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Wireless charging advancements by global technology leader Laird have the industry poised for significant growth as major automotive and mobile device manufacturers look to incorporate Laird’s technology into the daily lives of drivers and passengers.

Laird engineers have created the next generation of wireless chargers, which Guido Dornbusch, Laird’s Vice President of Product Management for Connected Vehicle Solutions, said “are highly efficient” and “have virtually no extra losses compared to cable connectors.”

[quote float="left"]“By integrating NFC, wireless charging technology also can be combined with authentication, which opens up many more possibilities for use in the connected car,”[/quote] Laird is the leading global provider of end-to-end automotive connectivity services with solutions including antenna coupling and telematics control units as well as smart device integration products such as wireless charging.

Dornbusch says Laird’s latest white paper titled “Removing Wires, Increasing Performance: Wireless Charging – An Automotive Expectation,” illustrates how Laird is incorporating wireless charging technology into several European and American automobiles. The white paper also talks about the future of wireless charging, the struggle to find a common industry standard, and Near Field Communication (NFC).

“By integrating NFC, wireless charging technology also can be combined with authentication, which opens up many more possibilities for use in the connected car,” Dornbusch explained. “Some examples are using smartphones as a key, especially helpful for car sharing applications, or automated payment processes.”

Earlier this month Laird announced plans to expand its connected vehicle research, development, and engineering operations. Earlier this year the company opened a new facility in Brazil and acquired Germany based automotive electronics supplier Novero. In 2014 the company also opened a new manufacturing site in Shanghai China.

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Si2 Partners consultancy is launched to help industrial companies leverage services and take advantage of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0 to beat the competition and win in their markets. Founding Partner Nick Frank tells us more 

Si2 On-Demand is a new way for managers and their teams to get advice and the support they need to get things done – as they need it, when they need it and as much as they need!  Managers engage with Si2 to solve problems, get new ideas or validate their thinking.  If they have capacity constraints, they use Si2 specialists as an extended workbench to complete their tasks -virtually, rapidly and cost effectively, wherever they are in the world. An innovative smart platform enables access to expert practitioners and consultants as well as a growing Insights Library, 

Leading industrial manufacturers have long seen the installed base as a business opportunity and as a way to moderate economic cycles. Faced with intensifying competition and limits to growth from product sales in developed markets, after-sales services provides ways to drive new revenue streams, improve margins and ward off competitors.

Today, services are an anchor business for many companies and have evolved from pure product support to encompass sophisticated offerings to help customers better manage or outsource industrial processes, including asset management, maintenance or parts of production and logistics. Nevertheless, even more companies have either not taken part in this evolution or failed to realise its benefits due to a flawed strategic approach or implementation. The well documented “service paradox” phenomenon, where profits decline even as volumes increase, is something that managements must learn to overcome.

 

Forward-looking companies have gone on to drive competitive advantage by bundling products and services into integrated solutions, delivering outcomes to customers demanding functionality and performance.

When outcome displaces the product from the centre of focus, transactional relationships with customers become more co-operative and longer term, as both sides work together to co-create value and share risks.

With customers locked-in and competitors locked-out, price pressures are moderated through value- based pricing. Currently, outcome-based services or performance contracting are viewed as a way to bend cost curves to improve performance in many industries, including healthcare, infrastructure, technical services, aerospace, defence as well as large machinery. Nevertheless, while customers have benefited from these business models, the same cannot always be said for suppliers.

Companies contemplating outcome-based services must overcome a number of hurdles, including assessing and managing risks as well as understanding how to measure value. Their challenge is to blend their value chain into customer operations, integrating ecosystems of suppliers and partners into value networks. They must invest to scale their business, but ensure that demand is sufficient and customers are open enough to try new approaches.

 

With technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things enabling more productive service operations, there is now increasing evidence that digitization, is also sparking a ‘revolution’ in thinking, driving servitization and new business models. By enabling companies to collect and analyse data on an unprecedented scale and granularity, new services are being designed to improve products, process performance and customer experience.

Data is becoming a key new asset class, perhaps even more valuable than the underlying physical assets and processes. It is crucial for competitive advantage, and necessary for OEMs to avoid commoditisation of their products. Those with real vision are investing in new digital service platforms (“Anything-as-a-Service”),  to drive disruptive growth and new customer demand while dramatically reducing costs.

Si2 Partners reflects this new age of disruption. With the ambition to help industrial companies leverage services in increasingly digital environments, Si2 Partners offers On-Demand Advisory and Support, delivered through collaboration technology by people who know how to make things happen, Si2 helps companies not only shape their servitization transition, but focus on all the critical issues affecting their service businesses, including strategy, business models, organisational development, sales, marketing and operations as well as technology.

