Stuck in the traffic and want to postpone the meeting with your colleagues without sending out an email in the middle of the honking spree? What if a bot could do it for you based on the prior instructions aided by GPS? Cannot figure out which song suits your mood today? But your body vibrations and energy associated with it can get captured by your car to play your favorite track for the motivation that even you did not know you needed today! Imagine inside every room of your home a different song is blasting on the same speaker connected via an audio bridge (Home automation HiFi wireless system)! Imagine your printer knows how many papers you need to order as per your daily use and places the order on Amazon.

All this and a lot more with a chip. (Not a human bot, but a human turned into a subject with a chip, maybe.) And every interconnected thing starts making magic, which is the fascination of every third-grader! Now, smart cities, smart harvesting, smart locks, smart eyes, intelligent systems, or even the devices send notifications. With the advent of smart digital, things like manually checking the air pressure in your car tires are on the path of becoming obsolete in 10 years.

It is what AI, ML, IoT, and big data can do. These technology building blocks accelerate the pace of digital transformation and will create new experiences that will invent new things, reinvent old ones, and burn useless stuff to the ground. To put in a layperson’s terms, IoT is a system of interconnected things over a network that consists of four key elements:

• Sensors that capture data, e.g., movement, location, temperature, among others
• A network that sends data to processing devices or platforms
• Data analysis software that generates an in-depth understanding of complex instructions contained in the data
• Service platforms that convert these instructions to actionable items or actions.

Thinking about IoT as a few billion dollars industry or a smartwatch tracking your steps and your heart rate is surface knowledge only. Irrespective of the exponential pace at which this industry is growing, IoT’s use cases are somewhat out of this world. Quite frankly, these use cases look even more interesting than Musk’s way of tackling ‘population collapse’ and saving Earth’s resources by colonizing Mars. (Even Doge lovers would agree that Doge barking on the moon is probably too much.)

Right now, there are more than 12 billion IoT devices in the world, which is roughly 1.7 IoT devices per person, and 94% of the worldwide businesses currently using them will make this number go skyrocketing. If we are to put a price tag on this technology, then it is imperative we mention that roughly 1.1 trillion USD will get spent on IoT devices in the year 2023, which is higher than the combined GDP of more than 100 of the poorest countries in the world.

When big money is involved, everything looks swanky: 5G, IoT, AI, and whatnot! It is true that these new-age technologies will create innovation for the masses; they will make luxury accessible and create a future that looks promising from every corner. It is only a matter of time when Indian PM Modi’s extraordinary comparison between per km rates of Ahmedabad taxis and Mangalyaan becomes a reality, and you get to hitch a ride to Mars in an Ola Share, UberPool, or something else even after the peak hours.

PS: Don’t forget to call us to discuss your next big IoT project.

The way customers interact with brands and businesses today is completely different from how they did a decade ago. The credit for that change goes to digital transformation. This form of transformation is shaking up the way enterprises serve their customers. With digital transformation, enterprises are realigning their customer-specific business models from the ground up. Newer technologies are developing and evolving to improve customer experience, or CX, from start to finish.

However, even today, many businesses miss the point when it comes to decoding the real meaning of digital transformation and how it is revolutionizing marketplaces.

What Most Businesses Get Wrong About Digital Transformation?

Many businesses think that digital transformation is all about attracting customers and prospects with fancy tech bling and apps. However, that is just one small part of the bigger picture a business creates when it starts integrating digital transformation in its core strategies.

Digital transformation boosts brand efficiency by enhancing customer experience. Which is exactly why, businesses must not let digital transformation slip under their radar if they want to really thrive in the future.

In this installment, let us dig deeper into two game-changing digital transformation trends that will reimagine the way customers are served better and faster. But, first, let us go through some hard-hitting numbers that prove digital transformation’s power to completely change businesses.

Digital Transformation Facts That Matter The Most

As per International Data Corporation (IDC), 85 percent of decision-makers in enterprises claim that they have a 2-year road map laid out for embracing digital transformation. The same market intelligence agency states that if these brands fail to adopt digital transformation, they will suffer financial loses.

Most big digital transformation trends reflect the change in customer experience. Companies that are at the forefront of this transformation are building powerful, convenient digital transformation solutions targeted toward improving the lives of external and internal customers.

IDG restates the impact of digital transformation on customer experience in one of its studies. In that study, the market intelligence company showed that 44 percent of enterprises have implemented a digital-first approach for renovating their CX modules.

Here is what another study from Seagate claims: By the end of 2019, two-thirds of global CEOs will begin different digital initiatives that will improve customer experience.

These figures show that digital transformation has already started changing customer experience inside out. So, now, let us take a look at some of those red-hot digital transformation trends that will enhance customer experience in the coming time.

Find Out How Digital Transformation Trends Will Enrich Customer Experience

Today, there is a need to create newer experiences and define simpler and faster customer journeys. Now, these experiences and journeys are expanding from conventional touch-and-feel multichannel interfaces. Enterprises are witnessing simplification of these interfaces so that a visitor becomes a customer faster.

On the most fundamental level, digital innovation is creating a wave of transformation on the following fronts of customer experience.

• Enhancing the available touch points for cultivating relevant micro-experiences
• Improving brand affinity by integrating the experience with a user’s actual context
• Building a larger connect with customers through a robust support model

Apart from these three fronts, a business will have to take note of the following trends that will take the world of customer experience by storm.

