Circa 1990s…the introduction of pagers, Palm Pilots, and BlackBerry to the mobile workforce became an unprecedented rage. Next to come was the era of exchanging e-mail and voice mail, which created a huge impact on the mobile work force. Back then, how many of us would have imagined smartphones and tablets creating the next global communication renaissance! Cut to present date, the phenomenal advancements in technology we are witnessing is creating a profound and ripple impact on a wide cross-section of the audience – across industry sectors, geographies, and professionals. In effect, professionals across industries – be it an equipment service engineer, a real estate agent, a taxi driver or a medical professional – are constantly looking out for devices, solutions and systems to further enable their professional capabilities and success rates.
Let’s deliberate on a few such scenarios. A field service professional would most likely prefer to remotely diagnose any system to get a hang of the issue and prepare him before reaching the field, while in the field he or she will need access to various systems at the office, software tools, and the provision to upload or download data for others to review or store details or update software in the field etc. A cab driver would benefit by learning the nature of traffic conditionson the route, alternative route management, optimized scheduling of cabs for client pick-ups, cab-sharing, direct reservations avoiding central scheduler, monitoring of cab movement/position, surveillance of rash/negligent driving, location-based advertising for customers, etc. Likewise, a medical professional can learn about a new patient while being called for duty, can access the patient’s history, remotely monitor the patient or guide him on the initial procedures or preparation or even get event alerts from his current patients etc.
The above scenarios have to be facilitated by the interplay of hardware and software solutions. All devices that are part of the ecosystem should be connected to the external world, while being able to capture and deliver required details and/or perform tasks by receiving commands. This interconnectivity of devices and remote access to required data is growing stronger and is getting more popular with phrases such as the Internet of Things (IOT), Internet of Everything (IOE), Intelligent Systems etc. In fact, Cisco estimates (based on their recent study) that over the next 10 years, the Internet of Everything will create a whopping $14.4 trillion of “value at stake” – which is essentially the combination of increased revenues and lower costs that is created or will migrate among companies and industries. This figure includes a massive $613 billion projection in potential global corporate profits in 2013!
While these described smart devices are able to uniquely identify and represent them virtually on the Internet, there has to be a medium to host the software applications and to thereafter store and share the data. The evolution of Cloud computing and Cloud services can easily address the need. As opposed to traditional web-based services, cloud computing provides numerous benefits – like scalability, infrastructure availability that facilitates data compression, security, backup schedule, on-demand computing cycle, storage, and application development platforms.
A depiction of the Internet of Everything (IOE) Product Engineering Services will play a key-role in transpiring this paradigm shift and provide greater benefits to end users who demand access and convenience of working remotely. The Internet of things (IOT) and Cloud Computing will be the two technology paradigms that would be the centrepiece for Product Engineering Services for now and in the foreseeable future. The combination of these two technology paradigms is bound to increase real time access to systems and data that were hitherto available only inside the office or work area. This would also improve process automation extensively, by transferring the process monitoring and control to end users anytime, anywhere. It would usher in a seamless confluence of devices, people, processes and data into the networked connections and make it even more valuable. This growth will not be limited just to an enhanced work experience for the workforce; with increase and advancement in the role of sensors, we can witness smarter machines that will connect with people as well as other machines through Internet and cloud to enable quick decisions and greater process control.
Many of these devices would require an accessory to get connected to the Internet, if not supported already. The firmware/software on these devices needs to support remote queries and/or remotely perform any tasks requested by the user. This demand for updating devices is apt across sectors where embedded systems are in play – such as medical devices, industrial process control and monitoring systems, test & measurement devices, data capture and metering devices, vending machines, kiosks, remote stations, security systems, automotive vehicles, smart machineries, peripheral devices etc.
Likewise, all the data gathered by various devices and systems have to be saved and shared through cloud services for additional/advanced analysis, computation, to gather business intelligence data and to generate reports or to update dashboards. Knowledge in the devices, connectivity, media interfaces, data management, predictive analysis, mobility, and infrastructure management would become crucial to design, develop, validate, and deploy these systems successfully. With the above need, unlike a traditional player, a new-age Product Engineering Services team will need to expand its role and support more functions, moving beyond mere product development activities.
This revolution of turning data and information into actions can create new capabilities as well as improved efficiency in handling things, also enabling better experiences and a greater economic opportunity for businesses. In other words, companies that invest in this connectivity era and harness the combined potential of the Internet of Things and Cloud Computing are certain to reap incremental revenues. These technology adaptations would eventually lead to greater value creation and delivery – in terms of employee productivity, work efficiency and increased customer satisfaction. Industry sectors like manufacturing, retail, logistics, finance, and health care are more likely than the rest to witness rapid growth on this front.
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