 

Operating across many industries and all geographies, Si2 Partners is uniquely placed to deliver solutions to problems or work successfully on major business transformational issues, such as business building, operational improvement, change programs or new go-to-market initiatives. Si2 combines a deep understanding of service business, a unique blend of top management and consulting expertise and strong industry experience.

Each business and the context within which it operates are unique, requiring a bespoke approach. Si2 works with management teams to understand their views, requirements and objectives, while bringing industry insights, proven methodologies and services thought leadership to the table.

 

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Bringing stock management, sales processing and excellent customer service together under one umbrella is often a challenge. Add having to deal with third party logistics and the challenge increases.

Logistics and warehouse software specialists OrderWise have met this challenge head-on with the launch of its latest 3PL (Third Party Logistics) Billing Module.

Jon Roberts, Marketing Manager at OrderWise said: “This latest addition to the OrderWise offering meets the challenges that come with having to handle third party logistics.

Too often, having to organise and maintain customers’ supply chains and payment schedules mean businesses we work with have less time to manage their own stock and orders - adding a further layer of complexity. This module eliminates that time sink and puts you in greater control over billing.”

The latest module to be added to the OrderWise offering delivers a seamless way of managing all aspects of third party logistics. Version 11.5 of OrderWise enables businesses to reap all the benefits of OrderWise Stock Control, Warehouse Management and Mobile WMS Devices, along with new functionality that provides accurate methods of calculating customer charges based on stock handlings.

Jon added: “One of the interesting aspects to this latest module is that it is completely adaptable to meet the needs of the customer. OrderWise Third Party Logistics Billing is the ideal suite of software for any businesses managing stock and fulfilling orders on behalf of their customers.”

Users are able to assign charges for:

• Receiving
• put away
• picking
• packing
• freezing
• delivery
• returns
• storage
• handling of stock 

There is also the facility to add custom charges for bespoke or one-off occasions, offering further flexibility.

Perhaps more importantly, businesses have the flexibility with this latest module to determine whether handling charges are calculated based on a fixed customer rate, per item quantity processed over a custom set billing period or a combination of both.

To calculate billing charges by a fixed customer rate, users simply enter their charges for each handling method against their third party logistics customer records.

Once calculated, billing options have been set, users then simply set customers’ billing frequency and final billing date, with a further option available to merge all handling charges processed between billing periods into one single sum. The rates are then multiplied by the number of stock transactions in order to determine the cost over each billing period.

 

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As the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem continues to evolve, Telia Carrier and Ericsson have signed an agreement that highlights the critical role international carriers have to play. Telia Carrier will provide backhaul and interconnect solutions to Ericsson’s Device Connection Platform via a dedicated IoT backbone.

"It’s pretty clear that IoT needs its own backbone", says Brendan Ives, CEO of Telia Carrier. "It’s one thing to connect the Internet of Things today, but if you consider we will soon be connecting smart cities and the cars that drive us, things are about to get real. Ericsson is one of the driving forces in IoT with the Networked Society. We are pleased to have been chosen to provide the connectivity it deserves."

[quote float="left"]"It’s one thing to connect the Internet of Things today, but if you consider we will soon be connecting smart cities and the cars that drive us, things are about to get real"

This agreement enables IoT operators to connect via any of Telia Carrier’s 220 IPX PoPs directly to Ericsson’s Device Connection Platform in a single network hop.

 

Anders Olin, Vice President Product Area Network Functions with Business Unit Cloud & IP, Ericsson, says: "Our operator customers can now connect directly to our Device Connection Platform with a pre-integrated, scalable & secure backbone solution. The combined offering from Telia Carrier and Ericsson is fully aligned to provide the SLAs demanded by business-critical IoT applications".

Backhaul between IoT operators and device management platforms is a critical link that requires extremely high levels of security and reliability.

"When you combine a dedicated IoT service with a global fiber backbone like ours, you get the scalability IoT will soon demand", says Matthew Jones, Head of Mobile Solutions for Telia Carrier. "With this agreement in place, we can connect customers and shorten time to market considerably. That’s going to be particularly important for the operators who haven’t moved on IoT yet, but are starting to see the scale of the opportunity. Effectively, this solution brings IoT operators closer to Ericsson’s Device Connection Platform. It gives them a one-hop-shop."

 

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Argon Office Systems, one of the Isle of Man’s leading suppliers of IT and Print services, has upgraded its service support capability after installing 2serv, the service management software solution from Purpose Software. 

The new system will enable the organisation to streamline internal workflow processes and deliver an even better level of support to customers operating in the telecommunications, media, healthcare, retail, transport, public, financial services and professional services sectors.