Making Chatbots Go From Good To Great

In previous years, most businesses messed up with chatbots and gave their customers a very bad experience. But, now, some concrete steps are taken in improving sentiment analytics and natural language processing (NLP). These steps will make NLP so sophisticated that it will likely shake up different business verticals, especially customer experience.

Different services that will be provided sans humans comprise loan processors, fast food line controllers, job recruiters, to name a few. Best of all, NLP will allow enterprises to accumulate insights for refining their services. Almost 40 percent of large enterprises have or will adopt NLP for improving themselves by the end of this year.

Connected Cloud Environments

Connected clouds include a mix of private, hybrid, and public ones. These days, businesses are realizing that going to a public or private cloud or opting for a dedicated data center is not a future-proof solution. Today, businesses will definitely need the best of all possible worlds. That means hybrid is the way to go for most companies that are willing to put their dollars on building a rock-solid, future-ready cloud infrastructure.

That is exactly where connected clouds come into play. With such a hybrid cloud solution, businesses will meet their changing needs on the fly. For example, if an enterprise needs more cloud-source storage or wants an extra layer of security or wishes to deploy apps, a hybrid cloud will do it all as per business requirements. Top public cloud providers such as Alibaba and Amazon are already answering this call and offering different private cloud options. (In the case of Google, these private cloud architectures are referred to as container-based systems.)

The world of connected clouds has evolved more with Microsoft Azure; further push to this evolution is caused by Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquiring Cloud Technology Partners’ consumable IT services. Likewise, VMware has recently acquired CloudHealth Technologies. All these developments have definitely shaken things up in the connected cloud environment.

Sooner rather than later, industry analysts predict that “Multicloud” will become the keyword in different cloud conversations. With the concept of connected clouds gaining a foothold in the digital landscape, workloads or the clouds on which they are to be implemented will not matter in the least. What will really matter, after all, is that the customers using those applications will have a secure, seamless, streamlined experience.

So these were the top digital transformation trends that will rebuild a newer, better, and more scalable variety of customer experiences. However, for tapping into these trends and using them as per its own strengths, a business will have to team up with a forward-thinking digital transformation partner.

Finding The Right Partner In Building A Digitally Transformative Future

Digital transformation will continue to change customer experience from the inside out. If an enterprise does not want its customer-oriented legacy workflows and processes to get disrupted from present digital wave, it must join hands with the right growth partner.

Here is where we, at Flexsin, come in. As a digital growth partner, we will analyze different digital elements that can help a business build more cohesive customer experiences across different channels. With our rich experience in designing and deploying engaging customer platforms, we will put together different digital themes. That way, we will eventually create an end-to-end ecosystem essential for putting a successful CX transformation program from paper to the real world.

We are living in a realm wherein technology takes over people’s lives quicker than ever. Waking up in the morning, the very first thing we seek are our smartphones that help us, guide us and inform us on our latest and upgraded lives. As we can already see, connectivity has been made incredibly seamless by the Internet across different platforms. Finally, the idea of this world turning a global village is now more than just a reality.

A massive contribution to such innovations goes to the fast developments in the area of Internet of Things (IoT). Technology that supports IoT is rapidly growing. No wonder IoT is already part of our daily lives. Today, we will consider a few of the latest advances in the IoT sector and how they are going to impact human lives as well as large-scale enterprises in the times to come.

• IoT is vital for business’ success
• SAP aims at powering the next generation of IoT
• What the future of IoT connectivity holds

- Edge computing emerging rapidly

This happens to be one of the most conspicuous advancements in the field of IoT. Until that time, data used from multiple devices in an IoT system would be transmitted to cloud in raw form. Well, that’s not it. Edge computing developments are improved often; hence it’s only a matter of time before edge computing takes over cloud computing completely. Many smaller-scale setups will then connect to expedite each and every process in our daily lives as well as businesses.

- IoT blends in well with healthcare

Each and every aspect of IoT proves to subsidy healthcare sector in some such way. Wearable devices and sensors now extract data as well as monitor them for instantaneous processing. Health monitors are designed to transfer analytics instantly which further help physicians across the globe evaluate and handle the respective medical conditions.

- IoT cloud development

Today, Cloud services are undeniably crucial for the deployment of IoT, which further has led ecommerce giants like Amazon to put in uncompromising efforts as they add additional services and products to their inventory catering cloud services.

- The eminence of big data and AI

Experts say that with the massive amount of data being collected every minute, its processing is imperative. Analyzing and evaluating all this data is vital as raw data in itself are not much of use. So, Big Data management is now indispensible and is on the rise with all other developments in IoT. Accurate execution of all this data in actuality holds inordinate potential.

- Rise of IoT operating systems

With Windows and iOS still being widely used, IoT operating systems seem to be becoming inadequate. Real-time responses are essential for IoT to operate well-timed and this is absent in our existing operating systems.

- Emergence of Industrial IoT and Digital Twin Technology

IoT has ever since been an essential technology in the manufacturing industry. This has made the manufacturing processes less risky, more trustworthy, and more efficient. There’s always been a constant evolution in smart manufacturing, however this seems to have grown exponentially nowadays because of techno-industrial IoT upheaval. Industrial IoT (IIoT) provides superior efficiency, hence productivity incorporating and analysing data in a way which would not possible otherwise.

Simultaneously, digital twin technology happens to be gaining an unbeatable popularity off late. Using this, enterprises are now creating an unblemished picture of how their IoT-enabled devices are interacting with the entire manufacturing process. This enables software experts to comprehend how machines’ lifecycle works and allows significant change prediction which might be essential in advance.

