a great deal about the gardener (mobile app user), the garden location, size, lay of the land and sunlight at various times.  However, there remain “blind spots.”  GardenHelpers doesn't know the exact temperature, wind speeds, humidity levels, or the amount of water in the soil of the garden.  How do they remedy these blind spots?  They offer to sell the gardeners a kit of wireless IoT sensors to measure these.

With all of this information now the blind spots are now greatly reduced, but some remain.  What about local pests, soil issues and advice?  GardenHelpers adds a social and analytics element to their solution.  This enables gardeners to share advice with other local gardeners with similar garden sizes and crops.

GardenHelpers can now deliver a mobile app that is hyper-personalized for their customers and prospects.  The products they offer and recommend are not selected randomly, but are now based on precise smartphone and sensor data. The mobile app combined with the IoT sensors become an indispensable tool for their customers which leads to increased brand loyalty and sales.

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Kevin Benedict

Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst

Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Sensors - Sensing and Sharing the Physical World

Global Sensor Data

We spend a lot of time talking and writing about the IoT (Internet of Things) in the macro, as a giant worldwide network of objects and things, communicating with themselves and others.  That is indeed interesting, but the most interesting components of the IoT, in my opinion, are the sensors.  Sensors are defined as, "Devices that detect or measure a physical property and record, indicate, or otherwise responds to it."  In the context of IoT, sensors detect or measure a physical property and then communicate the findings wirelessly to a server for analysis. Sensors are our digital fingers that touch and feel the earth and environment!

Just last week I read this about a new iPhone patent, "The patent is titled “Digital camera with light splitter.” The camera described in the patent has three sensors for splitting color. The camera would split colors into three different rays. These would be red, green and blue. The splitting of colors is designed to allow the camera to maximize pixel array resolution." This patent potentially could help Apple improve the image quality of its mobile cameras, especially in video.  In other words, it will help iPhones better capture, display and share the scenes on our planet for viewing.

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year I saw demonstrated an iPhone add-on from the company, Flir.   It was a Personal Thermal Imagery Camera.  You connect it to your iPhone and then you can find leaky pipes in your wall, overloaded electrical breakers, or even spot live rodents hiding in your walls. You can use it in your boat to spot floating debris in the water in the dark or use while hiking in the dark to spot hidden predators preparing to devour you.  I WANT ONE NOW!

Sensors measure and collect data and can be connected to just about any piece of equipment. Satellite cameras are sensors.  There are audio and visual sensors.  There are pressure and heat sensors.  There are all kinds of sensors.  One of the most interesting sensor technologies I have been researching of late is hyper spectral remote sensors.

Hyper spectral sensors combined with GIS (geospatial information systems) information and Big Data analytics are a powerful mix. These sensors can be integrated into very powerful cameras. Hyper spectral remote sensing is an emerging technology that is being studied for its ability to detect and identify minerals, terrestrial vegetation, and man-made materials and backgrounds.  I want one!

Hyper spectral remote sensing combines imaging and spectroscopy (spectroscopy is a term used to refer to the measurement of radiation intensity as a function of wavelength) in a single system, which often includes large data sets that require Big Data analytics.  Hyper spectral imagery is typically collected (and represented) as a data cube with spatial information collected in the X-Y plane, and spectral information represented in the Z-direction.

hyper spectal imaging

What can be done with hyper spectral remote sensing?  Using powerful hyper spectral cameras one can detect unique noble gases (each unique gas emits a unique color on the spectrum), different inks, dyes and paints (each have different characteristics that can be uniquely identified).  You can detect, identify and quantify chemicals.  You can detect chemical composition and physical properties including their temperature and velocity all with a camera!

Taking a hyper spectral image of an object, connected to real-time Big Data analytics, can tell you an amazing amount of information about it.  Theoretically, a hyper spectral image of a person combined with facial recognition can identify a person, their shampoo, make-up, hand lotion, deodorant, perfume, the food they ate, chemicals they have been in contact with and the materials and chemicals used in their clothes.  OK, the implications of this technology for personal privacy are really creepy, but the technology itself is fascinating.

Theoretically hyper spectral remote sensing systems can be used for healthcare, food monitoring, security at airports, for public safety, in intelligence systems and integrated with drone and satellite surveillance systems.

Today, luckily, these cameras are far too expensive for me.