Argon wanted to further increase the efficiency of its service operation after recently achieving a Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) 5 Star service accreditation by demonstrating compliance with the highest standards in training, handling of field service calls, service call processing, customer satisfaction.  Konica Minolta recommended Purpose Software, the leading developer of service management solutions for document and managed print services providers.

2serv enables Argon to increase the efficiency of the whole service operation which is responsible for supporting a wide range of technologies from complete IT infastructures through to multifunctional devices, copiers, fax machines and printers along with other paper handling systems such as shredders, binders and laminators.

 

“Purpose Software understood the unique challenges faced by organisations such as Argon and worked closely with our IT team to ensure an incident-free installation process,” commented Iain Fairbairn, Managing Director of Argon. “2serv has increased the efficiency of our service operation and enabled us to integrate our service, stock and accounting functions to provide more proactive support to customers, whether supplying a single toner cartridge or a complete IT infrastructure project.”

2serv provides instant access to real-time data relating to maintenance and support contracts, installed equipment and outstanding service calls.  It also improves the control of parts and consumables whether in the warehouse, at customer sites or carried as car stock by engineers.  Purchase orders are automatically generated to maintain optimum stock levels, eliminate the incidence of double ordering and ensure compliance with customer SLAs.

2serv generates a wide range of reports at the press of a button, enabling decision-making to be improved in every area of the business.  It eliminates the need for staff to manually compile spreadsheet-based reports and provides an efficient way to measure performance against KPIs such as service and profitability at customer, model and device level.

 The installation also includes 2roam which allows field service engineers equipped with tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices to access and update 2serv from any location across the island.

 

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Independent power producer and energy services provider ENGIE is introducing a Digital Factory to accelerate the delivery of mobile applications for its customers, partners and employees, in France and globally, as part of the company’s new three-year transformation plan. It will be built on Kony Inc.'s industry-leading Enterprise Mobility Platform.

ENGIE employs around 155,000 people worldwide and operates in 70 countries. Impressed by Kony’s ability to quickly design, build and deploy secure, enterprise-grade mobile apps across multiple devices and operating systems, the company chose Kony’s Mobility Platform and solutions for its enterprise-wide digital transformation initiative. As part of the Digital Factory, Kony will help the group build several consumer-facing and employee productivity mobile apps.

“The global partnership between ENGIE and Kony was born from a desire to support our digital transformation initiative through new value-added services,” said Isabelle Kocher, CEO, ENGIE. “It also aims to enhance the digital skills of our teams and enable us to meet the needs of our business units to accelerate the time to market of mobile application projects for customers, partners and employees.”

By fully adopting enterprise mobility across their organisation, the utility company aims to drive significant improvements in customer satisfaction, increase market share and lower costs through faster mobile application development cycles through the Digital Factory.

“Digital will transform virtually all industries, companies, and geographies,” said Thomas E. Hogan, chairman and CEO, Kony, Inc.”  “It will transcend and shape value, service levels, quality, and the customer experience.  Companies will either lead, become a fast-follower, or perish.  Fortunately for ENGIE and its customers, Isabelle Kocher has elected to assert ENGIE as a digital innovator and leader in the new energy world.  Kony is thrilled to partner with this visionary leader and an iconic brand, and to leverage our market leading mobility solutions in their digital journey.”

The Kony Enterprise Mobility Platform is an open and standards-based, integrated mobility platform for mobile app development and beyond. It supports the entire application software development lifecycle and operations lifecycle, empowering enterprises to quickly design, build, deploy and manage multi-edge app experiences. The solution encompasses unique app UI design and development tools, powered by Kony’s mobile backend-as-a-service and backend application development offering, as well as testing and analytics. Kony Apps allows customers to deliver secure, enterprise-grade mobile apps faster to market.

 

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PTC has introduced two new smart, IoT-based connected service solutions: Remote Service and Connected Service Parts Management. Both solutions leverage the company's ThingWorx  IoT platform to help organisations transform the way they execute service for connected products,  optimising decisions for better service delivery.

They are integral components of PTC’s  roadmap for organisations adopting a strategy for smart, connected service.

It helps them redefine their service models to generate unprecedented value for their customers and organisation. The service journey entails three steps:[ordered_list style="decimal"]

1. Understand – Make smarter decisions by analysing service and product data in real-time
2. Advance – Differentiate your service offering by improving and expediting the way products are serviced
3. Outperform – Completely redefine value for customers and the service organization with new offerings and business models.

