By Shirley Strachan, General Manager, IoT Device Experience , Microsoft APAC Region
IoT is advancing at lightning speed and fast becoming ubiquitous across industries from farming to manufacturing to logistics. According to data from Statista, the number of connected devices worldwide will hit 30.73 billion by 2020—and that number is projected to leap to 75.44 billion devices by 2025.
Early adopters know that IoT technology solves a multitude of business problems in nearly endless scenarios, from predictive healthcare to crop monitoring. The data from these connected solutions can be used to optimize operations, increase revenue, and boost customer retention. Advancements across the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge are enabling holistic solutions that deliver substantial business value, even generating new revenue streams.
Of course, the implementation of these solutions requires expertise across multiple technologies, and in this way, Microsoft offers enormous advantage through our partner-plus-platform approach. Microsoft has committed $5 billion in IoT-focused investments to expand and support our partner ecosystem. This investment includes ongoing R&D and innovation in areas such as security, development tools, AI, and emerging technologies.
Below, I’ve touched on how companies in India are leveraging Microsoft IoT and our partner ecosystem to transform business.
IoT transformation sweeping across India
In India alone, the IoT market is expected to reach $9 billion, with 1.9 billion units by 2020.[i] And while the use scenarios are virtually endless, the benefits are very real. Below I’ve outlined just a few unique ways companies and organizations across India are rethinking business.
Piramal Glass wanted to get real-time visibility into production line efficiencies to optimize plant operations. Using Azure IoT Hub, their Plant Monitoring System acquires data from sensors on production lines to measure losses at each stage and determine where to improve the line in real time. This solution has substantially increased production and helped them save money, while providing insights on improvement initiatives.
Samudra LED had a completely different goal in mind when they developed their IoT solution. The City of Jaipur had engaged Samudra LED to reduce street light energy costs by more than 77%. But with more than 100,000 lights to manage, Samudra LED needed a smart solution.
Samudra LED partnered with Precimetrix to create a Smart Street Lighting System. The solution relies on Azure IoT to monitor, measure energy consumption, and control streetlamp operation in real time. The solution has greatly improved customer service and has reduced operational costs significantly, allowing the City of Jaipur to exceed their energy savings goal while achieving 100% invoicing accuracy.
Microsoft invests in the success of our partner ecosystem
Microsoft’s commitment to our partner ecosystem is demonstrated in many ways. We continue to expand our network of partners and facilitate opportunities by connecting partners with complementary capabilities to accelerate customer solutions. We have established a core group of solution aggregator partners that have the resources and expertise needed to deliver end-to-end customer solutions.
We have also built multiple solution accelerators designed to help partners speed solution development. These first-party, open-source solutions address specific IoT use cases and can be leveraged as a starting point to expedite time to market while reducing risk and lowering costs. Meanwhile, Microsoft partners are building third-party, open-source solution accelerators that can be used by other partners and customers to speed time to value.
Wipro is part of the Microsoft IoT Accelerate program. They recently worked with a top pharmaceutical company to develop Titan Secure, a digital supply chain and anti-counterfeiting platform built on Azure IoT. This IoT platform helps pharmaceutical companies protect the quality and integrity of products during the transport process. Sensors measure and transmit temperature, humidity, shock, vibration, and tamper data, enabling each box of product to be tracked and monitored from warehouse to the pharmacy. When issues are detected, such as tampering or temperature fluctuations, alerts are sent so that action may be taken.
Microsoft IoT in Action Solution Builder Conference in Mumbai
Real business model transformation requires planning that looks beyond operational efficiencies and bottom-line revenue. It requires a completely reimagined approach that rethinks how business is done – how employees and customers interact with and use services. Together with our partners, Microsoft delivers solutions that are helping customers to transform business.
To learn more, I encourage you to meet us at Microsoft IoT in Action Solution Builder Conference in Mumbai on June 18, 2019. This in-person event is an excellent opportunity to see how you can leverage the investments Microsoft is making with our partners to reduce development complexity and speed time to market. You will also have the chance to explore scalable IoT solutions that are enabling transformation and see real-world examples that demonstrate how to drive new IoT growth opportunities for your business.
[i] Source: Deloitte Analysis, Industry reports, primary research
