In December 2016, we partnered with IDC to try and see if there was a link between companies deploying new digital technologies and those companies which as a result of deploying disruptive tech are having to restructure their supply chains. Because if they do restructure or transform their supply chains then it means they will likely need a partner to manage their B2B while they focus on the transformation. Thinking of this value prop as being similar to ERP from a focus on core competencies point of view.
We surveyed 250 companies across the auto, tech, mfg, retail and CPG sectors in the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Japan, NA and Canada
Q5a Identify progress with each of the following digital transformation efforts in your supply chain today
Q5b Identify the progress with each of the following digital transformation efforts in your supply chain that you would anticipate in 3 years
Q6B4. IoT (Use of sensors) - Please indicate whether or not you actually accomplished or realized tangible benefits for each goal related to digital transformation efforts for Internet of Things within your organizations supply chain
Q6B4. IoT (Use of sensors) - Please indicate whether or not you actually accomplished or realized tangible benefits for each goal related to digital transformation efforts for Internet of Things within your organizations supply chain
Q7. With specific regard to the internet of things (IoT), and the use of sensors, what type of supply chain processes (or use cases )would provide the most benefit for your organization?
So how did IoT evolve, well firstly the technology is not as new as you might think. A British researcher by the name of Kevin Ashton actually coined the term internet of things back in 1999 while working at the AutoID research centre in North America. It wasn’t until 2013 that Cisco rejuvenated the market by introducing the Internet of Everything. GE introduced the industrial internet the same year and Industry 4.0 started to enter the European market, especially in Germany. In 2015 Japan introduced the Industrial value chain initiative and China introduced Internet Plus.
So at the moment we seem to be struggling to introduce a standard name for the technology but in general they really achieve the same thing, namely “Any machine or device connected (via fixed wire or wireless communication) to the internet & being able to transmit information in one form or another”
Clearly there are still some issues with IoT, securing end points for example, establishing suitable networks to connect these devices and then developing global standards to allow information from these connected devices to be seamlessly exchanged with enterprise business systems. But as with other technologies, new standards bodies are emerging around the world to help drive some of these standardisation requirements.
So referring back to one of Benoit’s earlier slides, these are the five key components that make up an IoT platform. What I would like to do is overlay how OpenText can potentially support an IoT platform
Firstly device management, now there are many companies that offer edge connectivity or provide an interface to extract information off of a connected device. From our point of view we can provide tools to design web portals to allow users to remotely login in to connected devices and configure or change settings on the device
Then we have information management, now to date we have focused on sensor based information coming off of connected devices, but what about other forms of structured and unstructured information?, photographs, video files and other types of managing that will need transporting back to a central information management platform. This information would then be archived for future use
Sensor based information may need be analysed and our embedded analytics offering can actually be embedded onto the actual connected device. Trigger events such as those described earlier can then be used to initiate other business processes
Then there is the any to any integration capabilities, from integrating to internal enterprise systems such as ERP through to seamless connectivity to an external trading partner community
Then you must ensure that information is aligned and flowing to specific business processes, so business process management will become important and finally there is security of the IoT platform and ensuring that only recognised or registered users can get access to the platform.
Enterprise Information Management is a set of methods and technologies that help customers to maximize the value of their information while minimizing its risks.
A sensor on a hydraulic brake system detects a problem with a cooling pump
This information is sent via a telematics link to the nearest train maintenance depot
The information is also sent up to Industry4.0 platform
HQ then connects into the OT cloud and then onto our analytics platform (Magellan) to analyse the best course of action to either repair or order a replacement part
In order for Magellan to determine the best course of action, it takes input from passenger travel analysis, rolling stock running hours, historical hydraulic brake failure rates, hydraulic brake maintenance schedules, then it suggests a course of action-
Maintenance pattern – should we decrease inspection intervals?
Supplier quality – did a defective charge slip through inspections?
Supplier improvement – can the pump design be improved to reduce future failures?
Proactive observation – checking water temperature levels more often with telematics in order to find a tell tale increase before the unit seizes and self-destructs.
Aggregating these four pieces of information will then determine the best course of action to take
Then either the field maintenance engineers will get secure access via IAM to the digital model of the train hosted in the OpenText Cloud and then determine how to repair
Or if the part cannot be repaired the maintenance engineer remotely logs in, securely via IAM, to the OT Trains parts ordering portal on the BN and the part is shipped by 3PL out to the train maintenance depot for replacement.
With 25 years of experience in the Software industry, not only we are the leader in the Enterprise Information Management space; OpenText is also leader in key areas of the Information Flow such as Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Business Networks (BN) and Digital Asset Management (DAM).
Our LTM revenue + the anticipated annualized revenues of recently completed acquisitions, and reflective of historical annualized revenue from Dell-EMC’s ECD business is ~$2.8B.
This is sustained by a large installed base of >100,000 customers, by the domain expertize of our ~ 12,000 employees and our >100 applications, products and solutions organized in 6 product pillars: Experience, Business Network, Process, Content, Discovery and Analytics.
Why?
Focus on your core – this is hard work, 3 Cs
Lower cost – 80% in labor
Accelerate time to market / time to revenue
Deliver improved / differentiated services – easier to do business with
Operational efficiency = lower cost/focus on core
Accelerate time to market
Insight to optimize processes, minimize risk
Consolidate and secure IX
Customer satisfaction