The SiTime Epoch Platform is a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)-based, oven-controlled oscillator (OCXO) that delivers an ultra-stable clock to the datacentre and network infrastructure equipment, unlocking a cumulative US$2 billion served addressable market (SAM) in the next decade.

SiTime confirmed that it plans to extend the Epoch technology to other high-growth electronics markets, such as aerospace and defence, industrial controls and more.

Declaring that precision timing will be a catalyst for innovation in all electronics and drive the company's future success, Rajesh Vashist, CEO and chairman of SiTime, says the Epoch Platform delivers higher performance and reliability with lower power that was unavailable until now. These benefits are a result of a half-decade of engineering investment and a systems-based development approach that combines MEMS, analogue, packaging, and algorithms.

The value of precision timing

Precision timing is critical to network performance and reliability. All nodes in the network must be synchronised in time. In the case of a 5G network, nodes must always be synchronised within hundreds of nanoseconds – 10X more stringent than 4G. Just as important the synchronisation must be maintained despite network outages.

The company says by delivering up to 2X better performance, 9X smaller size and 3X lower power in applications such as data centre switches and routers, 5G base stations and core infrastructure, the Epoch Platform sets a new bar in performance and reliability.

“As the world embraces next-gen technologies, like the explosion of AI, the reinvention of the cloud data centre, and high speed 5G/6G cellular networks, advanced circuit and network timing solutions have become critical in ensuring performance, fault tolerance and reliability,” said Dave Altavilla, co-founder, president and principal analyst at HotTech Vision & Analysis.

Citing the example of AI, he commented that the high bandwidth, low latency data centre infrastructure needed to support AI will require robust precision timing for critical wired and wireless network connectivity. "These technologies will also be deployed at the edge and in the field, where tough environmental conditions will require more ruggedness and higher reliability than ever before,” he added.  

Quartz just doesn't cut it

A synchronised network relies on multiple, redundant timing sources to ensure continuous operation. One of these sources is an ultra-stable, local oscillator, typically an OCXO, which will “holdover” the network and ensure continued operation when other timing sources are impacted.

Legacy quartz OCXOs are inherently unreliable and prone to performance degradation due to environmental stressors such as temperature changes and vibration. To date, electronics companies compromised on real-world performance, reliability, size, power, and warm-up time, to get the one thing that an OCXO delivered – a stable clock reference.

With the Epoch Platform, SiTime is breaking through all these limitations of quartz OCXOs. Epoch delivers 2X longer holdover, even under environmental stress, enabling telecom and cloud service providers to provide service continuity in real-world conditions.

Key Features of SiTime Epoch Platform

• Any frequency between 10 and 220 MHz, programmable up to 6 decimal places of accuracy.
• 8 hours of holdover, up to 12 hours with ageing compensation – 2X better than other solutions in real-world environments.
• ±1, ±3, ±5 ppb frequency stability over temperature
• Highest operating temperature range: -40 to 95°C
• 2.5, 2.8, and 3.3 operating supply voltage
• 3X lower power: 420 mW
• 3X better ADEV under airflow: 5e-12 at 10 seconds averaging time
• 3X lower aging: ±0.08 ppb/day
• 2X faster time to stability – 60 seconds
• 9X smaller, 3X lower: 9 mm x 7 mm x 3.73 mm
• Digital control with 5E-14 resolution: I2C and SPI interfaces

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"The last few years have shown that connecting with a digital infrastructure is no longer a luxury, but a necessity," said Carlos M. González, research manager for the Internet of Things at IDC. "For organisations to excel in data-driven operations, investing in IoT projects is essential."

"Connecting devices to data networks to gather insight, expand operations, and increase performance are the hallmarks of executing an IoT ecosystem."

Carlos M. González

Industry perspective

Discrete and process manufacturing are the industries that will see the largest investment in IoT solutions in 2023 and throughout the forecast period, accounting for more than one-third of all IoT spending worldwide.

Professional services, utilities, and retail are the next largest industries in terms of overall IoT spending with roughly 25% of the worldwide total. State/local government and telecommunications will deliver the fastest spending growth over the five-year forecast with CAGRs of 12.0% and 11.7% respectively.

IoT investment is a key building block to supporting an increasingly digital and distributed organisational footprint. Most of these investments are seeking solutions that can help organisations achieve a specific business goal or customer challenges, such as cost savings or supply chain efficiency. As such, use cases are the focus of most IoT investment plans.