Choose the right IoT technology partner to boost your business

Be partnered with a full-time IoT applications development company that can make the most your smartphones/software solutions, and can also deliver benefits to maximize efficiency in the lives of your employees as well as customers.

Incorporating IoT solutions is important, for they make workplaces and industries connected using environmental data collected by sensors. The professionals must work through a stack of top-notch technologies to develop cutting-edge IoT applications that will eventually help your business approach the modern millennial.

IoT is driving automotive beyond the threshold of inventions. This all-new automotive DNA is moving the industry from petroleum, internal combustion engines, and mechanical linkages toward hydrogen, electricity, fuel cells, batteries, and electronic controls.

Specifically, the use of electronic-based systems is creating a massive flow of design opportunities. The presence of electronic systems inside automobiles has led to fleshing out the concept of connected vehicles. And that concept is not even new; automakers began connecting vehicles with rich information streams back in the day when the internet was still new. That way, this particular industry has an excellent track record of deploying connected technology into vehicles.

It is just the beginning, though. Automotive is revolutionizing itself by the sheer power of IoT. But before understanding how IoT will change automotive for the better, it is better to take a look at the recent market trends.

What The Market Trends Say?

More automakers are beginning to integrate IoT technology within their automobile designs. This design is beginning to change the way the entire industry is transforming. As per a study by Business Insider, close to 82 percent of vehicles out of 94 million are connected with an IoT-enabled device in one way or the other.

The same media outlet noted that over 21 million vehicles were already connected to IoT by 2016. As per Gartner, over 250 million connected vehicles will come on road by the end of 2020. According to another set of facts and figures, the entire worth of the automotive industry will be close to 7.1 trillion dollars by 2020.

Overall, these trends paint a rosy picture for IoT-backed automotive industry. So, let us more forward toward discovering the ways how IoT is completely transforming the automotive business.

The Automotive World Gets Reimagined By IoT

Enhancing In-Car Technology

A connected vehicle is almost always installed with an end-to-end telematics platform. Through telematics, a connected vehicle will let its drives stay in touch with the outside world the easy way. Telematics enables the driver of the connected vehicle to access a wide range of utility applications and puts in-car entertainment just a touch away.

Improving Vehicular Access And Security

Now that every single part of a car can get connected to the web, its owners can experience an improved level of connectivity no matter where they are. For instance, once a vehicle connects to the net, the owner can get remote access for controlling your car’s functionality. That means owners can control a vehicle’s ignition, lights, trunks, and windows with the push of a button while they are occupied somewhere else. That way, a vehicle’s security and access is becoming not just convenient but even secure.

Navigating To The Next Level

Getting frustrated of the traffic while going to work? In that case, a connected vehicle can help navigate better so that travelers can reach their destination faster while saving fuel. So if a vehicle is embedded with the right IoT sensors, they will not only track the car but also deliver real-time commuting reports. Which is why, an owner of a connected car can avoid congestion by traveling on a route with less traffic.

With all these benefits that IoT brings to the automotive world, the road ahead is open and full of opportunities. Which is why, it makes sense to shift into high gear. The only question is about finding the right growth partner that can help automakers make the most of the connected world of IoT.

Selecting The Right IoT Growth Partner

When it comes to designing intelligent vehicles and delivering newer and more powerful automotive capabilities, it comes down to finding the right IoT expert. The right IoT application development  company can let automakers create a powerful, end-to-end life cycle view of the entire automotive experience. This way, enterprises can manage assets and build the vehicles that can own the road to the future.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is taking a leading role in driving business transformations across a wide range of applications. The technology combines data and intelligence with business transformations to enable the move from data to knowledge and profitable outcomes for the enterprises.

Experts predict that there will be around 50 billion connected devices by 2020. With its capability to provide power by the hour to the right people at the right moment, IoT can allow decision makers to devise strategies and drive decisions based on data, timescale, insights and budgetary needs.

Overcoming the barriers to IoT integration

However, not all businesses have been able to embrace IoT implementation in their infrastructure. A barrier to IoT integration in business processes, especially SMBs is that they may not have the capability to correctly interpret the IoT data points that are profitable to their operations, or worse still, they may not be in a position to assuage which of their business processes are best positioned to be transformed to IoT. Even if clarity is achieved on these aspects, IoT integration costs can be prohibitive for the businesses running on legacy systems. However, solving these problems can help an organization gain significant business advantage in terms of market share and time-to-market the products.

IoT technology layers

IoT application development consists of multiple technological layers that help in connecting things and devices to build the applications that serve a defined business objective, no matter whether it’s a small scale consumer application or a complex industry-grade IoT project. These layers include sub-layers, various protocols and vendors. An IoT technology stack consisting of standards and applications that use the connected things is needed to power IoT infrastructure without which you won’t be able to do anything with your connected devices.

IoT technology stack

There could be some real challenges in making different technology elements talk to each other.  For this, IoT technology stack need to be configured accurately and with right capabilities. The stack should combine not only the required technologies but should be able to do it in an accurate and secure manner.

IoT devices – first layer of the technology stack

IoT devices are the first layer of IoT technology stack. But when we speak about IoT devices, people do not think about micro-electrical mechanical systems, actuators, transducers and processors, rather they think in terms of smart and intelligently connected things, wearables or the items tagged with location detection technology. An IoT device essentially brings hardware, software and connections intelligently into one device. These devices also have a communication layer whereby physical things and controllers get connected through communication and processing units.

