Article published previously on Wapice's IoT-TICKET -product's blog.
Companies have collected data from their systems and products for centuries trying to improve product development and to gain additional value. In the past years the Internet era and Internet of Things (IoT) have introduced more possibilities since virtually any device, any data source and any type of data have become accessible. But with new possibilities also new challenges arise: volume, velocity and variety of the data. These challenges are tackled with Big Data enabled databases and techniques. But these are just technical obstacles which can be solved by a group of engineers. The actual question is, however, how should the data be utilized and visualized so that companies get actual value for their investments to IoT system? The fact is that companies are under constant pressure to increase their income by service based solutions and new business models. This means that the IoT system needs to have powerful tools for data visualization, analysis and reports. This was the baseline when developing and designing the IoT-Ticket Dashboard, web-based tool for end users.
The IoT-Ticket Dashboard offers versatile tools for the end user. User can create dashboard views, reports and analytics with drag-and-drop based interface designer and data-flow editor, both integrated in the Dashboard. The interface designer includes ready-to-use UI components that can be used in the UI layout. In turn, the data-flow editor can be used to create the logic and data modification behind the UI components. Everything is done in a web browser and no extra tools are needed to work with the huge amount of collected data. Thus the Dashboard enables rapid user interface, report and analytics creation and deployment without the need for tailoring! This means drastically decreasing the costs since everything can be done by the user. At the same time new service concepts can be deployed at light speed.
Even though IoT-Ticket offers all the needed tools for companies to get their Internet of Things strategy started, some might need a helping hand on how to utilize it - the key question is: What service can be offered to their customers so that they are willing to pay for it? Of course the answer depends on the business area but here are couple of good starting points:
- Reports: Show your customers how their system or machine performance and efficiency can be improved. Sell reports to your customer and use them to improve your knowledge of your own system. Reports can be triggered by alarm, by certain interval or by hand.
- Maintenance: Show alarms from the system and send notifications via SMS or email to all the needed personnel. Automatically order service when needed. Proactive maintenance and early detection: when there is enough history data in the databases then analytics can be utilized to predict if something is going to break soon. Fast response time: Once a condition is noticed it is very fast to respond by taking control to the remote site and resolving the issue fast.
- Be proactive: Know where your machines and devices are and proactively schedule service, maintenance or replacement activities. This way you can maintain a good connection to your customers while managing your sales force more efficiently.
- Ecosystem: Integrate all your systems and devices under the IoT-Ticket Dashboard. This way all the modern user interfaces can be utilized in every area of your business. This makes maintenance much easier and cost efficient.
With the kind of use cases presented above, companies are starting to see the benefits of being part in the Internet of Things world. We provide the platform to enable and leverage your service business.