Use cases

The two IoT use cases that will receive the most investment in 2023 are both closely tied to the manufacturing industries: manufacturing operations (US$73.0 billion) and production asset management (US$68.2 billion). The next largest use cases – inventory intelligence (US$37.6 billion), smart grid (electricity) (US$36.9 billion), and supply chain resilience (US$31.6 billion) – will benefit from strong investments from the Retail and Utilities industries.

The use cases that will experience the fastest spending growth represent the diverse application of IoT technologies – electric vehicle charging (30.9% CAGR), next-generation loss prevention (14.5% CAGR), agriculture field monitoring (13.9% CAGR), and connected vending and lockers (13.8% CAGR).

The influence of digital transformation is evident

IDC says updates to the IoT use case taxonomy in this release of the IoT Spending Guide reflect the evolving digital transformation investment objectives of enterprises.

Thematically, greater investment in goods production and supply chains resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and global reactions that caused massive business and societal disruptions are evident in the new use cases.

"These production and supply chain-related use cases can be seen in the discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, retail, and transportation industries," said Marcus Torchia, research vice president with IDC's data & analytics group. "Meanwhile, digital business investments are ramping up in other industries such as the resource industries. For example, IoT is helping to improve upstream supply chain processes in agriculture, such as growing, harvesting, and delivering higher quality products to market."

Technology view

From a technology perspective, IoT services will be the largest area of spending in 2023 and through the end of the forecast, accounting for nearly 40% of all IoT spending worldwide.

Hardware spending is the second largest technology category, dominated by module/sensor purchases. Software will be the fastest-growing technology category with a five-year CAGR of 11.0% and a focus on application and analytics software purchases.

Regional view

Western Europe, the United States, and China will account for more than half of all IoT spending throughout the forecast.

Although Western Europe and the United States currently have similar levels of spending, Western Europe will expand its lead with an 11.0% CAGR over the 2023-2027 forecast, compared to an 8.0% CAGR for the United States.

China's IoT spending is forecast to surpass the United States by the end of the forecast due to its 13.2% CAGR.

The post IDC outlines growth drivers in industrial IoT in coming years appeared first on FutureIoT.

As Asia comes out of the three-year economic slump because of the pandemic, what lies ahead for businesses? What is the role of IoT in the return to some form of normalcy?

FutureIoT spoke to Danny Mu, principal analyst at Forester Research on recent trends around IoT adoption in Asia and where this will lead us in 2023 and beyond.

Drawing from the Forester Report, state of IoT in Asia Pacific in 2022. Where is the concentration of IoT?

We have seen that companies in Asia-Pacific are shifting the share of IoT engagements toward production deployments.

Five years ago, in 2017, production deployments comprised just 25% of engagements, and these were predominantly POCs or pilots.

But in 2021, 61% of engagements were production deployments. That is a clear indication that Asia-Pacific firms are getting more confident in the potential of IoT initiatives to generate business value.

Among all the IoT use cases, smart industry, smart consumer services, and smart infrastructure are popular in Asia-Pacific.

Why do you say the smart city industry in Asia Pacific's leading the world in terms of IoT?

As we know, Asia Pacific contributed 35% of the world's GDP, but when focusing on industry value added, including manufacturing, construction, and utilities, Asia Pacific contributed 44%. That is why the smart industry is a leading IoT use case.

What’s driving this deployment of IoT?

Three drivers. The first appearance and rising maturity of specialised IoT solutions and cloud-based IoT. Second, connectivity technologies such as 5G. Third capabilities and offerings of IoT consultants and service providers.

In Asia, which industries are leaving the deployment?

In Asia Pacific, two-thirds of telecom decision makers say their firm is currently adopting IoT solutions.

Adoption and investment are highest in high-tech manufacturing, 81% followed by telecom, 71%. General manufacturing and pharma are broadly in line with Asia-Pacific outreach.

Adoption rates below the average are found in financial services and insurance, 60%, and retail in wholesale 56.

Compared to other regions outside Asia, how sophisticated do you see the level of use of IoT in our part of the world?

According to the survey data, the IoT solution and application adoption rate in Asia Pacific is higher than in Europe and North America. Particularly in the high-tech manufacturing sector, the adoption rate in Asia Pacific is more than 10% higher than in Europe and North America.

Within the leadership at organizations deploying IoT, what do you see are the primary motivations most surveyed?

Asia-Pacific Telecom decision-makers are confident that IoT solutions will generate significant operational efficiency. Half of them expect IoT initiatives to significantly improve customer experience and increase revenue.

How do you see these IoT deployments impacting other initiatives like digital transformation and modernization, for instance?