IoT sensors for real time action

IoT sensors are used to sense the condition in and around the IoT devices in which they are present. We have hundreds of types of IoT sensors which are designed to detect the events or changes in the environments and communicate about these changes in specific parameters to other devices that can use this data for analysis and actions in real-time. These parameters could involve changes related to temperature, humidity, light, chemical components, etc. Sensors have long been into existence even before anyone heard of IoT, and they have evolved into being more ubiquitous, no wonder then that we have industry 4.0, smart factory projects and smart buildings, thanks to these powerful sensors.

What do actuators do?

Whereas sensors sense and send, actuators act and activate. They set a signal in motion when it needs to be set in motion to act within an environment. That way, they do opposite of the sensors as they trigger something to happen in the physical world where some value resides. Electric actuators can be used to turn their energy into mechanical torque while some others can control valves. You can see actuators and sensors working nicely together in the numerous other smart devices.

IoT Gateyways

IoT Gateways constitute another layer of IoT stack that come in many forms and shapes. It plays a critical role in the intersection of IoT devices, cloud, network and data center. These gateways are used for connectivity aggregation, encryption and decryption of IoT data and the transaction of various protocols. They provide a gateway between the IoT device level, technologies and environments to gain leverage from IoT device data.

IoT Platform – the middleware

Third layer of IoT technology is IoT Platform which is a middleware between IoT hardware and IoT gateway on one hand, and business and application layers on the other. IoT platform, to be strictly speaking, is an IoT application enablement platform. We have currently more than 400 different types of IoT platforms with their own differentiation and specialization features. Examples include IoT orchestration platform, IoT analytics platform and IoT device management platform or DMP.

Take a move from “as is” to “to be” processes

Based on the information gathered from the IoT object context and its constituent components like actuators, gateways and sensors, the “as-is” process of an enterprise can be enhanced with IoT capabilities to transform into a “to-be” process. To achieve this, IoT objects need to be inserted and connected with the existing business functions and require tight collaboration focused on business process design.

Extensive opportunities in IoT landscape

Extensive opportunities exist in the IoT landscape as far as new information flows are considered as feedback from the customers can help production engineers to bring improvement in the manufacturing process. Designers can fine tune their simulation models while service engineers can benefit by improvising their approach to maintenance.

Achieving success in IoT business transformation is a journey, and right approach is critical for a business for best outcomes. Most successful companies will focus on incremental results in specific use cases where IoT data can be harnessed to obtain quantifiable business benefit.

The promise of IoT

Web content management vendors can provide personalized services by injecting IoT capabilities into their platforms. With big businesses dealing with millions of page views (for example, on Facebook, more than 30 petabyte of user-generated data is analyzed), marketers just need to define few parameters and the end result, and let the IoT handle all the tricky tasks of its own.

IoT projects are not only about the IT networks, infrastructure and devices, most successful one are planned the best way and continuously controlled, rather than have the best technical infrastructure. The technology can be effectively brought to use to enhance the operational efficiencies and tapping on new revenue streams.

AWS IoT integrates directly with AWS Lambda, Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Simple Notification Service, Amazon Simple Queue Service, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Kinesis and Machine Learning to build IoT applications that gather, process, analyze and act on data generated by connected devices, without you to manage any infrastructure.

The platform will make it easier for developers to ingest incoming data from devices using standard gateways and protocols like MQTT and HTTPS. It can support billions of devices and trillions of messages.

AWS IoT allows you to easily connect devices to the cloud and other systems. The protocol supports HTTP, WebSockets and MQTT to minimize code footprint on devices and reduce network bandwidth requirement.

Secure service connections and data

The platform provides authentication and end-to-end encryption throughout all points of connection so that data is never exchanged between devices and AWS IoT without proven identity. Access to devices and applications can be secured by applying policies with granular permissions.

Act upon device data

One can filter, transform and act upon device data on the fly. One can also update business rules to implement new device and application features at any time.

Set device state at any time

The platform stores the latest device state so that it can be read or set at any time, making the device appear to your applications as if it were online all the time. The application can read the state of device even when it is disconnected, and implement the device state when it is reconnected.

AWS IoT components

Device Gateway

The device gateway serves as entry point for IoT devices connecting to AWS. The gateway enables devices to efficiently and securely communicate with AWS IoT. It supports MQTT, WebSockets and HTTP 1.1 protocols. It enables the devices to send and receive messages at any time with low latency. It is fully managed and scales automatically to support over a billion devices without requiring you to manage any infrastructure.

Message Broker

It’s a high throughput pub that securely transmits messages from IoT devices and applications with low latency. It provides a mechanism to AWS IoT applications and devices to publish and receive messages from each other. You can use either the MQTT protocol directly or MQTT over WebSocket to publish and subscribe. Setting up of fine grained access control allows you to manage the permissions of individual connections at the topic level. This way, you can ascertain that your applications and devices will only send and receive data that you want them to.

Rules Engine

It provides message processing and integration with other AWS services. It allows you to build applications that gather, process, analyze and act on data generated by the connected devices. One can use an SQL-based language to select data from message payloads, process and send it to other services such as AWS Lambda, Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon S3. You can author rules within the management console or write them using SQL-like syntax. Rules can be authored to behave differently as per the context of the message and take into account other data in the cloud, like data from other devices.

