Internet of Things Platforms and IoT Strategies

My friend and colleague, the always opinionated Peter Rogers, shares his latest research on The Internet of Things and the technology and platforms that are used to support it.

There seems to be two main groups of thought as to when wearable technology will become mainstream. The first group are those that believe that wearable technology is here today and are engaging both hobbyists and future entrepreneurs in building all parts of the ecosystem now. These people are creating their own hardware and working with systems to communicate with third party hardware right as we speak. The second group of people are more commercially minded and are looking at creating a full platform for the future. They are looking at big data style real-time analytics, next generation IP, and constrained REST architectures with cast iron security.

Personally I am impatient.  I want to start playing with this IoT stuff today and allow the dedicated platforms to mature over time so they are ready when the market really picks ups.  With that said I believe there are currently two tiers of vendors:

1. Those that have something that works today and that we could build products and services on top of now.
2. Those that have an actual platform that is slowly maturing and we can use in the future 

My advice is to look at combining a selection of low-end propositions to start testing custom products for their effectiveness today.  In my view the best people to start talking with for effective low risk deployments, would be those offering end-to-end solutions based around plugging in any device to a simple Cloud PaaS and with their technology readily available to hobbyists.

I will list a few vendors that I think offer technology ready to go today and then in my next article I will look at those that I consider offer platforms for the future.  The main problem is one of being locked into a proprietary Cloud system that cannot be privately hosted and that only works with embedded client software that is explicitly supported by that vendor. If there is anything the ‘MBaaS v MEAP debate in enterprise mobility taught us is that open standards with flexible Cloud hosting solutions will win out. I don't see a perfect solution at the moment, but I do see a whole lot of very exciting propositions that will get acquired and combined effectively over time.

SkyNet

This open source project aims to let disparate devices communicate via a variety of protocols including MQTT, WS/S, CoAP, HTTPS/REST and WebSockets. It supports UUID authentication and TLS certificates. Eventually non-programmers could use Skynet to create a platform that lets us program the real and online worlds in a way that’s far more powerful than If This Then That (IFTTT) or Zapier. The end result is a flexible piece of open source software that can connect to everything from servers to sensors. SkyNet can be run on a public or private Node.js instance (such as Heroku) and they are even working on an open source home gateway.

IOBridge

ioBridge makes it easy for professionals and enthusiasts to monitor and control nearly anything via their smartphone or web app using a general purpose web gateway. This is a simple gateway that lets you monitor or send commands to anything compatible with the ioBridge through a web interface. It does sound like you can only access ioBridge-manufactured or third-party sensors, that are compatible with the ioBridge web gateway.  It also doesn't sounds like you can set up your own version on a private network just yet. When you purchase one of the ioBridge gateways then you get a free limited subscriptions. For example, if you want to log data faster than every few minutes then you need another subscription.

BergCloud

Berg is a Cloud platform but they also provide hardware with built-in connectivity for faster prototyping. Devshields bring the Device API to Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and ARM MBED. The Device API is provided as a client library that runs on your microcontroller, speaking via your wireless connection to the web. If you are prototyping and don't yet have connectivity, then the Devshield developer boards have that bundled too. You can manage and message all your devices using the RESTful Cloud API, built around secure HTTPS. You control the user experience with your own website, and treat your devices like just another web service.

Sense Observation Systems

CommonSense is a platform that helps you to keep track of all your sensor data, store it in a central location, and play with it. CommonSense also processes your raw sensor data into meaningful things like sleep, exercise, or your top locations. With the free CommonSense Dashboard  you gain insights into your behavior. With the free CommonSense Tracker you turn your phone into an advanced tracking device. You can combine them, add in your Fitbit or Twitter data, and you get a powerful self-tracking system. Connections are available now for iOS, Android, Fitbit, and Twitter. They are working on connecting more devices and services.

The data is stored in their Cloud, which happens to be in The Netherlands and has been certified with according to medical device regulations (NEN-7510). It does seem to have a good focus on Health Care and the Environment. CommonSense is currently in Private Beta and it sounds more like a real-time analytics platform at the moment.

Electric Imp

Electric Imp offers a complete end-to-end solution that makes it simple to connect almost any product to the Internet through an innovative and powerful cloud service tied closely to leading-edge hardware. The Electric Imp connectivity platform, featuring fully integrated hardware, software, OS, APIs, cloud servers, makes it possible to effectively empower your devices with intelligence, scalability and flexibility. If you’re a developer, hobbyist, or maker, then you can get started with one of their development kits and bring connectivity to your project, idea or concept.

Electric Imp offers a comprehensive solution designed to connect your product or project to the Internet quickly, easily and effectively. The platform includes:

• Imp Hardware: The Electric Imp platform starts with the imp, a powerful module containing WiFi and a processor that acts as the gateway to connect your device or service to the Internet
• Imp OS: The software foundation for the imp’s features and services that allows your code to concentrate on bringing your product’s functions to life.
• Imp Cloud: Their cloud allows you to run agents - server side code that runs in a secure environment - that are used to provide HTTP I/O and cloud-side processing, and easily connect your products to anything with Internet access. Agents can act as a central hub to your products, apps, third-party services, and even your own servers.
• Imp Open API: Enrich your customer experience and build your business by developing enhancements like messaging, monitoring, and much more.
• Imp BlinkUpTM: The proprietary Electric Imp setup solution (BlinkUp) integrates seamlessly into your apps, letting you and your customers connect products in seconds using just a smartphone or tablet.
• Imp Services - IDE and Ops Console: Maintain your software, push new code and features easily to devices anytime, ensuring that your users always have the latest features. The Ops Console enables you to gain more insight into your factory production lines and scale to millions of devices.

