TORONTO – When Joseph Bradley is asked if the Internet of Everything is real or if some of the astonishing infrastructure solutions currently deployed are a figment of someone’s fertile imagination he points to a 2014 stat: 24 billion sensors shipped.
Bradley, Cisco’s Internet of Everything chief, was in town for the Cisco Connect event and said this phenomenon is happening today and has led to five core implications on the digital disruption market trend.
They are:
- Innovation is more than ideation;
- Context is king;
- If it doesn’t work on mobile, it doesn’t work;
- Real time is too late; and
- Data is everywhere, insights are scarce.
“Data is everywhere and I can’t wait for the fence to talks to me. The grass needs to be cut; or the fridge to tell me how low I am on something. Isn’t life going to be grand,” Bradley said jokingly.
The speed of innovation and the agility of solution providers to bring meaningful go-to-market solutions that are Internet of Everything specific will be an on-going challenge. Bradley told the story of how he purchased a used Chrysler PT Cruiser for his daughter. It was his child’s first car. She takes it on the freeway and the oil-light comes on in real time, he says. Then the car blows its engine.
“Real time is too late. That oil-light came on in real time, but it’s too late. Today it’s about predictability,” he added.
As an example, breast cancer can be treated if there is early detection. One entrepreneurial solution provider came up with the IT Bra that has sensors inside that measures temperature and can indicate if cancer cells exist. The IT Bra can be managed by a smartphone and the data given directly to a doctor, according to Bradley.
Another major factor is how solution provider can make money from the Internet of Everything. Bradley said that how companies make money will fundamentally change as a result of digital trends.
One example he shared was with CrowdMed, an online service where a person can determine how much his or her medical problem is worth solving. Bradley said if someone spends $1,000 CrowdMed takes 20 per cent and they submits this person’s medical problem to any doctor or even a non-doctor to be paid $800 to solve that problem.
Another issue is the appeal of a frictionless life. Services such as Apple Pay have made it easier for people to acquire goods or services with the added protection of security over a credit card.
The Internet of Everything is about People, Process, Data and Things. “That reads like some nice marketing stuff. The way it comes off the tongue it’s like a brochure. It doesn’t really mean anything. Those four simple words deal with digital disruption and today you have to make sure you are not NetFlix’ed or Uberized,” Bradley said.
Bradley suggests that solution providers should ask themselves what problem am I trying to solve?
For example, on average 30 per cent of traffic is caused by people looking for free parking spaces. Usually, Bradley claims, cities look at raising taxes to ease this burden, which no-one likes. Instead connected parking metres could improve traffic flow, while adding more revenue to the city by analysing the data from those metres. A parking metre can indicate the rate of absorption of that space. Services such as reserving your parking space in advance can be offered.
“Once I know that data piece then I can price parking dynamically. That’s why we say people, process, data and things,” he said.