The Rules Engine provides numerous available functions that can be used to transform your data and create more using AWS Lambda. Rules can trigger the execution of your Node.js, Java or Python code in AWS Lambda, giving the developer flexibility and power to process the device data.

Registry

Allows you to register your devices and associate custom attributes, certificates and MQTT client IDs with each device to enhance your ability to manage and troubleshoot them. Registry establishes an identity for devices and tracks metadata such as the device’s attributes and capabilities. A unique identity is assigned to each device that is consistently formatted. It also supports metadata that describes the capabilities of a device. You can build a hierarchy of groups for Group Registry. Any action performed on the parent group will apply to its child groups and to all devices in it.

Authentication and Authorization

Provides shared responsibility for security in the AWS Cloud. Rules Engine and Message Broker use AWS security features to send data securely to AWS services and devices. It provides mutual authentication and encryption at all points of connection so that the data is never exchanged without a proven identity. Connections using HTTP can use certificate based authentication and customer created token based authentication while connections using MQTT certificate based authentication, and connections using WebSockets can use SigV4 or custom authorizers. You can use AWS IoT Core generated certificates or the ones signed by your preferred Certificate Authority.

Policies can be mapped to each certificate so that you can authorize devices or applications to have access or revoke it altogether without ever touching the device. Certificates can be provisioned, activated and associated with the relevant IoT policies configured using AWS IoT. You can also create, deploy and manage certificates and policies for the devices from the console or using the API.

Device Shadow

It’s a JSON document which is used to store and retrieve current state information for a device. You can create a persistent, virtual version or Device Shadow for each device including its latest state so that applications and other devices can read messages and interact with it. The Device Shadow persists the last reported state and desired future state of each device even in offline mode. You can build applications that interact with your devices by providing always available REST APIs. Moreover, the applications can set the desired future state of a device without accounting for its current state.

Device Shadow Service

An IoT app development company will allow for persistent representation of your devices in AWS Cloud. You can publish updated state information to a device’s shadow which will be synchronized by the device when connected. The device can also publish its current state to a shadow for use by other devices and applications.

Device Provisioning Service

Allows you to provision devices for the resources required for your device, like a thing, a certificate, policies etc. A thing contains attributes describing a device. Certificate is used by the device to authenticate with AWS IoT. Policies determine the operations that can be performed in AWS IoT by a device.

Jobs Service

You can define a set of remote operations sent to and executed on multiple devices connected to AWS IoT. For example, you can define a job instructing devices to reboot, rotate certificates or perform remote troubleshooting operations. To create a job, you need to specify a description of the remote operations to be performed and the list of targets performing them. The targets can be individual devices, groups or both.

Custom Authentication Service

You can define custom authorizers to manage your own authentication and authorization strategy using a Lambda function and custom authentication service. Custom authorizers must return policy documents used by the device gateway to authorize MQTT operations.

Accessing AWS IoT

AWS provides following interfaces to create and interact with your devices:

AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI): These commands allow you to create and manage things, rules, certificates and policies.

AWS IoT API: You can build your IoT applications using HTTP and HTTPS requests. These API actions allow you to programmatically create and manage things, rules, certificates and policies.

AWS SDKs: Allow you to build Internet of Things (IoT) applications using language specific APIs. These SDKs wrap the HTTP/HTTPS API and allow you to program in any of the supported languages. It supports Java Script, C, Arduino and includes the developer guide, client libraries and porting guide for manufacturers.

AWS IoT Device SDKs: Builds applications to run on devices that send and receive messages from AWS IoT.

Getting Started

There are several ways to get started with AWS IoT Core. You can chose any one of the below depending upon your use cases and how you want to integrate the service.

AWS Management Console

It’s a web based interface for accessing and managing your AWS Iot Core resources. You can conveniently and securely create a thing, associate certificate, publish messages and define actions.

AWS SDK

It helps you take the complexity out of coding by providing APIs for AWS services. This simple, downloadable package includes the code library, code samples and documentation.

AWS IoT Device SDK

Helps you to quickly connect your hardware or mobile device to AWS IoT Core. It supports a variety of device types and allows you to seamlessly connect with device gateway and device shadow to quick start your development.

AWS IoT Core Starter Kits

These physical kits are designed to help accelerate cloud powered prototype development of connected devices. They enable you to move quickly from idea to prototype. The kits include microcontroller development boards, AWS IoT Device SDK, sensors and actuators, and a simple getting started guide.

AWS Greeegrass

The software lets you run local compute, messaging and data caching for connected devices. Connected devices can run Lambda functions and communicate with other devices securely, even when not connected to the internet. It allows the devices to act locally on the data they generate and using the cloud for durable storage, analytics and management.

AWS Greengrass authenticates and encrypts device data at all points of connection using AWS IoT security. This ensures that data is never exchanged between the devices when they communicate with each other and the cloud without proven identity.

AWS IoT Button

This simple Wi-Fi device is designed for developers to get started with AWS IoT, Amazon SNS, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Lambda and other Amazon Web Services without writing device-specific codes. You can integrate it with third-party APIs like Facebook, Twitter, Twilio etc. The button’s logic can be coded to start or stop something, send alerts or order services. For example, you can click the button to unlock or start a car, call a customer service representative or remotely control your home appliances.

Imagine our everyday objects interacting with each other via the internet. That’s the internet of things (IoT) in simple terms. The hospitality industry is not immune to IoT evolution, and in fact, is well-poised to benefit from it.