1248.io

1248.io offers Geras, which is a scalable time-series database for your sensor data with quick storage for your Analytics. They also offer HyperCat, which is an open, lightweight JSON-based hypermedia catalogue format for exposing collections of URIs. HyperCat is simple to work with and allows developers to publish linked-data descriptions of resources. HyperCat is designed for exposing information about IoT assets over the web. It allows a server to provide a set of resources to a client, each with a set of semantic annotations.

Geras offers the following:

• HTTPS support for strong security and per-user API keys
• Standard HTTP/HTTPS support allowing sensors to traverse firewalls and proxies
• Sensors can supply data over HTTP POST or very lightweight MQTT publish
• Supports modern standards for posting, getting and discovering data: HTTPS; JSON; RESTful; SenML; MQTT; and HyperCat
• Built on a fault-tolerant, distributed database
• Data can be stored in the country of your choice with an option to buy Geras as software and host the data yourself

If you have an IoT platform or technologies that you want Peter Rogers to be aware of please email him at Peter-2.Rogers-2@cognizant.com.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Ved Sen on Enterprise Mobility in Europe

This week I am working and teaching in London.  While here I had the opportunity to interview my colleague at Cognizant, Ved Sen on the state of enterprise mobility in Europe.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJwYxJAMYQ8&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Enterprise Mobility, Digital Transformation and Work Spaces

I had the opportunity to spend some time recently with Asure Software's VP/GM of EMEA and APAC, Nigel Clarke, and to discuss how digital transformation is impacting work spaces and the mobile workforce.   In years past I attended facility management conferences and developed mobile apps to help manage facilities, assets, rooms, inspections, materials and supplies.  We were counting and inspecting physical objects.  Today, however, there are digital transformations taking place in this industry.

Today, companies less often require employees to work in the physical office (sorry folks at Yahoo!). Often equipment is not associated with a location, but moves to where it is needed at any given time. When people do come into the office there is a need to find a desk, conference room, video or projection equipment and to use additional services to ensure their use of the office is optimized and efficiently managed.

Every day the office layout and who is using the office and rooms may differ.  This requires several different strategies:

1. Real-time communications with on site teams
2. Agile building, parking and network access
3. Digitization of a physical building into digital spaces
4. Digitization of time that can be carved into increments that can be manipulated and reserved
5. Associating digital times with digital spaces
6. Agile room layouts
7. Collaborating with third parties to provide services for particular spaces and times
8. Mobile apps for the mobile workforce

All of these changes must be supported on mobile apps.  Time, space, temperatures, resources, equipment, access, parking, networks and services can now be reserved and managed from thousands of miles away in a cloud computing environment.  This requires a real-time system and an office layout conducive to agile use that can quickly be transformed to meet different needs on different days.

These can all be coordinated digitally via mobile apps.  But that is just the beginning.  You could also arrange caterings services and reserve special equipment and car services associated with time and space from thousands of miles away.

Can you imagine trying to support this kind of environment without online and mobile apps?  What a nightmare.  Some companies may think their industry is not being impacted significantly today by digital transformation, but they're probably wrong.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Internet of Things - Under the Covers

My colleague, the always opinionated Peter Rogers, provides us with an "under-the-covers" look at how Android plans to power the Internet of Things.  Pull down your geek hat and hold on!!!
***
In previous articles I predicted that wearable technology would be powered by light-weight operating systems, citing Samsung’s decision to go with Tizen instead of Android. This decision was apparently based on battery life and user interface considerations. However, just after the article hit the Internet, Google executive Sundar Pichai announced the Android SDK for Wearables.  Android is used in many different ways as demonstrated by Kindle and Nokia X (Nokia X seems to have deployed a Windows 8 look and feel on top of Android). Indeed, for this very reason Android 4.4 has moved a lot of key APIs into the Cloud.

Wearable device developers are interested in the APIs available to them. If we turn the clock back to the J2ME days there was a dedicated API for user interfaces (UI) called javax.microedition.lcdui. This was a small UI library compared to today's Android libraries. Indeed you wouldn’t run Java Swing on Android, and likewise a wearable device needs a more constrained API for the UI. Even though a wearable device may be supporting a full operating system, it will most probably have a constrained UI and that means a slightly different programming style.

Recently there was an interesting post in the Washington Post supporting my claims that Wearable Devices and the Internet of Things requires different skill sets. The article listed the new skills required as data analytics and enterprise data analysis. Basically you need to know how to capture the data, read the data and then apply the data to your specific business domain. Surely real-time analytics and visualisation tools will become critical in the wearable space and this is where a new term called Fog Computing has been introduced by Cisco.