Related Articles: http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2015/04/iot-sensors-tactile-feedback-iphones.html

Related Video: http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2015/03/iot-and-sensors-from-ams-at-mwc15.html
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Kevin Benedict

Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst

Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Fred Yentz, Part 2

M2M and the Internet of Things were central topics at the Mobile World Congress 2013.  SAP was showing off several demonstrations on how machine data, wirelessly sent to SAP, could be analyzed in real-time using SAP Hana.  In this interview, M2M expert and ILS Technology CEO Fred Yentz discusses the concept of "Sensor-to-CIO."  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/cZOCxiUkViQ

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's Mobile World Congress 2013 Interviews: Charlie McNiff

It was interesting how much of the Mobile World Congress this year was about M2M and the Internet of Things.  I guess it makes sense from a teleco perspective, mobile data is mobile data, whether it comes from a mobile app on a smartphone or a piece of heavy equipment wirelessly reporting its maintenance needs.

I have often written over the years that M2M and enterprise mobility would eventually converge.  This year they certainly did at the MWC 2013 event.  Mobile data coming in from remote workers and assets is all valuable to the enterprise.  With the right business analytics solution your managers can use this real-time data to make good data driven decisions.

At the show, SAP connected their M2M initiative with their Hana platform to deliver real-time analytics to the Port of Hamburg in Germany.  The demonstration was in the Connected City at the show. The solution was used to track incoming cargo containers, truck parking spaces and truck locations.  The M2M data coming in wirelessly from these three areas was analyzed in seconds and used to improve efficiencies in the logistical processes.

In this short video, I interview SAP partner ILS Technology about where they see growth in the M2M industry.  Grab some popcorn!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/EEdG1rWzTdc

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the insightful whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Notes and Videos from the Mobile World Congress 2013, Part 1

Yesterday was the first day of the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona.  It is reported there are 70,000 people here.  I counted 69,901.  I explored miles of aisles filled with mobile and wireless software vendors, equipment, accessories and devices manufacturers over 8 massive halls.

I have been tracking down mobility experts to interview.  I tried to upload some of the interviews yesterday, but my hotel wireless appeared just enough to tease me before disappearing again.

Today I will be speaking at the Power of Enterprise Mobility session in Hall 8.  There are seats for 250, but over 2,000 registered for it.  Yikes!

Here is the first of many interviews I recorded with experts in mobility and M2M.  This interview is with M2M / Internet of Things guru and Fred Yentz, CEO of ILS Technology.

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

Read the insightful whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

SAP and the Internet of Things (M2M)

I had an interesting discussion with SAP's new VP of the Internet of Things, Suhas Uliyar recently.    He was still in the process of deciding whether VP of the Internet of Things was the appropriate title, or if it should be VP of the Connected World or something more representative of how the technology was evolving.  He did not like the traditional M2M (machine to machine) reference as that reflected too much of the old model.  He wanted to reflect the future direction of this technology.

Suhas is an industry veteran and mobility expert.  We have spoken numerous times over the past decade as he was leading efforts at a number of MDM (mobile device management) and enterprise mobility companies.  He is very knowledgeable about the needs of large enterprises.

Now back to the topic of M2M.  The traditional use of M2M technology was a sensor would capture data in the field and feed it to an embedded wireless chip that would send it to a server.  As long as the data was communicating the right results, nothing happened.  If the data results meant there was a problem, then hopefully an alert would be created and a human would get involved.  However, over the years sensors have evolved to be much smarter, and so have the embedded wireless chips.  Today, not only can a wireless embedded chip send data results from a sensor, but it can also receive data from a server and operate machines.  This means rather than simple machine to machine communications, you have a bi-directional data feed that enables machines to operate other machines.  That is cool!  That can also be scary if you are imaginative and like scifi books and movies.

In the past M2M was used to monitor very basic sensor data - door open/door closed, temperature good/bad, pressure good/bad, etc.  However today, SAP is looking at this world of connected devices and pondering the role it will play in big data (SAP Hana), business analytics, CRM, EAM (enterprise asset management).

Analysts have predicted there will be 50 billion connected devices by 2025.  The world is quickly moving to this number.  Already there are examples from early adopters such as Vivint, the winner of Gartner's 1to1 Media CRM Excellence Award on how to wirelessly connect devices to machines and revolutionize an industry.  Vivint has a video available here that demonstrates how they use some of this technology, but you will have to sit through a ClickSoftware commercial to view it.  This is definitely an interesting emerging field.  Companies should start watching and exploring how this technology will impact their industries and markets.

Suhas said the Internet of Things today, is less about sensors and embedded wireless chips, and more about process orchestration.  How will all of these new sources of data introduce efficiencies into companies?  How will the data be analyzed and reported in ways that can change the competitive landscapes?  These are the areas of interest before Suhas today.  Welcome on board the SAP ship!

I publish a newsletter every week on Tuesdays called M2M News Weekly.  According to Suhas that name may be dated, but the news is news :-)

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Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.