IoT in hospitality has many exciting applications. Artificial intelligence, data, and internet of things are all set to change the way hotels function. Those who are used to voice-based systems, have Alexa in their homes, now expect the same voice interactivity from the hotel room. They don’t want to pick up the phone to ask someone, they’ll rather just ask their hotel room.

Customize room as per preferences 

Guests stay in automated rooms where they can adjust the room temperature and lights, or call the front desk from their beds via their mobile or TV. Imagine, if you could change the temperature of the ballroom during a keynote based on how many guests are in the room?  IoT in hospitality offers increased integration with our personal gadgets. With permission, hotels can remember the guest’s preferences and customize their reservation based on previous stays.

Many hotels are already using the technology to control room temperatures. By switching to a connected thermostat, hotels can adjust room temperature, like switching off the AC unit when the guests leave the room and starting it before their check-in, all with their mobile sitting at the front desk and without opening the door at all. The device reduces the likelihood of marring the first impression of a room with uninviting temperature and eliminates the cost of cooling or heating a vacant room.

Effective temperature control

When hotels combine thermostat with other sensors, the air conditioning can turn off automatically when a guest opens the door of balcony or window. Sensors could be used to make environmental changes with automated window coverings to mitigate temperature swings due to afternoon sunshine.

IBM Watson, which has already made headlines with predictive intelligence in other domains, is all set to foray into the hospitality industry with connected devices such as JBL intelligent speakers and Panasonic digital mirror. Some possible experiences include setting the required temperature for room or shower through mobile or a voice-based app and taking yoga classes on a full-length mirror.

Here are some of the popular use cases of IoT: 

• HVAC and light regulation
• Surveillance and access control
• Real-time control and automation
• Remote management system
• Smart refrigeration
• Food preparation monitoring
• Instant notification of failures

Improved operational efficiency and lower costs 

When something starts to go wrong, there will be some indications of a failure coming.  By reading these indicators, IoT can alert the hotel staff to do the needful in good time. If the hotel fixes air conditioning before the guest’s check-in or if they could replace the television while the guest is out, they are only improving service and delivering a seamless guest experience.

Enriched experience  

When a company ships an appliance, the relationship with the unit often ends as soon as the appliance is delivered. However, with IoT, the company has a relationship with the unit for the life of the appliance. This connectivity allows the company to know a lot more about the appliance and how the customer uses it. In-house, voice-activated personal assistants can provide hotels insights about the preferences of the guests, as such they can serve the guests in better ways.

Personalized services 

Personal data can be used to provide a personal touch to the hotel guests. An IoT platform could over time memorize a guest’s specific preference and automatically set up the room for their next stays, such as temperature, shades, TV channels, and lights.

Earning customer loyalty 

The employees will be able to provide better housekeeping services, facilities maintenance and carry out energy conservation.IoT applications enable hotel staff to optimize the front desk, room service, concierge and address the guest concerns through data-driven triggers and alerts. Automated door locks, electric blinds, and light switches will help hoteliers to enhance their in-room experience and provide soothing ambience to the guests. By automating guest data and staff information, hotel owners can offer better guest experience and earn more customer loyalty.

Guests aren’t the only ones experiencing the benefits of an internet of things. Automation and increased data sharing improve efficiency throughout a hotel facility, that directly translates into cost savings. Hotels can cut back on energy costs by automatically adjusting to a room’s occupancy, without compromising on the comfort of guests.

Predictive maintenance for a seamless experience 

Likewise, IoT in hospitality lends itself to predictive maintenance. Hotels can avoid the last minute reshuffle to accommodate a guest with broken AC.  If you have the intelligence on the issues before they become a problem, you can deliver a seamless experience to the guests. Your level of service will be perceived much higher by the guests.

While hotels embrace IoT, guests’ comfort and personalization will always be at the heart of hospitality. Big data and automation can be combined with IoT to improve guests’ experience and operational efficiency.

If you are in need of implementing IoT in your business operations, contact Flexsin. With our proven IoT capabilities, we can help you gain most out of your IoT development.

IoT is an umbrella term used for a broad range of underlying technologies and services, including:

• Artificial intelligence
• Advanced analytics
• Augmented and virtual reality
• Next-gen cyber security
• Big data
• Cloud computing
• Blockchain, and a lot more.

A fast growing IoT technology market is driving down the hardware costs. Products equipped with IoT sensors can alert the customers when a service is needed. This creates opportunities for the businesses for ongoing customer relationships and creating revenue streams for what previously was a onetime sale.

IoT device deployment provides the data and insights needed to automate processes, streamline workflows, visualize usage patterns and compete more effectively in the changing business landscape. Captured, aggregated and analyzed data are leveraged for several use cases, including real-time monitoring, semi-autonomous and autonomous decisions, new business models and many more.

IoT network and connectivity shifts

In the recent years, focus of IoT has shifted from the pure aspect of connecting devices and gathering data to bridging the gap between physical, digital and human spheres through networks and connected processes to turn the insight into knowledgeable actions. The usage of IoT also happens at different speeds. It is far higher in manufacturing industry than the consumer internet of things (CIoT) space.

Internet of Things is an umbrella term, and often distinction is made between the Consumer Internet of Things (CIoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). However, both CIoT and IIoT cover many use cases, and there are overlaps between them.

IoT is an essential driver for customer-facing innovation, digital transformation, connectivity of things, bridging the divide between physical and digital, data driven optimization and revenue streams across various business sectors.