“Fog Computing is a paradigm that extends Cloud computing and services to the edge of the network. Similar to Cloud, Fog provides data, compute, storage, and application services to end-users. The distinguishing Fog characteristics are its proximity to end-users, its dense geographical distribution, and its support for mobility. Services are hosted at the network edge or even end devices such as set-top-boxes or access points. By doing so, Fog reduces service latency, and improves QoS, resulting in superior user-experience. Fog Computing supports emerging Internet of Everything (IoE) applications that demand real-time/predictable latency (industrial automation, transportation, networks of sensors and actuators). Thanks to its wide geographical distribution the Fog paradigm is well positioned for real time big data and real time analytics. Fog supports densely distributed data collection points, hence adding a fourth axis to the often mentioned Big Data dimensions (volume, variety, and velocity).”

In trying to predict what will be in the Android Wearable Software Developer Kit (SDK) then it is very interesting to note that Google acquired Android Smartwatch vendor WIMM Labs last year. WIMM Labs released its first Smartwatch back in 2011, the WIMM One, which ran Android and included an SDK for developers. Interestingly the WIMM website has removed all of the documentation for the SDK but a lot of WIMM One developers downloaded it before it got taken offline and so were able to get a potential glimpse of what Google is planning. WIMM had a Micro App Store which featured the following categories: entertainment; productivity; health;  shopping; travel; utilities; watch faces; and games.  As well as a Software Developer Kit there was also a Hardware Developer Kit which allows you to make accessories that wrap around the WIMM module.

The Wearable SDK itself will obviously have changed from its origins of the WIMM One SDK but it is certainly interesting rooting around through the API. The comm.wimm API extends the Android 2.X API and it is assumed that only the WIMM API itself can be used. There are some very interesting features offered for sure: notifications; custom watch faces; widgets; network services; sync services; calendars; broadcast events; weather; world clocks; location fixes; audio beeps; and various simple UI element.

One of the most interesting features is location information being retrieved from one or more sources, including built-in GPS, network based IP-location lookup, or a paired Android or Blackberry smartphone. This demonstrates that the Wimm One was able to perform even when not paired to a device and it was equally able to pair with a Blackberry.

If we look at the Android Wearable SDK then it is heavily rumoured to support Google Now, the voice control feature. It will also have to support Bluetooth Low Energy integration for communication with mobile devices for pairing and indeed detecting other sensors. It is also worth looking at the Google Glass Developer Kit (GDK) for a few hints at what may be revealed. The GDK was the alternative to the Mirror API which only really supported REST calls to a Google Cloud Service. The GDK is an add-on that builds on top of the Android SDK and offers the following: voice; gesture detector; and cards. It is safe to assume that voice control, local networking, touch control and potentially gesture control are all on cards. Google will show their hand at Google I/O and Samsung have already shown their Gear 2 devices at MWC. Next it is time for Apple to finally show their hand and we have to wonder if it will be a decisive one, quite possibly if history has taught us anything.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Impact of Digital Transformation and Mobility on Learning and Publishing

Have you ever considered how the traditional author, teacher, textbook and student relationship will change when digitally transformed and mobile device enabled?  What if writing a textbook is no longer enough for an author?  What if all textbooks, in order to be widely sold and used, also required a mobile app, audio and video editions and an integrated social platform?  In other words SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) enabled.

What if the content in textbooks were digitally enabled and viewable on a tablet computer that was GPS enabled?  Could you tap into data from Google Field Trips, http://www.fieldtripper.com/, to make the textbook location-aware.  Could the study of a period in history automatically identify nearby historical points of interest, photos or videos related to the content?  Could your surroundings, now digitized, augment your reality?

What if before reading the book, you took a short assessment to determine which learning styles are most suited to you?  What if that learning style followed you across all online textbooks?  What if all content and presentations changed based upon your assessed and recorded learning styles or the recorded preferences of the reader?  Code Halos, the data about each teacher, tutor and student could be saved and used to help students learn better and faster, and for teachers and tutors to be more efficient and effective. Could there be six different versions of each textbook based upon the different learning styles?

Could gamification be introduced into textbooks to motivate assignment completion and compliance? Could better scores unlock levels in an associated learning game?

What if an online AILA (Artificial Intelligent Learning Agent) followed you across all textbooks and online content and helped present the content in a manner most suitable to your learning style?

What if every online textbook was automatically socialized, and students could discuss each page and subject and link out to additional information?  What if there were all kinds of complementary content and tutorials available that were both free and for a fee?  Everything from videos, podcasts and additional help notes.

For teachers, what if suggested assignments, quizzes and tests (and optional online automatic grading) were available for use by registered teachers.  This would make the textbook more appealing if the teachers could be more efficient with their time when they used it.

What if AI (artificial intelligent) learning agents helped the teacher remember the student’s details, and the student’s most suitable learning style and history each time an assignment was reviewed?  Could this intelligence help the teacher better adapt his/her teaching style to the individual student?

What if the textbook was really just a platform for learning.  One that included text, images, audio, video, games and assorted other learning tool?

Could students with the same learning styles be aligned with online teachers and tutors that specialize in those styles?

I hope these questions will help you ponder the incredible impact that the transformation from physical to digital will have in the learning and publishing industries and in others.

