Digital transformation continues to be important as companies of all sizes modernize their operations. For large organizations, "becoming digital" is a complex effort that involves technology and business process changes together with adopting new mindsets, business models, and corporate cultures.Given all these components, we can hardly overstate the complexity of genuine digital transformation. MUST READInfrastructure and energy giant, ABB, is currently undertaking a large-scale program of digital transformation. With $36 billion in revenue and 135,000 employees, the company is driving change across its large portfolio of operations. The firm traces its founding back to 1883.ABB describes its offering within two value propositions: "bringing electricity from power plant to plug" and "automating industries from natural resources to finished products." These broad points cover the extensive scope of the company's operations.To explore ABB's transformation, I spoke with the company's … [Read more...] about Digital transformation and the industrial internet of things at energy giant ABB (CxOTalk interview)
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5G and 4IR has unleashed the Internet of Things
It is that time of year again. Soon the great and the good will converge on Barcelona for the annual shindig that is Mobile World Congress. Regulars to the event would have observed how over the past few years MWC has evolved from its primarily mobile focus to its mobile ‘everywhere’ message. In fact, the key theme this year is “intelligent connectivity”. The three letters ‘IoT’ will be plastered everywhere at the conference.Ten years have passed since the birth of the Internet of Things (IoT), defined by Cisco as ‘the point in time when more ‘things or objects’ were connected to the internet than people’. Since then, its growth has showed no sign of slowing. According to forecasts by IDC, worldwide spending on IoT is expected to reach $745 billion this year, a 15 per cent increase on last year and, by maintaining such growth, is likely to surpass $1 trillion by 2022. This year, the number of connected ‘things or … [Read more...] about 5G and 4IR has unleashed the Internet of Things
The other kind of Java: How coffee is getting a jolt from the Internet of Things
When Roasting Plant founder Mike Caswell worked at Starbucks, his job was increasing efficiency for a chain that had to compete with fast food outlets like McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. When he decided to create his own automatic coffee roasting system and put it in coffee stores, one of which has just opened in London, it was more about getting quality by the judicious application of automation. There's an element of theatre to the coffee roastery in every Roasting Plant store; it's like the way that the Smitten nitrogen ice cream stores in Silicon Valley show off the tanks and pipes that deliver the nitrogen that both stirs and freezes your portion of ice cream on demand. You can't help but think of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory; transparent cylinders of single origin green beans feed through vacuum tubes into the Javabot coffee roaster where they're tossed like popping popcorn throughout the roasting cycle (anything from 8 to 15 minutes depending on the beans, the … [Read more...] about The other kind of Java: How coffee is getting a jolt from the Internet of Things
Bringing together blockchain, internet of things and artificial intelligence: Turning Skynet into reality
The events of annus horribilis 2008 changed the world forever. The change was dubbed the "New Normal" and in turn gave rise to shifts in economic and political power which would have been considered the stuff of fantasy fiction as 2008 came to a close.Fast forward 10 years. Shifts in the financial tectonic plates apart, we have seen the rise and rise of social media as the facilitator of both social and political change, the migration of computing power from deskbound PCs and laptops to mobile devices and data migrating from earth-bound hard disks to the cloud. Social media, mobile and cloud have now become the new technological norm and while all three will continue to flourish and develop, the next 10 years will see technological innovation dominated by three new additions to the line-up of defining digital technologies. They are Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things.It is worth noting that each of these technologies have been around for quite a while, at … [Read more...] about Bringing together blockchain, internet of things and artificial intelligence: Turning Skynet into reality
BlackBerry wants to make the internet of things safe for you
In case you missed it, smart home devices are vulnerable to hackers. Experts have been warning us for years that smart devices aren't so smart when it comes to security, showing us how easily a car, a doll or a security camera could be hacked. And hackers have done their best to prove the cybersecurity experts right -- from yelling at a baby through an internet-connected baby monitor to using vulnerable security camera systems to cripple the web's infrastructure.BlackBerry is betting we've had enough and are ready to spend a little extra on safer products. Yes, that BlackBerry. On Sunday, the smartphone maker launched three products designed to make internet-connected devices more secure from hacking. It plans to license the products to companies making internet-of-things devices like smart light bulbs, refrigerators and TVs as well as devices used in factories. Products that've integrated the BlackBerry tech will bill themselves as BlackBerry Secure. It's part of BlackBerry's … [Read more...] about BlackBerry wants to make the internet of things safe for you