[/ordered_list]"Many organisations struggle to transform their service environment and desire to take advantage of IoT and the value that can be gained from the data streaming from connected equipment and devices,” says Steve Morandi, senior vice president, Service Lifecycle Management, PTC. “PTC’s connected service solutions help organisations successfully navigate this transformation by optimising their existing service models and creating new value-added offerings. With Remote Service and Connected Service Parts Management solutions, organisations can analyse service and product data in real-time, differentiate service offerings, and improve the way products are serviced.”

Remote Service enables service and support technicians to remotely identify, diagnose, and resolve issues, while continuously monitoring key performance parameters in connected equipment. Remote Service helps service organisations avoid equipment downtime and unscheduled service events enabling organizations to reduce service costs and improve customer service.

Connected Service Parts Management enables service organizations to utilise data directly from connected assets to more accurately forecast and plan service parts demand. Leveraging the power of the ThingWorx IoT platform,  Connected Service Parts Management captures asset location and performance information and feeds that data to the Service Parts Management solution. By collecting, transforming, and organizing data reported directly by equipment in the field, organisations are able to improve service levels and increase equipment availability. 

These smart connected service solutions help companies improve their service revenue and profitability, competitive advantage, and product reliability.

"In delivering better solutions and outcomes to customers, connectivity is a must for service organisations," said Sumair Dutta, chief customer officer, The Service Council. "A connected infrastructure can make a service business more predictive in its service relationships, more efficient in its reactive service delivery, and more responsive in the development of new services that are needed by customers."

 

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JLT Mobile Computers,  the developer of reliable computers for demanding environments, has launched the JLT Global Sales Partner Program to accelerate its international expansion.

The new program unifies the company’s global network of value-add resellers and solution providers, and aims to supply partners with the tools and support necessary to win in the competitive market of rugged vehicle-mounted terminals (VMTs).

JLT’s worldwide partner network is a key part of the company’s global expansion and growth strategy. JLT opened its US subsidiary in 2014 by acquiring the VMT operation of its sales representative in Arizona. The previous US partner programme that was run by this representative, and the previous EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) programme which was run by JLT, will be combined under the new Global Sales Partner Program. JLT resellers around the globe will now have direct access to JLT’s market leading rugged vehicle-mounted computer products, recognised around the world for their outstanding performance and reliability in a compact form factor.

“JLT is a product company with in-house development, applications, marketing and manufacturing, giving it a unique advantage in its ability to quickly adapt to customer needs,” said Per Holmberg, CEO of JLT Mobile Computing. “This adaptability is essential to win business in today’s competitive market. With the new Program, JLT’s partners can leverage the close relationship with JLT as the original manufacturer to adapt quickly and provide the best VMT solution that fits a specific customer’s unique requirements.”

The JLT Global Sales Partner Program will cater for three different types of partners:

• Authorised Resellers are value-add resellers that sell JLT’s products alongside complementary products and provide local support.

• Solution Partners are system integrators and software providers that often specialise in a particular application or customer segment. They use JLT products to build complete integrated solutions for the end customer, reselling or recommending JLT’s products.

• Technical Centres are value-add resellers that are trained by JLT to provide local technical support and services to end customers.

All three types of partner will get regular updates and training opportunities as part of the program. The program will also provide easy access to technical information, joint marketing programs, and quick turn around on technical and commercial questions.

 

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Verizon Communications is acquiring mobility software platform specialist Telogis to enhance its  connected vehicle business.

Seeking to add best-in-class Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology and services, specifically in the connected vehicle and mobile enterprise management sectors—as well as expanded distribution relationships—to its Verizon Telematics subsidiary, Verizon Communications Inc. has announced it  is to buy privately-owned Telogis, Inc.,  the Californian-based mobility software platform specialist.

“With a comprehensive enterprise product portfolio and partnerships with some of the world’s leading vehicle and equipment manufacturers, Telogis brings a world-class software platform and new distribution relationships to Verizon Telematics’ already expansive suite of connected vehicle solutions for consumers and enterprise customers,” said Andrés Irlando, CEO of Verizon Telematics. “The combined strengths of our two companies’ unique assets better enable us to deliver best-in-class mobile enterprise management services to customers globally, while building scale and accelerating market share. I’m confident that the passion and talent of our collective employees will continue to drive revenue growth and product innovations to shape and lead the industry for years to come.”

“Verizon provides the brand equity, strength in the market, broad infrastructure and expansive global reach to take Telogis to the next level,” said David Cozzens, CEO, Telogis. “This strategic acquisition positions our collective technologies and services uniquely in the market while also enabling Verizon Telematics’ industry-leading business to benefit from Telogis’ unmatched strength in the enterprise market, innovative Mobile Enterprise Management software platform and our strong OEM and ecosystem partnerships.”

Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

 

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