Impacted by IOT solutions, enhancing customer experience in public places is the most often mentioned. Other use cases related to smart consumer services are also popular.

The two years of the pandemic have likely driven this trend as customer experience in public. It's driven by private companies, public infrastructure operators, and governments.

IoT Solutions also help to enable new business models, particularly in financial services and insurance – a clear indication that those firms will spend the extra IoT budget on usage-based insurance financing and lending.  

Given that security is a rising concern among business leaders, how should enterprises deploying IoT manage the security strategy of the company? 

Security is on top of the concerns with deploying IoT 10% higher than the second option. To help protect data in IoT scenarios, confidential computing can help to isolate sensitive operations in a trusted execution environment during processing.

To support the transfer of data between edge and cloud while appearing seamless to the developers, two networking markets, zero trust/edge, and multi-cloud networking will combine to create a business-wide networking fabric.

Finally, as we step into 2023, how should enterprises review IOT deployment strategies to ensure that these initiatives meet expectations?

We have found that Asia-Pacific companies are less confident in their in-house skills to deliver IoT solutions successfully. These points will need for consulting partnerships.

We also predict that the adoption of in-region digital industrial platforms will gain significant growth. Embracing these in region platforms and industry-specific cloud solutions will help Asia-Pacific firms meet their expectations.

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: IoT in Asia in 2023 and beyond appeared first on FutureIoT.

The entry of insurtech has also opened new avenues for insurers to market products, in some cases, create totally new offerings in new locations, not possible with the conventional model for marketing insurance.

Concirrus CEO Andrew Yeoman acknowledged that the pandemic has challenged the insurance industry business model in Asia. He commented that COVID-19 has given the industry problems and opportunities.

"It's given us a problem because operating a business where you're we've been predominantly used to doing face to face work, and then trying to do that remotely has been challenging. And clearly, there's going to need to be some investment going forwards in some of that backend office and infrastructure. The very manual methods of perhaps processing policies have been challenged," he added.

IoT-led innovations in insurance

According to the IMARC Group report, IoT Insurance Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027, the global IoT insurance market reached a value of US$20.2 Billion in 2021. The Internet of Things (IoT) insurance refers to a technological solution that collects, transmits, and shares data of the client to insurance companies.

Yeoman acknowledges that IoT is creeping in everywhere. "Everything that we see in touch with seems to be monitored these days. What we're starting to slowly see is that the insurers are building products around that," he added.

"We're seeing it rising everywhere at the same time, both in personal lines and in commercial lines. And really the most exciting part of it is that it gives you some that hyper-personalised proposition so around how you work, how you're behaving and how you're driving."

The value proposition of IoT in insurance

IoT brings with it data not previously available to insurers. Yeoman commented that the data represents the behaviour, in the form of how, where, and when, of the asset. He cited the example of vehicular insurance. Where traditional insurance would mean that the insurer would only have a record of an incident during an insurance claim, embedded insurance describes a behaviour that is a far better indicator of risk than the static factors that have been used previously.

According to Yeoman, from the insurer's perspective, the data that they get from IoT devices will allow for disaggregation of risk. He posited that using data gathered by IoT devices, insurers can price their products and services to the risk profile of the insured.

"The secondary benefit that it also provides is the concept of nudge behaviour. I think that notion of those additional benefits changes our relationship with an insurer from just being somebody that's there, when things go wrong, to somebody that can help me live a healthier life," he added.

Supporting the operations of insurers

Beyond the embedding of IoT into insurance products, Yeoman says insurance companies make their living off managing the risks of the insured. He cited the example of insured vehicles – that under the traditional business model, the insurer has no awareness of where an insured vehicle is at any given time, whether it is on the road or parked somewhere, the road conditions and the driving habits or pattern of the driver.

He posited that the insurer would not know how many risks the insurance company is taking during the lifetime of the policy. IoT quantifies some of these risks and provides a granularity of risks down to the individual policy owner.

Importance of data

To realise that example of automotive insurance, it is important that data from IoT devices are collected and processed according to a pre-defined workflow.

To succeed in integrating IoT into the insurance business model, Yeoman says it is important to have a very clear understanding of what their business model is going to be, how that's going to scale, and how they can adopt such a business model.

He posited that insurers would need to be willing to experiment and be able to adapt to what works for them. "They need to see what's acceptable to their policyholders. And they need to do that quickly. I think the short, sharp, focused experience. What can we learn? We call it fail-fast," he commented.

