How is the collaboration going to benefit India, in terms of IoT?
Reliance’s Group, UNLIMIT and IBM announced a collaboration to bring together Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to unlock new value for businesses in India.
IoT (Internet of Things) is a network of physical devices such as – vehicles, smartphones, electronic embedded devices, software, sensors, etc. It will enable these objects to collect, exchange and transfer data.
Through the collaboration, it will co-create IoT solutions for specific industry verticals including – automotive, insurance, utilities, and industrial automation. For example, insurance companies will be able to reduce the cost of damage to goods from tampering through real-time tracking of cargo via an ‘asset tracking solution.’ It will address key segments such as – User Based Insurance (Reliance General Insurance), Asset & Vehicle Tracking (Reliance Commercial Finance), Tower Monitoring (Reliance Communications) and Transformer Maintenance (BSES & Reliance Energy). Moreover, UNLIMIT will have access to IBM’s global ecosystem of partners via the IBM cloud.
“We are elated to collaborate with IBM to unlock the true potential of IoT in India and bring value to our partners and customers. Currently, India is becoming the hotbed for digital disruption and there is an immense scope for innovation. Our powerful technology platform with Watson IoT at its core will provide enterprises with a flexible, scalable and secure solution.’ said Juergen Hase, CEO, UNLIMIT.
“With 2.7 billion connected devices and growing Indian economy and enterprises, consumers are embracing IoT at a rampant pace,” said Harriet Green, General Manager, Watson IoT, Customer Engagement and Education, IBM. “Our collaboration is a significant example of IBM leading the global IoT movement with a growing eco-system of clients and partners. This exciting news underscores how IBM and UNLIMIT are taking the power of IoT to Indian enterprises and capturing the phenomenon of digital disruption for joint client innovation.”
How it Works:
As part of the collaboration, IBM will provide its Watson IoT Platform to collect and connect data, including sensor data, from devices and provide use-case specific dashboards. UNLIMIT will design IoT use cases for various industries in the Indian market and build them on the IBM Watson IoT Platform, which provides device registration, IoT rules, advanced analytics, visualization, dashboards, reports and cognitive capabilities for each use case.
Benefits:
For a user-based insurance solution, vehicle insurance companies will be able to improve profitability and overall business through enhanced pricing accuracy, retaining of profitable accounts and lowered claims processing, offering a more personalized experience to clients;
For a user-based insurance solution, vehicle insurance companies will be able to improve profitability and overall business through enhanced pricing accuracy, retaining of profitable accounts and lowered claims processing, offering a more personalized experience to clients;
With a vehicle tracking solution, car leasing companies will have a better visibility of their leased vehicles through GPS and sensor data to prevent fraud and reduce losses;
For a tower monitoring solution, telecom tower companies will be able to reduce the cost of maintenance of towers, fuel pilferage and site downtime by having insight into tower health and operations. Instant alerts can be sent for issues that need immediate resolution.
We did have some spare time on us and touch based on topics like – security, autonomous driving and sensors, etc. It was stated, “Security will always be a major factor in the Internet of Things.” They value customer’s privacy so they have promised us that your data will never be compromised or leaked. With security being a grave concern, user’s consent will always be taken into consideration. Also, before developing any product, it is also been suggested, security vulnerability will be looked at right at the initial stages and will be of utmost priority. If the security is breached, the product development will be halted on an immediate basis. We also came across some demo models such as – Olli by Local Motors, a self-driving vehicle and an “Onboard Diagnostic Tool” that is integrated into the vehicle.
Olli
Olli, the world’s first self-driving vehicle that uses IBM Watson to enable natural language interaction between the vehicle and passenger. The vehicle can carry up to 12 people. It analyzes and learns from high volumes of transportation data produced by more than 30 sensors embedded throughout the vehicle and with the help of Modally, the system behind Olli. The vehicle will run through urban areas from neighbourhoods to campuses. Through the mobile app Modally, users can book, ride and seek information about various places to visit. We did ask the team if Olli would ever make it to India? Gina O’Connell, Director of Local Motors Labs was kind enough to reply that we would love and try to work around with the traffic restraints and chaos. Unfortunately, it cannot for the time being as the transportation minister, Nitin Gadkari clearly stated, “India may ban self-driving cars as it will take away jobs.”
On-Board Diagnostic Tool
Much to our relief, this tool will be introduced to India and IBM will serve as a partner in producing the Onboard Diagnostic Tool. This software-based tool is integrated into the vehicle, which will give real-time tracking of the vehicle, behaviour of the driver, what type of goods the vehicle is carrying and the weight of the products. The required information will be provided on the fact sheet with the help of the IBM cloud.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will expand tremendously in the near future and we hope to see more great innovations. While the IoT is growing rapidly, security vulnerability will be on the rise. Therefore prevent measures should be taken so that security is not compromised or hacked. Timely updates should be made possible so there won’t be any software glitches. Security should be prioritized.
