For many businesses, the events of 2020 changed their perceptions of what technology could do for them. Reticence gave way to receptiveness and enthusiasm as senior management saw their teams were able to work effectively and maintain high levels of performance productivity by using communications software and collaboration tools.
The drivers for the adoption of new technology vary from business to business, according to Three Ireland M2M and IoT sales manager Myles Gardiner. "They can be operational, such as gaining efficiency or removing costs. Or they can be strategic, like increasing customer engagement or targeting sales opportunities. Just as people have adapted to working from home, businesses that adapt to the new dynamic will succeed better than those that don't."
These businesses now understand that technology can be the lever to deliver change and lasting benefits, he adds. “With so many technologies for businesses to choose from, there is a strong case that one of them should involve the internet of things (IoT). Business thrives on knowledge and understanding operations better. The way to gain this understanding is with data. And a great way to get good data is with IoT.”
IoT sensors can measure activity in almost any part of a business, whether that’s machinery in a factory, or lighting in an office, or goods in transit, according to Gardiner. “Having up-to-date information about how an asset is operating, or where it is located, is knowledge that can help businesses to make better decisions.”
Daisy chain
One company that has changed its business through IoT is EI Electronics in Shannon. The firm has been in business for 30 years employing more than 500 people in the supply of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitors, mainly into the UK social housing market. The alarms are high-end products designed to last for up to 15 years. The units work on a daisy chain, which means an alarm going off in the kitchen triggers the other alarms in the same area.
“EI Electronics developed a product, the SmartLINK gateway, that tracks each alarm’s performance wirelessly,” Gardiner explains. “It can tell if one of the alarm systems has a low battery or is not performing the way it should. It can alert the customer to send engineers to change the batteries or replace the unit before it breaks down. This feature, made possible by IoT, saves councils from having to organise out-of-hours repairs, and avoids alarms triggering to signal a fault and doesn’t disrupt the people living in the homes.”
The incorporation of IoT has not only improved the product but changed EI’s business model. Instead of the sale being the end of the transaction, the monitoring capability delivers a recurring revenue stream.
Improved cost efficiency is another key benefit of IoT. “It replaces the work of a person who would have to carry out manual checks and record the findings,” says Gardiner. “Sensors capture this information digitally without any human intervention, so there can be a significant resource saving.
“Another advantage of IoT is how its data can give a picture of trends over time,” he points out. “Depending on where the sensors are installed, or what information they have been programmed to capture, the data they collect can give an early indication if the equipment has started working differently or consuming more power, which could be a sign that it needs maintenance. Something as apparently trivial as vibrations on a motor could be a leading indicator about the health of the machine it’s powering when that information is captured through small monitoring devices and aggregated on a software platform.”
He cites the example of a production line going down because the motor wasn’t serviced in time. “Instead, the business can schedule maintenance before the equipment breaks down, saving money and downtime. Now, with IoT sensors and the data they provide, businesses have a way to identify issues before they become serious problems.”
He believes the hunger for this data is going to increase. “Maybe it’s because we are living through uncertain times, but my theory is that businesses want the certainty of hard numbers and quantifiable data, now more than ever. Otherwise, as the saying goes, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’. With IoT, you can now uncover knowledge that you didn’t have before. And with Three, companies can have the confidence they are working with the largest IoT provider in Ireland.”