Editor's Note: This BCC Research live event took place in 2017 in Boston, MA.
Looking ahead to his interactive discussion on the future of IoT tech in manufacturing, we sat down with analyst Paul Korzeniowski to ask a few questions. He said the event will be interactive, engaging and fun. “It’s not going to be me just walking through a PowerPoint for three hours,” he told us. Space is very limited at this event, so we encourage you to register today!
- From your experience in the industry, what prompted your October 26 talk “Leveraging the Internet of Things across the Manufacturing Value Chain”?
Periodically, there are new technologies or new ways of doing business that have a significant impact or dramatically alter the status quo, and the Internet of Things is one of those types of tech. It promises to bring significant changes to the manufacturing space, providing companies more insight into their manufacturing processes and deliver more customized products and solutions for their customers.
- In what ways do you think attendees—regardless of their role—can benefit from learning more about the Internet of Things and its impact on the manufacturing value chain?
Regardless of what role they play, they are going to be impacted, and the Internet of Things is going to drive more intelligence to more endpoints than manufacturers have ever had before. Consequently, how they do business—from ordering, to servicing plants, handling customers, etc.—is going to be changed because they have more insight into the products that they are producing.
- I understand you recently authored a BCC Research report. How will information from the report be incorporated in your discussion?
The report focused on defining market segments, identifying product categories and illustrating leaders in different parts of IoT. Those items will be touched upon in the talk. Attendees will be able to see both from a micro and macro perspective how the IoT has the potential to change manufacturing processes.
- In what ways will your discussion go beyond the report?
This discussion is higher level, and it is designed to provide a broad overview of the marketplace. The report goes into specifics; this talk will focus more on historically how we’ve gotten to the Internet of Things and how it has the potential to dramatically change things.
- What do you think will be among the most helpful or useful topics or technologies discussed?
I think that the reality is that the topic itself touches upon every facet of the manufacturing process, which is complex and becoming more complex on a daily basis. Ideally, the folks that attend will get an understanding on a practical basis on what is available now and what items are still being developed so they can prepare accordingly as they map out what technologies they want to incorporate.
Furthermore, there is a lot of talk about the technology at this particular juncture, and it does have a tremendous amount of potential—but not all of the pieces are in place. My discussion will separate a little bit of the hype from the reality, so individuals who attend will have a more realistic idea of what's possible in the short term and the long term.
- How can people in manufacturing benefit practically from the information you present?
Ideally, the talk will be interactive. People will attend from many different professional backgrounds, so we will make it interactive and tailored to things that they are most interested in. It is a broad based technology, so we might help them determine where the Internet of Things may fit into their organization.
- What’s one thing you hope everyone who attends this event will walk away knowing or with a deeper understanding?
What the technology is—what it can do today. What it can’t do today, and what it can do tomorrow.