Managing the unknown – IoT skills, experience, and expertise

Yeoman noted that insurers are used to dealing with data – much of it recorded on paper. With an IoT-led insurance model,

Clearly, if you go in with an IoT enabled proposition, you might take on a new supply chain, you might have to buy hardware, you might have to have connectivity issues in terms of SIM cards or other sorts of network connectivity. And you need a supply chain to then say, both procure those but then get those shipped out or installed with a customer or whichever. I think that in terms of the insurance expertise, depending on the particular business case, and the line of business that going into, clearly, it changes the need of an insurer, what skills they need in that supply chain. My one-sentence advice is, don't build that in-house, just partner with somebody who's an expert in that.

Click on the PodChat player to hear Yeoman's insights and recommendations around how the insurance industry can meet the evolving challenges using IoT.

1. How has the insurance industry in Asia evolved in the last five years?
2. It can be argued that IoT is still relatively new as applied in insurance. Can you cite one or two recent innovations around the use of IoT in insurance?
3. What is the value proposition of IoT in the provision of insurance products and services?
4. There are two aspects of IoT that need to be addressed in insurance: risk management and the other is around data privacy and protection.
   1. How are insurers using IoT to better manage their risks? (insight into behavioural analysis)
   1. In your observation, is the understanding of IoT technology, sufficiently mature around data privacy and protection?
5. How important is having a clear business model to benefit from IoT data? And how can businesses adopt such a model?
   1. What skills, expertise, and experience must an insurer have access to benefit from the use of IoT?
   1. When looking to tap IoT, what questions should leadership ask their CIO/CTO to ensure they are in the right direction and frame of mind?
6. What does Concirrus bring to the table?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Redefining insurance with IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

Since March of last year, DeepBrain AI has been working closely with AI bankers to improve functions and enhance performance by piloting AI bankers in the AI experience zone located at KB Kookmin Bank's Yeouido headquarters.

As a result, it succeeded in commercialising AI human-based kiosk products for the first time in East Asian country, drawing great attention from the IT industry as well as the financial sector.

"The AI banker has endless possibilities that can be used for customer service with a variety of devices such as mobile devices as well as kiosks in the future. Based on DeepBrain AI's recognised AI human technology and business value, we will continue to explore business routes so that it can be applied to more diverse fields,” said Eric Jang, CEO, DeepBrain AI.

DeepBrain AI's AI human technology is a solution that creates a virtual human capable of real-time interactive communication. It implements AI that can communicate directly with users by fusion of speech synthesis, video synthesis, natural language processing, and speech recognition technologies.

Contactless service amid COVId-19

As a technology that can realise complete contactless service in various fields, banks have the effect of providing a secure counselling service to customers who prefer non-face-to-face in accordance with the COVID-19 situation, and shortening customer waiting time through faster response.

First, the AI banker greets customers when they arrive at the kiosk and provides answers to their questions. All answers go through the process of deriving optimal information based on KB-STA, a financial language model developed by KB Kookmin Bank, and delivered to customers through the AI banker's video and voice implemented with DeepBrain AI's AI human technology.

Specifically, it is possible to guide how to use peripheral devices such as STM (Smart Automated Machine), ATM (Automated Machine), and pre-writing service, introduce financial products, and guide the location of the kiosk installation point. In addition, it is loaded with information on convenience of living such as financial common sense, today's weather, and surrounding facilities.

In addition, the AI banker, with idle-mode, can make natural gestures such as moving hands, nodding, and tidying up clothes during conversation maximizing user experience from the customer's point of view. In addition, it is possible to recognize people through the front camera, so if a customer leaves their seat, the kiosk is automatically finished as a thank you.

This time, KB Kookmin Bank's AI banker modelled and implemented one male and one female model, and used their actual audio and video data. In the case of clothes, the main colours of KB Kookmin Bank are yellow and gray, so that the brand image can be recognized by customers while using the kiosk.

The post KB Kookmin Bank deploys South Korea’s first “AI banker” appeared first on FutureIoT.

BI-FAST is developed to meet the public demand for fast and efficient money transfer services that operates around the clock. Currently, the National Clearing System (SKNBI) cannot fully meet the demand due to the finite window time, lack of real-time effective funds and limited payment channels – which defeats the goal to deliver the convenience of cashless transactions.

Indonesia is the latest in a series of Southeast Asian countries to upgrade its national payments infrastructure to drive digital economies and accelerate growth. As legacy payment systems continue to impede mature market innovation, the region’s countries are leapfrogging increasingly outdated technology and leveraging strong domestic central infrastructure as the foundation for real time digital and cross-border payments.