Use cases across industries

The transformation of unconnected objects into smart connected devices is going to impact a multitude of industries like healthcare, automotive, predictive maintenance, ecommerce, energy, telematics, asset tracking, as well as personal lives of us all. There are numerous IoT use cases, some exist across the industries while others are more vertical.

IoT is the logical next step in the continuation of machine-to-machine (M2M) networks and technologies. IoT encompasses further than these roots and unites information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). Industrial IoT is the largest segment of IoT applications and investments.

IoT has numerous advantages over the traditional technologies as it not only can bring new revenue streams but also unparalleled efficiencies and profitability to any industry.

Predictions on the number of connected devices

Gartner has predicted that there will be 20.4 billion connected devices in use by 2020. A report from Cisco and DHL predicts that IoT will generate $8 trillion in business value worldwide over the next decade. As per a Juniper Research report, the number of connected IoT devices, actuators and sensors will reach over 46 billion by 2022. Regardless of the exact numbers, one thing is clear that there a lot more things that still need to be connected.

The key drivers of IoT implements will be:

• Innovation and revenue
• Enhanced customer experience
• Asset utilization
• Supply chain and logistics
• Productivity improvement of employees

There are ample of use cases where business have obtained tangible value creation leveraging IoT. It enables an unseen new wave of innovation and optimization, especially as various technologies get combined to unlock the true value of internet of things implementations, like AI and Blockchain, IoT and robotics, AI and IoT, blockchain and IoT, etc.

The evolving reality

Despite challenges, different speeds and fast evolutions, IoT is here to stay. It’s a major force among the many phenomena and related technologies that have shown exponential growth in the recent years. Standards, maturity levels and applications continue to evolve as various actors in the IoT ecosystem come up to make internet of things projects better and smarter. IoT has a long way to go and the growth in intelligence things will continue to rise exponentially in the near future as multiple challenges get solved.

IoT theory is one thing, while launching a new, large-scale IoT project can be really challenging. Business managers have high and fast monetizing expectations from IoT infrastructure for which they need a reliable partner with ability to provide in-depth support from a comprehensive platform. Flexsin enables IoT connectivity to maximize the profitability of your applications while our experts manage the underlying complexity.

Our multi-technology, multi-network IoT connectivity solutions are aligned to deliver maximized value to a business leveraging complete technology stack for global services that can be customized for specific needs. We work in multiple business sectors, providing a wide array of IoT solutions. Talk to Flexsin, an IoT app development company, to discuss your business needs.

With internet of things, developers and businesses are unleashing the true potential of tomorrow’s applications today. From controlling home appliances to producing a weather forecast, there’s an app for everything. The app’s development and its use go to a whole new level if it gets empowered by IoT. So IoT-enabled smart devices and mobile apps will build a connected future. Now, here is how the revolution of IoT was born.

The Evolution Of IoT Built A Revolution

IoT, or connected technology, has definitely come a long way since its birth. While many analysts focus on where IoT is headed, it is equally important to understand the technology’s past in order to know its future. The development of IoT began to slowly transform with the development of home computers. And the evolution of IoT accelerated with the development of the internet.

Despite the rapid development of computers and the internet, connectivity was still thought to be in its infancy. The world waited to be connected through devices that were originally designed to be intelligent. This development pushed forward the creation of smart devices such as watches, vehicles, washing machines, refrigerators, and smartphones.

IoT, as a concept and technology, has become more interesting with mobile app development. In fact, mobile applications are building a robust bridge for every forward-thinking enterprise that is creating smarter devices. Smart gadgetry with intelligent apps is already empowering businesses to improve the lives of consumers in a whole new way. Because of that, well-programmed mobile applications will build a new foundation for IoT to rise.

How IoT Builds The Next Generation Of Connectivity

IoTs are huge and will continue to evolve in ways that will disrupt markets. The true business drivers that let IoT create next-gen connectivity are many. Because of these drivers, many industries, businesses, and technologists are reinventing IoT for themselves and their clients. This section is devoted to exploring exactly how IoT is all set to rethink the future of connectivity.

Building A Connected World Everywhere

IoT is already enabling users to create their smartphones as Wi-Fi hot spots. Through this game-changing technology, connectivity can be delivered anywhere, anytime.

Creating Connected Computing Of The Future

Through this technology, devices, telephones, TVs, vehicles, music players, etc., know what the users are reading, viewing, listening, and doing every day. Basically, the handoffs among the gadgets are happening for real.

Developing Powerful Sensors

IoT is creating intelligent sensors that are already creating a wearable revolution.

Delivering Intelligence To The Whole Network

Microsoft’s visionary database guru, Jim Gray, stated that if sensors include a built-in machine learning algorithm, it will very well be a mini-database. So, this way, IoT is successfully pushing intelligence right into the heart of connected networks.

Engineering Analytics-As-A-Service

App economies and APIs are expanding. Because of this, IoTs can possibly make mobility interesting, meaningful, and, most importantly, intelligent.

Automating Markets Today And Tomorrow

Geolocation, mobile customer engagement, Apple’s iBeacon, etc., are developing a powerful network of knowledge about customers and their locations. So, now, it will be easier for businesses to get sharp insights into customers’ buying patterns and to develop new market-automaton strategies.

