Getting familiar with the Internet of Things is something increasingly common in companies. The help that means the automation of processes and the technology that allows devices to talk and monitor each other remotely is the main essence, but what are the concrete solutions that a company should look for? Experts analyze and recommend what to look for to hire some of these services.

The concept of the Internet of Things or IoT is a service and a platform that has evolved over time, transforming from a tool that allowed something as simple as turning a device on and off remotely, to one that is capable of managing it in real time. the productive process of an industry through state-of-the-art technology. "This may be monitoring the production line and at the same time adapting its speed," says Juan José de La Torre, Industrial Engineer and CEO of Raven, a brand focused on digital disruption . Currently it is used for small things like connecting a refrigerator to a cell phone or for very big things like communicating a complete mining company.

This technological advance has its history and its explanation. The IoT is defined as a network of physical objects that have built-in sensors, software and other technologies in order to connect and exchange data with other devices, all through the internet. This means that things or objects are no longer isolated, and can work together much better. “In humanity there have been several industrial revolutions. The first is that of steam engines, then comes mass production. The other came when gadgets got smart. We are now in the fourth revolution , an industry where objects talk to each other over the internet. That is where the IoT was born”, explains José Reyes, General Manager of Vigalab and an expert in IoT.

Although technological advancement has been rapid, the Internet of Things is something recent at the national level. In Chile, according to Reyes, the concept began to attract the attention of companies no more than 3 years ago. This is because there was little information about it, but its attractive focus that promised to deliver solutions of all kinds made companies, especially technology companies, want to take the first step. But what are these solutions? What does a company have to pay attention to in order to contract an IoT platform knowing that it is such a transversal tool?

Depending on the item or industry, there are IoT solutions for particular needs, explains Francisco Guzmán, director of Claro Empresas . In mining, for example, "there are monitoring systems, such as High Investment Asset Control, which with artificial intelligence allows preventive maintenance to be carried out and with Tele Operation , this type of industry gains in operational and safety efficiency." He then adds: "For agriculture, there are solutions that allow controlling environmental , terrain and water variables, which generate greater productivity in the fields."

There are also logistics solutions, says Guzmán, “that allow delivery systems to be traced. They generate greater control, quality of service and optimizations by efficient calculation of routes and dispatch. In Transportation, Claro Empresas has the SmartFleet solution , which, in partnership with MiGps, performs fleet control and real-time monitoring of variables such as distance traveled, speed, places visited, and location, among others."

What should companies look for to hire a solution? The Director of Claro Empresas, Francisco Guzmán, points out: “Our suggestion is that the manager consider four elements: flexibility, scalability, maintenance of the solution and support. In other words, thanks to the digital transformation today IT managers can request flexible solutions or solutions adapted to their needs; that they adapt to their growth and climb together; that it has maintenance services and technology transfer associated with improvements and functional optimizations; and of course, that it has the support of a renowned entity that certifies the solution”.

Sensors and monitoring

One of the basic solutions that can be expected from an IoT platform is that it can, through the connection of all its devices, maintain constant monitoring of the machines , delivering specific data on their status. All these processes are carried out by physically connecting the machines to the virtual world. Sensors are usually placed on the machines you want to monitor, in order to collect the data that goes to the cloud. After that, there is a software implementation that has access to that cloud so that members of a company can see the data.

If it is a manufacturing, extractive, or industrial industry, the first form of IoT implementation always involves monitoring these production processes, that is, being able to remotely control and obtain data from the different components and phases of the process. “Through proactive monitoring using IoT of the machinery, we can be able to see how everything is working, how it can be optimized and when it is not working according to the defined capabilities to implement solutions”, explains Juan José de La Torre.

This monitoring provides essential information for the optimization of their resources and maintenance of said machines, being able to have greater control over their operations, positively affecting, above all, certain areas that are using this technology more today, such as companies that manage the supply chain. supply, due to its need for rigor.

The remote monitoring process not only reduces production and work times, but also makes field work much easier for certain companies. This, in turn, makes it possible to start obtaining data on machinery and elements that until recently was not possible to calculate or quantify. Through proactive monitoring using IoT, you can predict when it will fail, when it will need maintenance in the future, and how it will behave in certain circumstances based on previously collected data.

“Today we can obtain data in real time from an elevator, for example. Which are the most visited floors, the hours in which the elevator receives more people, and based on that, optimize the elevator route and prepare the elevator so that it is available where it will be most used”, comments Juan José de La Torre.

Another example can occur in retail . “We can turn any dispensing product into an intelligent service, which allows us to dynamically control stock prices and even predict failures,” says De La Torre.

All these data and predictions also help, in the long term, to contribute to other areas that are considered important in a company today. Environmental sensors that predict behaviors help make all processes cleaner and less polluting.

Devices and Networks for sales

The well-implemented IoT allows organizations to streamline their operations, improve the experience of their customers and, in addition, be more effective in everything that refers to the productive and commercial stage of their products and services. These help them to have greater control over their operations and the experience they deliver to their customers. "This is how true virtuous cycles can be generated between suppliers, company and customers," says Juan José de La Torre.

These cycles can only happen when all IoT solutions talk to each other as well, and work together to improve certain aspects of a business. In this case, the monitoring and prediction services are also connected with the solutions at the network and hardware level that can help in the commercial part.

“In hardware we can have solutions such as the MCU Arduino platform or the SBC Raspberry PI (one of the best-selling computers in the world) for rapid prototyping. As for networks, the most promising are the trends of the Internet of Vehicle and the IoB, which is the Internet of Bodies. which refers to the section on devices such as bracelets, watches and personal analytical quantifiers”, details Jesús Zuleta, Head of Cloud at Linets and an expert in IoT. These can optimize a course of action even in sales.

All these devices today use a set of communication protocols, and with the emergence and advancement of 5G technologies , a great growth has been observed that allows generating sales strategies through the information of these networks. José Reyes exemplifies this implementation with a project they did with Vigalab for CCU. They put systems in their bars with sensors in the beer glasses, to be able to count the consumption in real time in each of these restaurants. In this way, they manage to have valuable information about their consumers, how they consume, when, the freshness of the product, among others, to set up specific sales campaigns and grow the business.

Along the same lines, they were also able to work with Codelco, with whom they created an automatic covid traceability system through bluetooth bracelets. These devices based on Internet of Bodies technology, connected to networks allow improvements even in the state of health of people. A wide field that can be achieved depending on the specific needs of each company. “Today we are connecting complete underground mines that before could not know how their machines were working underground, they were just the same workers filling out some forms,” Reyes says.

What to keep in mind

Before starting to hire a platform, it is important to understand what are the use cases and problems that the IoT will solve. “Many times in our experience we see oversized platforms for the reality of the use case of some of our clients. Or, on the contrary, very limited visions of the impact that IoT can have”, comments Juan José de La Torre.

Faced with this reality, José Reyes defines that the most important thing is to be clear about the objective that this solution seeks to achieve, for example if it is to increase process productivity, save energy or improve sales, among others. And also, how this solution is going to be maintained in the future. "Making a projection looking at the benefits is also essential," he explains.

Finally, it must be taken into account that the basic idea of ​​the IoT is to be able to extract data that allows the best decisions to be made, therefore, companies should first keep in mind what type of service it provides and in what format is this information that can be collected . Know if you are in the physical or digital world, to know exactly which stages of service provision can be automated. In this search, it is good to be able to hire a team that can help with the initial installation. “This process is without a doubt a journey, but it does not have to be stormy, it is vital in this aspect to have a technological partner that supports the entire implementation process,” says Jesús Zuleta.