BI-FAST is an integral part of Indonesia’s ongoing digital modernization initiative and central to its Payment System Blueprint, IPS 2025. IPS 2025 aims to transform the country’s payment infrastructure, integrate its digital economy, and finance sector.

BI has developed BI-FAST with the help of  real-time payments provider ACI Worldwide, implementing the national infrastructure in less than nine months – one  of the fastest countrywide implementations on record. When complete, the vast undertaking will incorporate 135 banks, as well as merchants and payment service providers, making it one of the world’s largest real-time payments initiatives.

“ACI is proud to help drive BI-FAST and Indonesia’s bold payment transformation,” said Leslie Choo, managing director – APAC, ACI Worldwide. “Together, ACI and Bank Indonesia have created one of the most secure and future-proof real-time payment systems in the world, one that will help accelerate Indonesia’s digital economy and bring millions of unbanked citizens into the formal financial sector.”

Phase one of the national initiative is already live with more than twenty banks across the country, providing participating institutions with access to a series of key services including:

• 24/7 real-time credit transfers with real-time transaction settlement at bank & customer level
• Unique identifiers (proxy addresses) to simplify, secure and facilitate payments
• Integrated real-time fraud detection

According to Choo, ACI’s Low Value Real-Time Payments technology drives BI’s central infrastructure hub, which allows more than one hundred payment scheme players to connect. ACI also provides immediate access to the core real-time infrastructure, laying the foundation for future services such as Request to Pay (R2P), eMandates, direct debit, and cross-border payments

“Delivering a national central infrastructure of this size and complexity from scratch, while simultaneously supporting the go live of over 20 banks in less than nine months, is no easy undertaking. It is testament to the dedication and commitment of all involved to Indonesia and its digital future,” added Choo.

Digital payments have gained considerable traction in Indonesia and are in regular use by more than half (55%) of the country’s consumers. The rapid growth over the past year highlights Indonesia’s dramatic shift towards digital payments due to the pandemic. The government now anticipates even greater adoption with real-time payments, and a further boost to its digital economy ambitions.

The post Bank Indonesia launched national digital payment infrastructure appeared first on FutureIoT.

Japanese credit card provider JCB and Keychain GK have developed the first payment infrastructure for machine-to-machine transactions that supports offline payments using near-field communication (NFC).

This will enable offline payments, addressing the challenges related to the risks of operating through network outages and distributed attacks.

Under the collaboration, the two companies implemented the payment processing system using IoT devices, mobile phones, and smartwatches, and demonstrated the following:

1. Payments may be conditionally processed even during a double-offline scenario.

2. Payment processing consensus may be done over mixed networks simultaneously.

3. Upon network restoration, the offline transactions may be securely repatriated to online in batches.

Leveraging Keychain's blockchain and self-sovereign identity technology, the new infrastructure allows payments to be conditionally accepted by merchants, even in the event that both the payer and the merchant are disconnected from the network, a scenario known as double offline.

Notably, the shoppers' experience is as easy as swiping a smart watch at the store payment terminal with this system. The system uses NFC network protocol and leverages Keychain Core to support small IoT devices with, in principle, as little as 32 megabytes of memory.

The post JCB and Keychain deploy NFC for offline payments appeared first on FutureIoT.

The application period is open until January  9, 2022. The program seeks to help local startups to identify commercial opportunities where they can collaborate with Visa and its extensive network of bank, merchants and government partners in the region.

"As the world transitions from a pandemic to an endemic state, there is great demand for digital-first experiences that shape new thinking around digital currencies and open data. And many startups have developed new innovations to tap these opportunities," said Chris Clark, regional president, Asia Pacific, Visa. "We want to support these startups by helping them go from a local success story to a regional player, providing guidance and connections to navigate the complexities of entering new markets."

Now on its second year, the accelerator program in Asia Pacific was launched in December 2020. Visa introduced the Accelerator Program in Asia Pacific in December 2020. Its first batch of startups called “cohort” included the following: Brankas, a fintech that provides financial software and solutions; Curlec, a subscription management platform that facilitates recurring payments and disbursements; DigitSecure, an omnichannel acceptance platform; ModusBox, an open-source platform for real-time payments; and, Open, a neo-banking platform for small businesses

Startups from the first cohort include Brankas, a fintech that provides financial software and solutions; Curlec, a subscription management platform that facilitates recurring payments and disbursements; DigitSecure, an omnichannel acceptance platform; ModusBox, an open-source platform for real-time payments and Open, a neo-banking platform for small businesses. The startups concluded their activities with a product pitch to hundreds of Visa's clients and partners across the region.

