Enabling digital transformation with IoT

In the second edition of DQDeepTech, panelists Somshubhro Choudhary, Larry Pang, Amit Sukhija and Rishi Bhatnagar discussed how Internet of Things is enabling digital transformation, changes in standardization and policies to come, and measuring success of IoT implementation using the right metrics.

Somshubhro Choudhary, Co-chair IoT Forum and Partner, Bharat Innovation Fund, said things started happening from 2012-13 onwards in the IoT space. We have seen the journey of IoT. Today, each vertical has gone at its own space. There are consumer IoT devices, commercial buildings, health-tech, industrial, etc. IoT is the collection of multiple technologies from the sensor to the cloud. 

IoT is also in the same journey, as IT was, starting in the 1990s till today. IoT is more of a mish-mash of multiple technologies and multiple use cases. Each one of the market verticals and specific industries implement IoT at their own pace, at own RoI, etc. Post-Covid-19, we are seeing a much faster adoption of IoT deployments and use cases. 

We are routinely looking at improving the efficiency and productivity standard. There is also the quality improvement. In the post-Covid-19 era, we are also seeing more from a business continuity space. We also have to now automate. Standardization is looking at IoT platforms, layers, etc. From a network standpoint, there are SCADA networks, ZigBee, LoRaWAN, etc. Enterprise private networks, such as enterprise 5G are also coming in, comparable with NB-IoT. Large enterprises might move toward NB-IoT/5G networks. Not a single technology fits all the use cases.

Larry Pang, Head of Business Development, IOTEX, said IoT is a diverse industry. By 2030, IoT is going to generate anywhere between $5-12 trillion in economic value.  The value is going to come from everywhere -- from our homes to businesses to factories, to the sky and to the sea, etc. There will be many different implementations of IoT. The challenge will be: which is the best tech stack for you? 

The IOTX token connects the physical and digital world. Our rapidly evolving ecosystem aims to put billions of devices on the blockchain. IOTX is the lifeblood of this ambitious, interconnected, and profitable future. 

The anatomy of an IoT device looks somewhat similar. They have some sensors. How they are used, and whether you are using LoRa connectivity, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, there are so many different considerations, and that is only connectivity. Chips are becoming more available, and chip shortage is going to be fixed. There are so many different ways of applying IoT in our personal lives today.

Amit Sukhija, CEO, Zest IoT, said that they have many interesting solutions, including aviation, manufacturing, ports, etc. We started our journey with aviation. Now, we have customers in oil and gas, steel, manufacturing, ports etc. A steel industry plant needs data on how the plant is working. Similarly, there are needs for aviation, ports, etc., such as visibility of the operation. 

We have different industries coming up with different complexities. If our solution helps the steel industry reduce their heat cycle time by 6 minutes, it directly impacted 14% of their entire process. That means, they can produce 14% of more material.

Dr. Rishi Bhatnagar, Chairman, IET Future Tech Panel and President, Aeris Communications, said they are selling IoT solutions for different use cases. In 2014, we thought about creating an IoT panel to evangelize IoT. We also thought of the standardization. We can have a standard on communications, or some levels of protocols, etc. It is not possible to have one single framework set for all. 

As for the road ahead for standardization, we are seeing healthcare and energy as sectors, smart cities as a forum. We are seeing manufacturing as an area. We cannot have a framework with some level of consistency among them. The use cases have now gone to an extent that people are working in many areas. Every problem has a different solution that uses sensors and data, and analytics. 

In 2015, GoI started thinking of an IoT policy. We requested them to not make a policy and to let us mature as an industry. We are not yet mature enough to create a standard for the industry, many feel.

Larry Pang, IOTEX, said they work on blockchain for smart devices. When you think of security, there is data-in-transit, data-at-rest, computation, etc. We can provide standardized protocols that devices can follow in such cases. We have approved hardware with secure elements and trusted execution environment (TEEs). There is tamper-proof software. IoT is broad area. Every implementation has to be addressed in different ways. 

Amit Sukhija, Zest IoT, said they have a pragmatic look at security, broadly looking at the infrastructure, customer compliances and mandates, and their appetite to invest. 

Airports have strict mandates. We have partners like Cisco. There are different choices also available such as data encryption, dockers, using platform-as-a-service where we use Dell. There is a robust mechanism that is difficult to crack. 

As for talent acquisition, India has lot of challenges in hardware. Ability to get the optimized, cost-effective hardware board or module, with integrated sensors and compute, etc., is a nightmare. We need to invest in this as a country. In terms of talent, India has been a leader. The ability to run a business successfully is the need of the hour. Lot of customers have realized that and increased their IT budgets. Everywhere, it is a challenge to retain, nurture, and develop the talent. Digital technology talent is definitely a challenge. Investment in hardware is not that easy. We see potential in product-based development work from India.

Larry Pang, IOTEX, added there are talent problems. There are also kids playing with Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc., when in middle schools. The next generation is learning STEM and also hard-core engineering. That's talent and investment in the future generation. We talk to companies all around the world. India is a hotbed for talent today. We found the best talent from India, Poland, and even Argentina. Talent can come from anywhere today. 

We have invested in some companies. We are a platform enabling companies to build Web3 apps. There is an intersection of IoT and blockchain. We are part of IoT and blockchain consortiums, etc. Our platform houses over $1 billion in assets now. The sign of the times today is about business continuity.

Somshubhro Choudhary, IoT Forum, said IoT investments started happening in India from 2015-16 onwards. We have give back returns to our investors over a stipulated timeframe. There are also multiple pools of capital maps to tap on. VCs tend to look at technologies and elements that will scale massively. We have also looked at and invested in companies building core technologies such as AI, edge processor, or even 5G kind of a solution. It can also go across multiple markets. We like solutions that are more verticalized. There are so many use cases in an industry. We can change the landscape and also learn. 

In terms of talent, we have an issue with hardware talent. We have good talent in software and networking capabilities. There are multiple companies providing design services. A small company has probably solved most of the challenges today.