It is important for every company to be thinking through digital transformation and how it will impact their specific company, market and industry in the very near future.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interviews: Microsoft's Rob Tiffany

I met up with and interviewed Microsoft's Rob Tiffany in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago at the Mobile World Congress 2014.  The problem, however, is I ran out of hard drive space on my iPhone and only captured half of the interview so today we are back for the rest via a recorded Google+ Hangout OnAir. In this interview we discuss Microsoft's current enterprise mobility solution offerings and what the future is likely to bring.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLRJWJeJ7JY&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share

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*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Catavolt's CEO George Mashini

I had the privilege today of interviewing Catavolt's CEO George Mashini.  In this interview he shares his insights and opinions on enterprise mobility, cloud based services, trends and strategies. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG_G6WO9H24&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share


*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interviews: Mi-Co CEO/Co-Founder Dr. Greg Clary

I spend most of my time these days researching, writing and teaching about digital transformations in businesses that include topics on Code Halos, social, mobile, analytics and cloud.  I can't think of a clearer case of digital transformation than converting paper forms, used for mobile data capture, to mobile apps.  In this interview the Co-Founder of Mi-Co, www.mi-corporation.com, Dr. Greg Clary explains the complexities and challenges, and ROIs that come from digital transforming these processes.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmFeSQAfW1I&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Enterprise Mobility, Digital Transformation and the Virtuous Cycle

Mobile World Congress 2014

Last week over 80,000 people interested to learn how mobile technologies can improve the lives of humans, societies and businesses attended the Mobile World Congress 2014 (MWC14). The great thing is that all of these interests can and are happening at the same time.  It was and is a truly virtuous cycle.

While in Barcelona I stayed at a hotel on Gutenberg street.  Gutenberg street was named for Johannes Gutenberg who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the printing revolution which is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period.  It played a key role in the development of the renaissance, reformation (Gutenberg Bibles), the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses (source Wikipedia).

There are a lot of similarities between mobile and Internet technologies and the Gutenberg Presses. They all enable information to cross borders, economic classes, religions, political divides and races. Today it is possible for the accumulated knowledge of the world to be accessible to all that have an Internet connection and a device able to connect.

Gutenberg Press

The mobile technologies I witnessed at MWC14 are a transformational gift to humanity.  No longer can despots rule through secrecy and the assumed disorder and ignorance of the masses.  Mobile devices connected to social networking platforms have not only freed and democratized information and education, but also news, activities and events.  Mobility is the death to censorship, secrecy and tyranny.  It cannot improve the world without a good plan and organization to back it up, but it can certainly make the information necessary easier to access.

Mobile technologies and social networking platforms enable spontaneous swarming effects which can quickly bring order out of disorder, and at the same time disorder out of order.  Events can change overnight with real-time information. It has forced governments and despots to recognize the practice of governing has changed forever and that information transparency reigns.

The power of information, real-time information, should not be underestimated.  The ability to organize quickly for good has never been easier.  The ability to directly engage with friends, family members and customers anywhere in the world has never been easier.  Unleashed information changes the game forever.

We in the mobile industry are accustomed to focusing on the economic benefits of mobile technology - the ROIs - but I would encourage everyone to slow down once in a while and focus also on the societal benefits and the truly inspirational contributions mobile technology is bringing to humanity.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The First Article on How to Truly Implement the Internet of Things

My colleague, mobility and IoT (Internet of Things) guru Peter Rogers has written one of the first articles I have ever read that explains how consulting companies and developers can truly design, implement and support the Internet of Things ecosystem.  Mark your calendars with this historic day.
***
I was talking with friends today about the whole notion of wearable technology and soon stumbled upon the following important question, "What does a consultancy actually bring to the table in terms of wearable technologies?"

My opinion is that it is not about writing software for Google Glass, which seems to be the first thing anybody does at the mention of wearable technology. I mean firstly it is not (officially) on sale in Europe inside a retail outlet and secondly it does not actually have an official App Store.  I believe it is more about the hardware, the life cycle maintenance for wearable software and the supporting ecosystems. I also believe it is about the creative experiences that showcase the kinds of M2M scenarios that the film Terminator demonstrated. I aim to use the rest of this Blog to explain this argument clearly.

Firstly, it was interesting to see Samsung using Tizen as the operating system for their Gear 2 wearable devices. I have long mooted that it make little sense to have full operating systems on wearable devices and mobile handset vendors seem to want to keep their actual devices in the loop (the iCar and iWatch are both rumoured to work with an iPhone). If the iWatch ever appears then will it be running iOS 7.1? Even if it was running iOS 7.1 then I doubt you would build Apps using the same UI capabilities as for a standard phone or tablet. I would wager that the mobile device will continue to act as an arbitrator between the wearable device and the Internet (of Things) for some time to come and that the wearable devices will be running lightweight operating systems. In which case surely Ubuntu Mobile, Tizen and Firefox OS will make a play.

If that is indeed the case then the whole development cycle and life cycle maintenance of wearable device Apps is going to be a little bit different than before. It will be more constrained, but not in the earlier definition of the word, when wearable displays could only effectively display a pre-processed bitmap image. I would suggest that the Mobile Consumer Application Platform (MCAP) or Portable Native vendors who are geared up to supporting new operating systems quickly will be able to offer support for wearable devices faster than any other toolset vendor.