Breaking into new markets

The Visa Accelerator Program is designed for startups that have launched successful solutions in their home markets but are looking towards the next stage of growth. As a network working for everyone, Visa is uniquely positioned to help startups break into new geographies and reach new customer groups.

“It would have taken us two to three years to enter Southeast Asia and we were able to do this within six months  thanks to Visa's dedicated go-to-market support and structured approach to solutioning and product positioning with clients,” Anish Achuthan, Co-founder and CEO, Open.

Seshu Kulkarni, CEO of  DigitSecure, said: "Visa's product and market insights, executive mentorship, and technical expertise, have helped DigitSecure further strengthen our capabilities, enhance our go-to-market strategy, increase brand visibility and also open doors to new clients."

Under the program, a cohort can quickly test and validate partnership opportunities through an accelerated Proof of Concept (POC) over the course of 4-6 months.

Unlike traditional POCs that take valuable time and resources away from the startups, the Visa Accelerator Program is designed to quickly test and validate partnership opportunities with Visa and its extensive network of partners, assess market demand, and move forward with a fast-tracked path to pilots, partnerships and commercialisation post-program.

"The sheer magnitude of the contribution from the Visa team was incredible. They were able to mobilise resources from tech to development across the Asia Pacific region for us,” said Steve Haley, director of economic development at ModusBox.

Todd Schweitzer, co-founder and CEO of Brankas, echoed the same sentiment: "The program highlight was seeing our product live in the market with our banking partners – Visa took an action-oriented approach in joining forces with Brankas and launching new products with us."

"Our experience with Visa has been unparalleled – to be able to work at this speed with us, considering their scale, has exceeded all expectations,” said Zac Liew, co-founder and CEO of Curlec.

Key technology focus areas

With increased expectations for digital-first experiences from consumers and businesses, startups in the 2022 cohort will tackle some of the most pressing financial and technological opportunities in Asia Pacific.

For its latest edition, the program is focused on the following  technology areas:

• New Flows: How to simplify connectivity between consumers, businesses, and governments to support new flows across domestic and international networks.

Examples of this include:

• Bridging network connectivity across schemes, wallets, RTP systems, etc.
  • Facilitating new use cases or reaching new users in gaming, social commerce, government flows, bill payments, etc.
  • Payments-as-a-Service
  • Payment infrastructure enablers
• Digital Currencies & Blockchain:  How to shape the development and adoption of blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies to power transformative new commerce applications.

Examples of this includes:

• Digital asset custody
  • Crypto rewards
  • Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
  • Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
  • DeFi applications
  • Oracles and cross chain interoperability
• Open Data Solutions: How to enable new data partnership models, and build advanced decision-making and scoring capabilities.

Examples of this include:

• Digital identity
  • Consent management
  • Decision modelling to support credit scoring, sustainability use cases, etc.
  • Fair and equitable AI & ML modelling
  • Financial management
  • Risk, fraud and security
  • Growth marketing
• Buy Now Pay Later & Loyalty: How to drive deeper engagement across the payments value chain through differentiated offerings such as new credit models and loyalty solutions.

Examples of this include:

• Value chain enablers for buy now pay later, instalments and new credit models
  • Consumer and merchant loyalty and engagement solutions
  • New retail and checkout experiences, including alternative payment methods and new form factors

Interviews with potential participants of the Visa Accelerator Program will be conducted on a rolling basis, with selected startups being notified in March 2022. The program is set to run between April and September next year.

The post Visa seeks APAC startups with market-tested digital payment solutions appeared first on FutureIoT.

The new mobile app service is the result of the recent partnership between Bao Viet Insurance and Hitachi Asia Vietnam that enables to insurance company to integrate Hitachi’s Risk Simulator for Insurance, a Lumada solution that analyses medical big data using Hitachi's proprietary AI.

Lumada is Hitachi’s suite of advanced digital and services for turning data into insights that drive digital transformation of social infrastructure. Hitachi’s Risk Simulator for Insurance solution uses medical big data to predict a person’s risk of contracting one or more of eight major lifestyle-related ailments such as diabetes, cerebrovascular diseases, renal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, hypertensive diseases, pancreatic diseases, hepatic diseases, and malignant neoplasm.

By integrating the solution into Bao Viet Direct app, more than one million of the company’s medical insurance policy holders can easily check their future risks of these eight major lifestyle-related diseases simply by entering their health check-up results and past medical history into the mobile app. The app also displays factors for risks and offers advice for improvement. There information can enable specific behavioural changes and lifestyle habits to support health improvement.

