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

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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.

Mobile Expert Video Series: Tom Thimot

I met up with and interviewed SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) expert Tom Thimot from Cognizant last week in Melbourne, Australia.  He spends his time studying the integration of SMAC and how it is impacting businesses.

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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.

Kevin Benedict’s What’s New in HTML5 – Week of November 11, 2012

There are a lot of companies announcing support for HTML5 this week - especially media related.  However, even with this momentum there remains a great need.  Yesmail reported this week results of a survey that shows 41% of mobile device owners have purchased products as a result of mobile email promotions, but one-third of those emails linked to web pages that were not optimized for mobility.

Now for the news...

The Next Web has launched its new site named TNW: Reader Edition which “focuses on improving readability, mobility and browsability thanks to simplified UI, speed and the wonders of HTML5”.  Read Original Content

According to Chris Heilmann, the debate about the “readiness” of HTML5 is based on a lot of false assumptions and myths.  He addresses these HTML5 myths in the article “HTML5 Mythbusting” on the hacks.mozilla.org website.  Read Original Content

Developer Brian Taylor outlines and describes what he feels are the “Advantages of HTML5 and CSS3” in this article in Business 2 Community.  Read Original Content

CampusTours has launched an update to its Virtual Capitol experience built with HTML5.  Read Original Content

According to HTML5test.com, the Wii U Internet browser has the most comprehensive compatibility with HTML5 of any dedicated game console to date.  Read Original Content

Results of a new survey of app developers from Kendo UI reveal 51 percent of respondents indicate HTML5 is important to their job now, and 31 percent say it will be important to their job within the next 12 months.  Read Original Content

Journalism.co.uk has launched a beta web app built with HTML5. The HTML5 app is a work-in-progress, with functionality such as sharing via social media and bookmarking to be added soon.  Read Original Content

Weejot.com, which uses HTML5, JavaScript, CSS and JQueryMobile, wants to build enthusiasm for app development and programming, so will give Weejot accounts to all students using the service on any campus.  Read Original Content

jqMobi has released the developer preview of HTML5 framework jqMobi version 1.2, which adds support for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.  Read Original Content

Accusoft has announced the release of Prizm Content Connect v6 HTML5 zero-footprint content viewer, optimized to view documents in desktop and mobile web browsers that support HTML5.  Read Original Content

HTML5 based books allow publishers greater control over their content and allow authors to embed the book in their own site to sell copies.  Michael Kozlowski describes “How HTML5 Based Books Will Disrupt the Digital Publishing Sector” in this article in Good E-Reader.  Read Original Content

PurdueSports.com and CBS Sports College Network worked together to create a new HTML5 backup video player, enabling fans of college football and the Purdue University Boilermakers to get their football fix on their mobile devices.  Read Original Content

Social project management platform Wrike has released a native HTML5 web app and Android and iOS apps to keep up with the rising trend of individuals working remotely on their mobile phones.  Read Original Content

To help with CNN’s coverage of the 2012 U.S. Presidential election, B-Reel utilized HTML5 to create an interactive microsite, Campaign Explorer, which runs on CNN’s website and can also run as a Google Chrome application for desktop and tablet devices.  Read Original Content

India's largest online hotel network, Travelguru, has launched a new HTML5-based mobile website.  Read Original Content

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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.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly – Week of November 11, 2012

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile commerce and marketing, mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking, mobile ads and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read SMAC News Weekly

ABI Research believes that more than $100 billion in NFC payments will be processed by 2016. The forecast for the following year is even greater as sales could reach as high as $200 billion. Read Original Content

In a recent report BIA/Kelsey projected U.S. mobile local advertising will reach $5.8 billion in revenue by 2016. Read Original Content

Smartdevices continue to gain momentum and according to Tapjoy’s recent study mobile commerce is expected to globally explode by 300 percent. Read Original Content

Kony is the industry’s leading mobile and multichannel application platform provider. Kony develops a suite of customizable pre-built apps, the KonyOne™ Platform and a comprehensive mobile application management solution, which give companies the confidence and control to quickly build apps once and deploy everywhere -- across all mobile devices and operating systems. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Kony.

Forty percent of shoppers visiting Wal-Mart Stores Inc. electronically this holiday season will do so on a smartphone or a tablet, says Gibu Thomas, senior vice president of mobile and digital strategy. Read Original Content

Starbucks has just announced it is broadening its mobile payments by accepting transactions through Square at approximately 7,000 of its coffee shop location. Read Original Content

This year Deloitte anticipates in-store sales influenced by consumers' smartphone use will account for $36 billion, or 5.1 percent of total holiday retail store sales. Read Original Content

Google recently saw a 20 percent drop in quarterly profit, partly driven by slowing ad-sales growth rates due to a shift to less-profitable mobile ads. Read Original Content

Using Mobile Technologies to Drive Business Visibility

Today, I presented a webinar along with Stewart Hill from ClickSoftware on the latest research I have done on enterprise mobility and how it is improving business visibility and transforming industries.  Here are some of the key topics I covered in the webinar:

• The latest industry numbers and trends
• Situational awareness and enterprise mobility
• Reducing the Fog of War with enterprise mobility
• The use of tactics with enterprise mobility
• Force Multipliers and enterprise mobility
• Force projection and enterprise mobility
• Infonomics and enterprise mobility
• Velocity and enterprise mobility
• The Internet of Things and enterprise mobility
• Social collaboration and enterprise mobility
• SMAC - social, mobile, analytics and cloud and how it is transforming industries

If you did not make it to the live webinar, you can watch the recorded version here - http://www.clicksoftware.com/webinars-using-mobile-technology-to-drive-business-visibility-and-real-time-decision-making.htm.

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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.