Mobile Apps And IoT Create Digital Disruption

IoTs are definitely transforming the way enterprises are interacting with their target audience. Plus, with this revolutionary technology, businesses are delivering personalized user experience. Also, mobile apps have become a commonplace today because they help users in many ways. Whether it is healthcare or automotive or any other sector, IoT-enabled apps are writing a brilliant, connected future for businesses and consumers. Here are some benefits of integrating IoT with mobile app development.

Pushing Innovation To Improve User Experience

IoT along with app development is reinventing businesses and enabling them to open new opportunities. Many innovative business ideas will develop revolutionary apps to capitalize on this evolving technology. Take companies, such as Fitbit or Uber, that have integrated IoTs with their applications to enrich user experience.

Analyzing Data In Real Time

Real-time data analyses are a must to make sure that users are getting personalized services. For this, IoT and mobile app development will join hands to create specialized sensors that will gather data from real-time locations. In short, IoTs will definitely enable mobile app developers to create applications that examine data in real time; this way, enterprises will be able to offer instant services to the customers.

Taking Security To The Next Level

As per a recent survey, nearly 79 percent of consumers think that mobile apps will put their security at stake due to online ecosystem’s vulnerability. However, by integrating the principles of IoT with mobile app development, the security threat will considerably come down. That is basically because some specialized IoT services even allow data encryption, which will eventually secure the consumer‘s data.

In simple words, connected devices will recreate the mobile app development’s future. For this reason, many app developers are planning to incorporate IoT in their applications to create a new form of mobility that is safer, faster, and more robust.

IoT is reimagining the way people and products connect with technological transformations. Now, every leading tech company creates and recreates applications to unlock the full value offered by the automation capabilities of Internet of Things. These innovations enable developers to build everything, ranging from smart offices to connected automobiles.

There are certain IoT–empowered products that have gained powerful momentum in the past few years. These interlinked products comprise smart refrigerators, connected thermostats, and controlled door locks. This shift has motivated businesses to invest in this digitally connected ecosystem. However, before making the final investment decision, businesses should take note of these insights for unlocking the full potential of IoT and realizing tangible benefits.

Prototyping Location-Powered IoT Apps

IoT applications use immersive technology to create, combine, and manage a variety of data streams in real time. Such creation, management, and combination let a manufacturer analyze the effects on a machine, and then program it to automatically and intelligently react to a number of pre-conceived circumstances. Afterward, a two-way communication channel is set between the device and its sensors; this channel leverages a number of filters, rules, and business logic of the back office to achieve appropriate, quick, efficient response time.

One powerful, rising example of this is the iBeacon technology. Many corporate names have invested in developing rich iBeacon applications that can communicate with a beacon located nearby. The mobile having the iBeacon application will use Bluetooth Low Energy technology for picking a beacon’s ID along with its distance from the smartphone. A number of retail spaces, airports, public transports, and sport venues have used the IoT-enabled iBeacon mobile app development technology to improve the buying process and streamline decision-making.

The Rise Of The IoT Marketplace

The development of a number of vertical IoT applications has led to the creation of a robust marketplace that is all set to adopt this new concept with full enthusiasm. This marketplace can be thought of as a huge gateway that offers enterprises the prime choice of connecting and interacting with scores of vendors without shifting from the existing platforms or investing in a new, expensive framework.

This low-cost, effortless shift can be revolutionary for a number of businesses that look forward to automating and modernizing their legacy processes and devices. With the rise of this marketplace, industrial businesses can find themselves unleashing the power of a range of data hubs, industrial drivers, data visualization, and data mapping processes without making any sizeable investments.

IoT With Big Data Makes The Biggest Impact

A concept that will grab many companies’ attention today is IoT analytics. Thanks to the development and deployment of a number of IoT cloud platforms, IoT devices find it simple and seamless to become a data warehouse that can generate relevant insights for improving and quickening decision-making.

The data from IoT-connected machines can be fed to a number of specific data algorithms that can assist a business in preparing more measurable strategies for targeting its consumers more accurately and powerfully. Also, in this way, a number of small and mid-sized businesses can make the best use of analytics to push revenues and generate more qualified leads in the future.

Improving Security Measures

Many businesses are yet to adopt IoT because they believe that this is still an emerging concept, which lacks in security and credibility. However, it is interesting to note that the IoT community is focusing on security and driving its vulnerability quotient to an all-time low so that more and more devices become intelligent by being part of this ever-evolving network. This is the best time for security start-ups that are taking IoT seriously; these companies can invest their expertise in IoT to take its adoption rate to the next new level.

Blockchain is one such IoT solution that works along the same lines; this solution is engineered and evolved to make transactions between devices safer, faster, and simpler. Today, businesses find a number of applications that have emerged for improving privacy and security in all types of non-financial and financial interactions. The focus, now, remains the protection of data integrity at all levels of transmissions.

Accelerating Machine-Learning Capabilities

With the advent of IoT, machine learning will be taken to a whole new level of digitization. And this learning will only get accelerated with the evolution of this newer blend of technology. The new advances in IoT will boost a machine’s capacity to connect with a number of different devices at one time.

Also, the cognitive development of IoT will help devices share and digest a large chunk of complex data all at once. In a way, this development will lead devices to create their own special patterns and context for pre-determining inputs to become proactive and make accurate decisions.

As a number of companies and organizations are leveraging IoT in their own unique way, 2017 and the coming years can truly be a turning point for this new technology. With these trends, it is simple to note why this technology is introducing the corporate world to newer benefits of networking and of staying connected.