The 18th annual PwC CEO survey of 1,322 corporate leaders in 77 countries, conducted between September and December 2014, found an overwhelming proportion are embarking on digital transformation initiatives to respond to escalating customer demands and intensifying competitive pressures.

However, many are taking different paths to achieve their corporate objectives, and failing to recognize how their digital transformation, Internet of Things and cloud computing efforts are actually interrelated.

While the variance between these rankings could be considered insignificant, it could lead to bigger issues if the corporate executives and their underlings perceive the IoT and cloud as separate technology trends from digital transformation and mobile communications. This misconception could have serious consequences and even create fundamental flaws in a digital transformation process.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in E-Commerce Times regarding why these initiatives should be coordinated and the risks associated with pursuing … Read More »

Nearly everyone agrees the Internet of Things will create unprecedented business opportunities that will dramatically change the way almost every industry operates. There is also universal agreement that the IoT will force organizations to rethink the fundamental nature of their products and services.

One company that has become a leader in the rapidly evolving IoT market and is bravely facing the challenges associated with the transformation process is PTC. It has recognized that a different type of product and service design process is required to fulfill the promise of IoT.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ perspectives regarding the industry implications of PTC’s aggressive initiatives to capitalize on the IoT marketplace in E-Commerce Times.

Last December, my APMdigest prediction for 2015 was,

“The advent of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) will elevate the importance of implementing powerful, easy-to-use and cost-effective APM (Application Performance Management) solutions as a rapidly expanding universe of end-points are connected by software-enabled sensors and systems. The new generation of APM solutions will have to contend with an exponentially greater number of connections, transactions and data points. The APM solutions will also have to span Cloud and on-premise applications which will be linked together in the IoT environment. The task of implementing and administering the APM solutions will increasingly be performed by highly specialized, third-party service providers.”

Less than halfway through the new year and we’re seeing the market activity around IoT opportunities accelerate. Not only are the number of ‘things’ currently and expected to be connected growing exponentially, but the types of … Read More »

Everyone is talking about the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), but few organizations are getting very far in capitalizing on the exciting new market opportunities created by IoT because they lack a designated executive leader responsible for spearheading their IoT initiatives. Capitalizing on current and future IoT opportunities depends on pulling together numerous technological components and assembling them to achieve a number of corporate objectives. This is a significant undertaking. It can require a technological supply-chain extending from remotely deployed sensors; numerous mobile, desktop and enterprise software applications; a variety of databases; and multiple cloud services.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in Datamation about why enterprises should establish a new Chief IoT Officer position to lead their efforts in this rapidly growing marketplace.

Despite past predictions of the “disintermediation” of the channel due to the advent of the cloud, the opportunity to unlock big data and capitalize on the Internet of Things (IoT) via the cloud is actually creating plenty of new business possibilities for value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators (SIs) and other channel companies.

However, as in other segments of the IT industry, the biggest channel players face the toughest challenges responding to the rapidly changing cloud marketplace.

One major channel company that embraces the brave, new world of the IoT is Arrow Electronics. I recently attended the company’s IoT Immersions conference in Boston and was impressed with the format of the event, size of the turnout and vision of the company.

Read THINKstrategies’ perspectives regarding the market implications of Arrow Electronics’ IoT strategies and solutions in Sandhill.com at http://sandhill.com/article/how-arrow-electronics-is-channeling-iot-big-data-and-cloud-opportunities/.

The idea of the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) has gained a lot of attention over the past year, but it’s impact on the IT function has not been fully recognized. Although every technology shift of the past has reshaped the IT function, none has fundamentally redefined the role of IT like the IoT will do over the coming years.

What sets IoT apart from the IT function of the past is that hardware and software is now being embedded into a company’s products and services to give the lines of business (LoBs) unprecedented insight into how their products and services are being used by customers so they can better serve current customers and develop new products/services to win new customers.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ perspectives regarding the IT implications of this phenomenon in Datamation.

In my previous commentary in Sandhill.com, I identified four levels of value that can be derived from the rapidly evolving Internet of Things (IoT). In THINKstrategies’ latest post in Sandhill.com, I provide a real-world example of how traditional product companies can redefine their business by capitalizing on the data produced by their products via the cloud.

en-Gauge Inc. is a family-owned business based in Rockland, Mass., which manufactures pressure gauges for safety devices such as fire extinguishers and defibrillators. Over the past 40 years since its founding, en-Gauge’s products evolved from mechanical gauges to digital gauges. The company recently introduced a new generation of sensor-based, cloud-connected gauges that will significantly change the nature of the company’s business.

Click here to read how en-Gauge’s move to the IoT via the Cloud is fundamentally changing the nature of the company’s business and exponentially expanding its addressable … Read More »

Only a small number of forward-thinking business executives see the opportunities created by the cloud in today’s Internet of Things (IoT) marketplace. However, in the not too distant future, delivering information services powered by connected products and enabled by the cloud will become a necessity to survive in nearly every industry, as customer demands for data-driven insights escalate.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in E-Commerce Times about how enlightened companies can transform their businesses by capitalizing on the Cloud to leverage Big Data in an increasingly connected world.

Few technology trends have captured the imagination of the consumer and corporate sectors to the same extent as the Internet of Things (IoT). The possibilities created by a universe of connected products and services seem infinite, but categorizing the potential benefits for businesses and other institutions will generally fall into four important areas.

Click here to read THINKstrategies’ latest guest commentary in Sandhill.com regarding the four primary business benefits that can be derived from IoT deployments.

You can also click here to find video recordings of the keynote presentations and panel discussions regarding IoT at THINKstrategies’ Connected Cloud Summit last September 18 in Boston.

This past week’s International CES brought even greater attention to the seemingly infinite opportunities being created by the rapidly evolving Internet of Things. However, it also created plenty of hype that can become pitfalls for companies that are not properly prepared to achieve the promise of the IoT. Click here to read THINKstrategies’ views in E-Commerce Times regarding the 10 steps IT organizations must take to help their corporate counterparts convert their IoT dreams into successful initiatives that produce measurable and meaningful business benefits.