Proof of the pudding would appear to be Appcelerator's Titanium platform which already offers Tizen support. Whilst disappointingly Samsung say they will not commit to a Tizen powered mobile handset in 2014, at Mobile World Congress they most definitely did commit to Tizen powered wearable devices. Likewise, Marmalade supports the Tizen operating system, although this technology is predominantly (but not exclusively) used by game developers.

I would therefore conclude as my first point, that a consultancy wanting to get into the wearable technology space should first of all have a good knowledge of the MCAP / portable native platforms that are available to support both portability and the fast creation of applications for the wearable device market.

The second point I would make is that there is a definite need for ecosystems that support wearable devices. Such an ecosystem needs to support secure integration of remote devices, discoverability and messaging (to, from and between) disparate devices. I talk about SkyNet a lot at the moment as it is an actualisation of this concept and is available today. SkyNet is an open source Node.js based discovery, messaging and secure integration architecture for wearable devices. It can be hosted on a Mobile Back End as a Service (MBaaS) and acts to consolidate a vast amount of disparate technologies available in this space. As a solid example of this then in a few months you should be able to write JavaScript based Constrained RESTful servers that run on the SkyNet Node.js service tier and use them to discover and communicate with JavaScript based applications running as first class citizens on a Tizen OS powered Gear 2 device. That is one technology stack that covers the whole end to end architecture. It means that the solution architects can focus on security governance, as opposed to integrating disparate technologies, and worrying about what happens 3 months down the line (namely when a new version of the OS is released for the device). Likewise the creative experiences are empowered by a simple and powerful underlying framework.

SkyNet is not the only solution of course, but it is the best Blueprint I have seen so far and it is MIT licenced and available on GitHub today.

Here are two very cool 60 second videos of the Team SkyNet demonstrating their Internet of Things:

1. Bluetooth Low Energy integration. They appear to be messaging some custom built Pebble-type watch.
2. Voice control. They have a voice controlled remote lamp that can be called from a standard telephone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBNoSB_bac4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2emg81H6pI

Each connected device has its own 36 character UUID and a secret token.  These device credentials are required for authenticating and communicating with SkyNet. They also have TLS certificates available on the network by the time you read this. SkyNet can be deployed as a Private Cloud (in your enterprise or even in your home on a Raspberry Pi).  SkyNet networks also have UUIDs and can forward messages to other SkyNet networks.  You can also encrypt your messages if needed for additional security.  SkyNet currently supports 3 protocols over TCP (HTTP(S), WS/S, and MQTT).  They will be adding CoAP (a UDP protocol) this quarter for real-time communication. MQTT and CoAP are optimised protocols for constrained devices.  They are also working on a SkyNet Gateway device that can run in your home or office to communicate with local devices such as Nests, Phillips Hues, Wemos, Insteons, etc. The Gateway (and indeed SkyNet) are all open source and designed to support any protocol or transport layer.

If the right level of security can be applied by using acceptable levels of encryption and the Node.js implementation can be moved to nice Mobile Back End as a Service then you have a secure, scalable and maintainable Internet of Things. We often hear about REST being used but wearable devices introduces us to both Bluetooth Low Energy and Constrained RESTful environments (CoRE). It was in fact the CoRE Working Group that did the major standardization work for CoAP. I am sure instead of mobile architecture diagrams with JSON and REST, you will soon be seeing Bluetooth Low Energy and Constrained REST appearing on wearable architecture diagrams.

I would therefore conclude as a second point, that a consultancy needs to have a good idea of appropriate ecosystems that can match their customer's requirements.

http://skynet.im
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/02/skynet/

The final point was inspired when I saw the SkyNet Team building a Pebble-Watch-Replica from scratch, a light bulb that could be controlled by voice and talking about voice controlled drones. I have to wager that hardware skills are going to be just as important as software skills - at least in the Innovation and Proof of Concept stage. The final piece of the puzzle for a consultancy then is to bring some level of hardware skills to the table.

In summary, in my view you should not be looking for a consultancy who can purely write Google Glass 'Apps'. Instead you should be looking for a consultancy who can offer you the following: tools for the life cycle management of software on wearable devices; solution architecture around supporting ecosystems for wearable device integration; and even the ability to design custom hardware for innovation projects.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Internet of Things Comes to the Smartphone

Infrared Sensors for iPhones

For sometime now I have been pondering how the use of additional sensors on smartphones might be useful.  Today many smartphones contain the following sensors:

• Proximity sensor
• Motion sensor/accelerometer
• Ambient light sensor
• Moisture sensor
• Gyroscopic sensor
• Magnetometer

Those listed sensors are incredibly valuable, but there are more coming.  I read today about 3D photo sensors that Google is testing for smartphones, and other sensors like barometric sensors to help determine what floor of a building you are on, and biometric sensors to recognize finger prints for security purposes.  The 3D sensor would enable intelligent applications to understand the shape and layout of a room, the barometric sensor would help identify the floor of a building and the magnetometer to help an application to understand the direction the room is facing.  All of these sensors could contribute to interesting indoor retailing apps. They convert the physical into digital.  They represent the tip of the spear for digital transformation.  Once that is complete, software algorithms can be programmed and intelligence added to support revolutionary new business processes.