Rising medical cost from lifestyle-related diseases

Rapid economic growth and the rising number of the middle class have changed the lifestyle – including diet and exercise – of the Vietnamese people. In recent years, the growing prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases has been a problem in Vietnam.

While there is rising demand for high-quality medical services due to increase in income and improvement in living standards, the ideas of prevention and early treatments are not instilled in most Vietnamese.

Many people in the country do not start their treatment until they become severely ill. For one, only around 30% of diabetes patients, estimated to number over 3.5 million, are receiving treatment for the condition.

Meanwhile, the local medical insurance market has been expanding rapidly, with concern over spiralling medical costs reflecting a rise in personnel expenses at medical institutions.

The concern over rising medical costs has spurred Bao Viet to deploy advanced digital technologies such as AI and big data to promote healthy lifestyle through disease prevention, early detection and early treatment.

Meanwhile as it seeks to deliver more high-value insurance services, Bao Viet will use data from the Hitachi’s Risk Simulator for Insurance to enable channel expansion and create opportunities of cross-selling during insurance application.

For example, the risk prediction service will be linked to the remote medical care services provided by Bao Viet Insurance. In addition, these services will be combined with various health data management functions of Bao Viet Direct app for a customised, centralised and integrated administration of health information that supports wellbeing and productivity management of companies.

Bao Viet is one of the many insurance companies to adopt Hitachi’s Risk Simulator for Insurance after it launched in Japan in 2018.

Bao Viet and Hitachi will continue to discuss the creation of new health promotion services that utilise various technologies. And Hitachi will enhance its services further based on achievements from joint initiatives with Bao Viet Insurance and expand them to Southeast Asian countries and other countries where demand is expected.

The post Bao Viet Insurance uses big data to support health awareness appeared first on FutureIoT.

Tokyo-based CG provides Japan's first decentralized ID platform called UNiD, while the Yokohama-based TSSR, has  strong expertise in IoT device software development.

The rise of the Stay-at-Home economy has accelerated the adoption of contactless transactions at the consumer level, and both companies see a huge business potential in providing verification  of IoT devices used contactless transactions. Particularly with the shift to contactless transactions in smart bank branches, virtual concierges at healthcare and government services, digital orders at restaurants, and automated receptions at offices and hotels.

According to a Deloitte study, the market size of the contactless economy in Asia Pacific will reach US$11 trillion, double the current level.

“With the COVID-19 pandemic, the number and type of businesses that need to interact with users contactless have exploded beyond the specific industries. We believe that the verifiable data exchange platform between "people" and "machines" in a decentralised manner, will support the transformation to contactless systems in a wide range of fields, including new work styles, mobility, logistics, and smart cities, and will contribute to progress our digital society. We are pleased to be the first mover in the world to take on this challenge,” said Masayoshi Mitsui, CEO, CollaboGate Japan.

A decentralised  IoT platform

With the alliance, both companies will be working on a proof-of-concept project that intends to build a "decentralised IoT platform" that smoothly connects people and things, and a "smart concierge" that enables the contactless economy by using "UNiD" decentralized ID platform developed by CG and TSSR's expertise in embedded system development on Renesas’ MCUs.

“In the current Internet system, it is difficult to automatically verify the data provided by users without a trusted third party. In reality, the manual verification process of the data is still necessary for businesses. By introducing a decentralised identity mechanism to IoT devices, we can build a mechanism that allows them to autonomously verify the data provided by users. This will enable the safe and quick delivery of services of their needs,” the companies said in a press statement.

They added: “In this project, we will build a prototype of a "smart concierge" with an identity verification function for use in BFSI, healthcare, government, and access management at offices, hotels, factories, logistics warehouses.”

IoT devices must be able to correctly identify, authenticate, and authorised users, automatically verify the data applied for, consider user privacy, and ensure the security of unattended IoT devices. A decentralised IoT platform that meets these requirements is needed for a smooth transition from the face-to-face to the non-face-to-face system.

CG”s and TSSR’s “smart concierge model has four steps: first, service provider issues credentials (identity verification information, usage permit) to the user's mobile wallet; second,the user sends the credentials stored in the wallet to the IoT device; third, the IoT device verifies the credentials and opens/closes the gate; and fourth, access log is sent to the cloud server.

With the smart concierge model,  people can check in to hotels, accommodations, and other lodging facilities and unlock their rooms by simply carrying their mobile app. It can also streamline the validation and entrance for live music, concerts, baseball, football, and other sports, as well as theme park facilities. The system is also expected to enable contactless operations and efficiency that have been conducted face-to-face, such as the efficient management of office visitors, logistics warehouses, medical and educational facilities.

