The Race for Sensors to Supply Big Data and Enterprise Mobility

Today's competitive marketplace requires companies to collect more data, analyze more data and utilize more data to improve customer interactions and engagements.  Mobile devices are exceptionally designed to assist in this effort.  Apple's iPhone comes with an inventory of sensors:

• Touch
• Voice
• GPS
• Proximity
• Ambient Light
• Accelerometer
• Magnetometer
• Gyroscopic

I listened to an IT expert in the CIA give a presentation on how they could use the sensors on a typical smartphones to uniquely identify the walking style and pace of individuals.  For example, the intelligence agency may suspect a person carrying a phone is a bad guy.  They can remotely switch on the smartphone's sensors and record the walking style and pace of the person carrying the phone and match it with their database records.  SCARY ISN'T IT!?

Those are just a few of the sensors available that integrate the physical world with the digital.  Read this article I wrote to learn more about the incredible capabilities of sensors.

Mobile apps can also be considered the API (application programming interface) between humans and smartphones.  For example, a mobile application for recommending local restaurants may start by asking the user what kind of food they prefer.  The human queries their stomach, and then inputs the results into their mobile app by touching the keypad or using their voice.  Suddenly a server in an Amazon data center knows your stomach's inputs!  That is one powerful sensor and API!  Given the vast array of sensors in the human body incredible things can be done once those sensor inputs are digitized.

Although there are many powerful sensors in the human body the API is still the human's touch, typing or voice.  The emergence of wearable sensors and smart devices are a way to try to automate the process of data collection so humans are not required to take time and effort to input the data.

Sensors are also connected to the non-physical.  Sensors can connect with time.  Once time reaches a specified place, a digital alarm can go off striking your physical ear with sound waves.  That is making the non-physical inputs, physical.

The challenge for businesses today is to envision how all of these sensors and available real-time data can be used to improve customer service, product design, marketplace interactions and engagements so there are more profits at the end of the day.  

In the book Digital Disruptions, James McQuivey writes that for most of history, disruptions (business and marketplace transformations) occurred in a physical world of factories and well-trod distribution networks.  However, the disruptions of tomorrow are likely coming from digital disruptions - sensors, code halos, big data and mobile devices and wearables.

The task and challenge of every IT department is to understand and design a strategy that recognizes that the competitive playing fields of tomorrow are among the digits.

***Have you seen the new Mobile Solution Directory here http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

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

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Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

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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.

Strategic Enough to Matter, Code Halos and Mobile Apps

Gartner IT Budget Forecast

If a massive herd of elephants were charging at you from 20 meters away, would taking a small step forwards or backwards improve your safety? NO!  In many situations it seems that is how companies are approaching mobile strategies.  They are staring massive marketplace transformation in the face, but responding by just starting a few mobile app POCs (proof of concepts).

In James McQuivey's book titled, Digital Disruption:Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation, he states that competition in business is rapidly moving to a focus on knowledge of and engagement with customers.  Companies are developing an understanding of "code halos" (their customers' digital footprint or history of activities on the web, at a location and in various database systems) and they must now use this data to better engage with customers through their customers' "engagement format of choice" which is increasingly on a mobile device.

Finding, integrating and using a person's "code halo" represents a lot of work for an IT organization.  It takes strategy, budgets, resources and planning. It takes more than a small step as suggested in my earlier anecdote.   This is the kind of thing the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) needs to be taking up with the CEO and CIO.

In the latest technology budget forecasts I have seen from Gartner (see chart above), more of the technology budget is being shifted to the business and/or marketing department, while the IT budget remains relatively flat.  I believe this suggests many companies "get it."  They understand their ability to stay competitive in the face of Amazon, Apple, Google and eBay, etc.,  just to name a few of today's digital disruptors, depends on their ability to effectively collect, analyze and utilize "code halos" and engage with their customers and markets on a mobile device.

When it comes to enterprise mobility and mobile apps - Get strategic and get competitive before it is too late!!!

***Have you seen the NEW mobile solution directory here http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

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

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

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Enterprise Mobility and the Gift of Time

McCall, Idaho - Winter Wonderland

I was standing next to a grizzled old man (definition: anyone older than me that can grow a beard), at the coffee shop today.  He said he had been standing in lines all day.  I said, "Makes you appreciate smartphones, doesn't it?"  He agreed and added they save me so much time!