Evolution in Sensor Sizes

At the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona last week I discovered more interesting sensors.  I saw a sensor, the size of a pin head, for monitoring and reporting humidity and temperature (Sensirion). It connected to smartphones via bluetooth.  My favorite though, was the Thermal Imager sensor from Flir that connects to an iPhone via a sled (with extra batteries).  It let's you, among other things, point at a person walking by to see their body temperature (a must for determining the living from the dead and the human from an android), plus you can see warm blooded animals and warm objects light up your iPhone screen even in complete darkness.

Imagine you hear a loud noise in your backyard at night.  Reach for your thermal imager enabled iPhone and scan your backyard.  The mountain lion hiding behind your shrubbery is instantly exposed.  This can be useful in my neighborhood (see http://magicvalley.com/news/local/mountain-lion-killed-in-idaho-neighborhood/article_7b8e91ce-902a-11e3-a505-001a4bcf887a.html).  You can also scan your hardwood floor to see if a giraffe or anyone has walked across it in the past few minutes.

These sensors are just the tip of the iceberg.  There are hundreds of sensors that are being miniaturized today (see the Evolution in Sensor Size photo above I took at MWC14).  They capture information about your physical world and can wirelessly transmit this information to your smartphone or enterprise server.  How fun!

The Internet of Things is already massively increasing the amount of data flowing into servers from the physical world.  Our big task in 2014 is imagining all the ways this data can be used to make our world a better place.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Adam Stein on Enterprise Mobility Strategies

Last week I had the opportunity to interview SAP's Adam Stein at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.  In this interview we discuss mobile strategies, mobile platforms, cloud mobility, app development, HTML5, enterprise mobility and what SAP has to offer.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWs6nBTnCdI&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Martin Heisig at MWC14

Last week I met with and interviewed SAP's Senior VP of Infrastructure Services, Martin Heisig at the Mobile World Congress 2014. Martin manages how SAP runs SAP products and is responsible for SAP's internal mobile strategies.  In this interview I ask him to share advice on how to support over 70,000 mobile devices.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz_VIzjUuiM&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Dinesh Sharma at MWC14

All this week we will continue to publish interviews that I recorded from the Mobile World Congress 2014.  In this interview SAP's Dinesh Sharma, VP, Product Marketing, Internet of Things shares the latest developments and work that SAP is doing around M2M/Internet of Things.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDl7j-pRfaY&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Mimi Spier on Big Data, Analytics, IoT and Enterprise Mobility

I had the privilege this week to interview SAP's Mimi Spier on data strategies for IoT and enterprise mobility.  She also demonstrates how connected stadiums and 3D filming of live sports events can revolutionize professional sports.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kjqHIAyTTU&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Microsoft's Rob Tiffany on Mobile Strategies for Device Management

It is not everyday that I get to interview a mobility expert from Microsoft, but I got lucky at Mobile World Congress 2014.  It was with great pleasure that I cornered Rob Tiffany, Worldwide Technical Lead for Windows InTune, a mobile device management and services platform.  I follow Rob Tiffany on Twitter so recognized the honor. I have to admit I was ignorant of all the mobile device management services and solutions that Microsoft has.  No excuses now though!  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv6kDfnUYNY&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Micron's Michael Rayfield on the Latest Developments in Mobility

I felt like buying stock in Micron after this interview I recorded today at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, Spain.  Disclaimer - I don't have any investments in Micron, but after Michael Rayfield helped me understand where Micron's products could be found in mobile devices today, I am second guessing my portfolio.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFNbb_HRmRg&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: VMware's Sanjay Poonen on Their Acquisition of AirWatch

I had the privilege of interviewing VMware's EVP and GM of End User Computing, Sanjay Poonen today on the strategy behind their recent acquisition of mobile device management and security vendor AirWatch.  In this interview we talk about enterprise mobility strategy, the future of mobility, cloud, social platforms and content.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC7pchre3sE&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share



*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Moshe BenBassat CEO of ClickSoftware

I surprised Moshe BenBassat at the Mobile World Congress 2014 with an ambush interview, but we have known each other for many years so he agreed to it.  In this interview we talk about artificial intelligence, ClickSoftware's latest acquisition and developments in the enterprise mobility market.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN43jSvK1ao&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share


ATTENTION!  Cognizant is hosting a lunch and learn in Santa Clara, CA on February 27th from 12-2 PM on the subject of Beyond Digital Asset Management: An IT Roadmap for Next Generation Digital Marketing.  Forrester Analyst Anjali Yakkundi will be sharing from her research there as well. If you would like to attend, here are more details - http://app.certain.com/profile/web/index.cfm?PKWebId=0x5873675f2e.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobility is Good for Humanity - MWC 2014

Enterprise mobility is changing the world and transforming the way business is done today.  It is also changing politics, societies, education and cultures.  In this short video, recorded in Barcelona before the start of the Mobile World Congress 2014, I discuss a few of the ways mobility is good for humanity.  Enjoy!

P.S. You may notice several video clips this week that feature me wearing sunglasses.  It is not a fashion statement.  You would not benefit from any fashion statement received from me.  I had a "Bob Costa" eye thing going on for a few days.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-I8AJKBic&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

For All Who Missed the Mobile World Congress in 2014

I compiled this silly video of Day #1 for all of you that did not get to attend the Mobile World Congress in 2014. You can sit back in the comfort of your homes and offices and make fun of us Barcelona lemmings.

You may also see several clips this week that feature me wearing sunglasses.  That is not a fashion statement.  You would not benefit from any fashion statement received from me.  I had a "Bob Costa" eye thing going on for a few days.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-sHwqzgFH8&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Christy Wyatt CEO/President Good Technology

It has been a business day #1 here at the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona!  My feet are killing me!  I started MWC 2014 interviewing the CEO and President of Good Technology, Christy Wyatt.  In this interview Christy shares her insights and opinions are where the market for mobile device management and mobile security is heading, plus information on their new cloud based products and planned acquisitions. Enjoy!

Video Link:  http://youtu.be/UkzT6GpB_fQ

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Smart Machines, Code Halos and Digital Transformation

I am excited to share a guest blog article today from my colleague Rob Brown who works at The Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant.  In this article he shares his insights on the future of smart machines, analytics and code halos.

***
Gartner’s Tom Austin presented a webinar titled “The Emerging Era of Smart Machines Changes Everything” recently (www.gartner.com).  The scenario he paints canvasses where automation and robotics will be taking business processes – not to mention society and employment – in relatively short order.  

As we've been saying – seemingly forever – in this industry, efficiency gains through automation are fundamental to the future of Business Process Services (where “the platform becomes the process”, etc.).  But the explosive information yield against complex algorithms (“Analytics”) that comes from automation are where the REAL action and value lie; as a result, analytics is now the biggest buzzword in the IT services industry, for better or worse.

In so many respects, Gartner’s Smart Machines scenario harmonizes perfectly with our Cognizant Code Halos thinking, and I especially like its exploration of the marriage of automation and analytics (“Smart Machines”: can be platforms, devices, and literally anthropomorphic, C3PO-type robots).    Collectively, Gartner’s work segments flavors of automation into “Movers” (autonomous vehicles, like the Google Car), “Sages” (information-based helpers), and “Doers” (machine-focused helpers).  Cutting edge endeavors like Google Deep Neural Net, IBM’s Watson, and Microsoft’s Research Elevator showcase where the confluence of automation/ analytics are headed.

Why is this happening now?  Gartner notes these forces are accelerating due to better hardware and algorithms.  As an example, Gartner cites the thinking of Ted Horvitz’s work in Artificial Intelligence here, in aerospace, healthcare, and learning (via TedTalks) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpoVh9xwdD4.

In our Code Halos work, we’re also emphasizing both these attributes (automation to “make processes cheaper, make processes smarter”), but also highlighting UX and interfaces, e.g., “make processes beautiful”.    It is in the mix of these forces that makes Code Halos (and “Smart Machines”) resonate so powerfully.  Layering analytics and “meaning making” on top of the resulting data is where the future lies.

What are the consequences?  What really struck a chord for me was some of the data that Tom presented on the impact on employment as business processes and functions are disrupted.  The “dark side” view is presented in the form of Frey and Osborne’s work at Oxford (Per Frey and Osborne: “About 47% of total U.S. employment is at risk over the next decade or two”).

Arresting to be sure – but is it time to prepare for the Human Zoo just yet?

Per Gartner, what Frey and Osborne’s work doesn’t take into account is that net-new jobs will be created as a result of these trends, and also that current jobs of today will actually be enhanced by the transformation automation through technology brings (in keeping with the “Song of Hope” theme we see in work on Code Halos).   While Gartner’s models DO see a scenario of ~17 percent of “routine”, repeatable tasks being truly disrupted by 2020, they also show that 49% of jobs are patently unaffected, and the remainder actually being ENHANCED by the confluence of automation and analytics.   So, lots to think about there – especially how routine, repeatable business processes will be transformed.

So what’s next? In the short-term, Tom advises keeping on the lookout/engaging with Digital Personal Assistants in the next 2-3 years.  In doing so, he also recommended reviewing a rather compelling video from Apple on the subject, circa early 1990s, showing just how far we’ve come, and still have to go... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bjve67p33E

Robert H. Brown
Global Director, BPS Strategy
Cognizant Center for the Future of Work

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mindset - Strategic Enterprise Mobility and Code Halos

Mindset  - a set of assumptions, methods, or notations held by groups of people that is so established that it creates a powerful incentive within these people or groups to continue to accept prior behaviors, choices, or tools. ~ Wikipedia

More photos are being taken than ever before, but Kodak went bankrupt.  More movies are being watched than ever before but Blockbuster went bankrupt.  More books are being purchased than ever before, but Borders went bankrupt.  Why is Pandora and Spotify so popular?  Why are Google Search Advertising, LinkedIn and Facebook making so much money on advertising when the traditional media and publishing companies struggle?