That comment is a perfect example of "blogger's inspiration!"  I said, "What do you mean by - "It saves you so much time?"  He said his work is closely tied to the weather.  He runs snow removal services in beautiful McCall, Idaho.  As a result, he must carefully monitor the weather including wind direction, precipitation forecasts and the beginnings and endings of storms.  He can now do all of this precisely from his smartphone.  He said he is absolutely more productive.

He went on to say, "I want to start working at the tail-end of a storm to maximize my productivity and customer services."  If he starts work too early his work will be covered by snow and he will have too remove it again, adding expense and delaying his work for other customers.  If he starts too late, he will have dissatisfied customers."  He uses his smartphone constantly in the winter to maximize his productivity.

Enterprise mobility solutions can provide all kinds of "gifts of time" to employers and employees.   From simple collaboration with colleagues, prospects and customers using your smartphone for voice, SMS, Skype or Google+ instead of traveling to a face-to-face, navigating quickly and accurately to a destination or to collect data in the field that is integrated with back-office systems.  There are all kinds of ways time can be saved by utilizing mobile technologies.

In recent decades productivity gains in manufacturing have been driven through better processes and process automations, automated data collections, advances in SCM (supply chain management), logistics and ERPs.  Today, there are even more productivity gains to be had in each of these areas by using mobile technologies to improve real-time visibility into events, processes, statuses, locations, resources and snow fall!

Have you reviewed my new Mobile Solution Directory at http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

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

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

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Mobile Expert Video Interviews: Regev Yativ

I had the privilege of interviewing Regev Yativ, the CEO/President in the Americas of Magic Software this week.  Magic Software is over 30 years old, which gives them a unique and interesting perspective on enterprise mobility and what makes a good solution and mobile strategy.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uAWK2RlZPQ&feature=share

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

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Satellites, GPS Tracking, Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Technologies

My good friend J.D. Axford, a civil engineer and hero of all ducks for his wetlands work, sent me a very interesting (if you are into GPS tracking, GIS, mobile technology, artificial intelligence, accelerometers, etc.) article he wrote on how the physical is meeting the digital in the world of construction and engineering today.  I am including it here for your pleasure and education.

Compaction, in heavy construction, is the application of energy to soil, crushed rock, or asphalt to increase density by driving out air, which enables the finished, compacted material to support buildings, roadways, and other structures. Compaction is specified as a percentage of the maximum dry density determined in the lab.

During construction, compaction is most often measured using a nuclear densitometer. Other reliable methods include the use of sand cone (ASTM D-1556) and rubber balloon (ASTM D-2167) methodologies; less formal tests used in the field include soil probes (a pointed steel rod pushed into the ground to gage penetration resistance and therefore estimate compaction), proof-rolling with loaded dump trucks while observing deflection, and even boot-heels. These all are necessarily spot-checks; consistency is sought by controlling the compaction process.  This requires the roller operator’s ability to track speed and passes over each section while estimating compaction, leading to both over- and under-compaction. Near-constant inspection is usually needed, and even so, compaction is a frequent source of job site disagreement.

Intelligent compaction (IC) is a system growing in use which combines on-board GPS, computers, and axle-mounted accelerometers to provide continuously-controlled compaction. The accelerometers measure stiffness, and indirect measurement of density, and feed that information to the computer, which uses GPS to produce a color-coded map of the working area; the colors are used to provide an intuitive depiction of areas already meeting specifications, and those needing more compaction. For asphalt work, IC systems (there are approximately eight US equipment vendors developing and selling IC), infrared sensors measure (and the computer maps) the asphalt temperature, a critical data set in ensuring timely compaction as the material cools.

As is normal, a test zone is compacted at the start of the overall compaction effort to determine the number of passes and speed the material requires to meet specifications. That information is entered into the on-board IC system as the baseline against which future work areas are compared and mapped. This eliminates guesswork, eliminates overwork, and improves the homogeneity of the finished product, saving money for the contractor and improving the service life of the compacted product.

Intelligent compaction, requires mobile technologies, GPS tracking and artificial intelligence to calculate all kinds of accelerometer and speed data, location and project requirements.  This is another example of how the physical is meeting the digital and improving processes.  You can learn more about how artificial intelligence is being integrated into field services by ClickSoftware here.

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

View Linkedin Profile

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.