Kodak had the opportunity to compete in digital photography, digital photo apps and Instagram type social networking sites - but they didn't.  Why?  It's a mindset thing.

Blockbuster had the opportunity to compete in video rentals online, streaming movies/TV shows and setting up social sharing sites like Vimeo, Vine, YouTube, etc. - but they didn't.  Why?  It's a mindset thing.

Blackberry couldn't imagine that users would prefer a larger screen to a physical keyboard.  They thought mobile devices should be reserved for work.  They couldn't imagine a mobile device as a computer or as an entertainment center.  They couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that people would want to browse the Internet using a mobile device.  Why?  It's a mindset thing.

The term Code Halos refers to another mindset.  Here is a definition from my colleagues at The Center for the Future of Work, "Today’s outliers in revenue growth and value creation are winning with a new set of rules. They are dominating by managing the information that surrounds people, organizations, processes and products — what we call Code Halos™."  Did you catch that?  They are dominating by "managing the information that surrounds people, organizations, processes and products."  This is the revenge of the data scientists!

Let's talk about Google.  Google has a very simple UI (user interface), but behind the scenes they are geniuses when it comes to managing the information that surrounds people, organizations, processes and products.  Pandora gives us great music, that we want to listen to, based on information that surrounds us.  Amazon recommends books and movies based upon information that surrounds us and products we have chosen in the past.  They give us an amazingly simple one-click purchasing processes and free shipping based on membership and account information about us.  This experience is addicting.

Google also treats by blog articles differently.  A person new to blogging could copy a blog article of mine and post it on their site.  It would not, however, be treated the same by Google.  Google knows I started blogging in 2006, have over 2,700 articles published mostly on the topics of enterprise mobility and digital transformation and close to 4 million page views in the past 5 years.  They give me a higher "Author Ranking" than a new blogger.  They use all of their collected information to build algorithms to find meaning-making through all the noise on the Internet.  They want to provide the best search results possible for their users.

I get treated differently by Delta, Hertz and Marriott based upon my loyalty, frequent use and past business with them.  I am spoiled and will do silly things to maintain this treatment.  They treat me different, not because of me, but because of the information about me.

In today's world, successful companies will use mobile apps, websites, big data analysis, the Internet of Things and other kinds of GPS tracking solutions, videos, photos, historic preferences and social networking information as sensors to collect information, analyze and find meaning.  Meaning-making is how companies learn how to attract you, keep you and treat you right.

I read an article yesterday, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/02/when-you-fall-in-love-this-is-what-facebook-sees/283865/, that describes how Facebook can recognize relationship patterns of people falling in love and entering a serious relationship.  It was an article capitalizing on Valentine's Day sensitivities.  They can then target particular ads that align with these patterns.  That might seem a big creepy, but when companies do this in the right manner, it just seems thoughtful.  For example, when I land at a connecting airport and turn my iPhone on, I appreciate the Delta app telling me the terminal and gate location of my next flight.  It understands I am traveling, my location, my scheduled flights and gives me context aware information.  It uses the sensors (GPS), my activities, my schedule and my reservation to assist me.  That is a winning formula.

Is your company adopting a "Code Halo" mindset?

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

If You Can't Support Strategic Enterprise Mobility - An Extinction Event Draweth Nigh

It is difficult to solve a problem, if one does not recognize they have it. ~ Master Benedict 

Today that problem is the maturing of enterprise mobility.  Why is that a problem?  Because once the basics of enterprise mobility have been figured out by the market, and I am suggesting most of them have, the focus rapidly shifts to the strategic utilization of enterprise mobility.  When this shift happens, many companies are going to be left behind.  We who work in the Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant call this a "cross-roads" moment leading to an "extinction" event.

Think about enterprise mobility as an electrical grid.  When all the parts from power generation to distribution are finally complete and electricity is available - what happens then?  The answer is nothing until enterprises figure out how to use it to help their business.  Likewise with enterprise mobility.  Just because you can communicate and transmit data to mobile devices does not mean you have achieved anything meaningful or useful.   It is the strategy on how it will be used to the benefit of the business that is meaningful.

When companies get strategic they recognize that mobility is about the following:

• Real-Time (operations, business processes, reporting, analysis and information)
• Speed (of communication, data collection, data and business processes, data analyzing, reporting query results, etc.)
• Insight (context and meaning-making from data)

Can you imagine using a turn-by-turn navigation system with a built-in 60 second delay?  It would be useless because you move much faster than that.  I have experienced this many times.  You jump into a rental car parked in a garage, enter the address to your destination, and exit the building.  The problem, the navigation system takes 4 minutes to find itself.  The cars backed up behind you don't want to wait 4 minutes.  That is not helpful.  Slow and delayed turn-by-turn navigation is worthless.  Likewise, slow and delayed responses from mobile apps and backend systems are not at all helpful.  They can prevent the world's greatest mobile app from being usable.

Companies that are ready to get strategic with enterprise mobility are now realizing that the biggest tasks ahead involve transforming their entire IT infrastructure to support a real-time world.  I recently heard a Forrester Analyst predict that the transformation to a "real-time" and mobile ready infrastructure would match the effort and expense of implementing many ERPs.  

This is a challenge that will be front and center in 2014.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

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 digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.