Raising IoT security

IoT devices that are connected to the network are subject to security risks such as hacking and identity theft. For one,  the access IDs and passwords hard-coded into IoT devices are vulnerable if they are left as default settings or are easy to guess. In fact, there was a case where a large number of IoT devices were illegally accessed and used as a botnet to launch DDoS attacks.

For this reason, security by the PKI standards has significant advantages over the password method. However, the conventional PKI standards using CA certification authorities require manual management of many certificates for each IoT device. In addition to being a very time-consuming task, there are risks such as the leakage of private keys managed by the service operator. In addition, the time and effort required to renew certificates lead to the use of certificates with a long expiration date, which causes vulnerabilities. Thus, the conventional PKI standards have problems in terms of cost, operation, and security.

By introducing a decentralised ID mechanism to IoT devices, first, a key pair is generated within the IoT device, then the public key corresponding to the digital signature is registered in the decentralised PKI network. Anyone from the network can reference this public key, and a cloud server communicating with the IoT device can retrieve this public key and verify the digitally signed data. This is expected to eliminate the need for manual verification, increase security strength, and significantly reduce the operating costs of IoT devices.

Enabling privacy-preserving data transactions

CG and TSSR will also design the decentralised IoT platform to comply with current regulations such as GDPR and CCPA, which impose a separation between holding data and using the data.

In Japan, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information is scheduled to take effect in April 2022, and the handling of personal data via IoT devices will require system design based on the same consideration of individual privacy. Decentralized IoT platforms provide a mechanism that enables IoT service providers to provide the desired services without retaining unnecessary personal information. It provides a mechanism for safe and smooth authentication and data transactions between people and IoT devices based on personal consent, using a mechanism where individuals control their personal information.

Sakae Ito, vice president of IoT Platform Business Division at Renesas Electronics is pleased to contribute in the decentralised IoT platform with its secure MCU/MPR technologies.

“We hope that this demonstration experiment of the decentralized IoT Platform by the CollaboGate and Tessera will prove IoT devices can bring security and reliability as well as improved convenience to users, expanding the demand for contactless applications,” he said.

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Both companies are entitled to an investment of up to US$4 million in total from AEF and its co-organisers Hong Kong Cyberport and Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP).

“The Hong Kong and global markets have faced severe challenges over the past year. We are happy to see that many startups still hold on to indomitable, innovative and flexible thinking during their journeys. The support from enterprises is crucial to the growth of startups. With the help of Cyberport, HKSTP, as well as other sponsoring companies and institutions, we will have abundant resources to match startups with mentors to share relevant experiences in entrepreneurship and management,” said Cindy Chow, executive director of AEF.

Established in 2017, this year’s competition received over 2,000 applications from 100 countries worldwide vying in four different categories:  retail, fintech, smart city and deep tech industries. Moving the entire event online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, JUMPSTARTER 2021 nevertheless proved to be the largest in terms of scale with over 220 semi-pitch sessions that attracted more than 126,000 fans and supporter globally.

Rice Robotics bagged the prize in the smart city category and was also given the Social Impact Startup award.  The Hong Kong-based company is building the infrastructure for companies to deploy robot fleets. It has four robots: Rice (delivery), Jasmine (disinfection), Valencia (patrol and guiding) and Waiter (food court delivery), each of which are autonomous, navigating in crowded areas and charging without help, and run by the management software RiceCore.

China’s  Lingxi AR Technology received the Top Innovative Startup Award for its waveguide AR technology – the first to be developed in the Mainland, which various companies from consumer electronics, smart-eyewear manufacturers and industrial enterprises can apply in their see-through wearable displays.

Due to the pandemic, JUMPSTARTER 2021 moved the entire contest online for the first time. It received an overwhelming response with over 2,000 applications from 100 countries and regions around the globe. Startups from Greater China and Asia Pacific are the most active among the applicants. With the support of collaboration partners, more than 220 semi-pitch sessions were held online, attracting more than 126,000 fans and supporters worldwide. The scale of the event was the largest since its inception, showing the passion of startups and their supporters, even amid the pandemic.

The competition has been opened to startups in the retail, fintech, smart city and deep tech industries. Among the top 200 finalists, retail startups made up a relatively high proportion of entries. The judging panel of JUMPSTARTER 2021 believes that due to the popularity among fintech in the last few years, participants in this area will face fiercer competition in the market. By region, startups in the Mainland are concentrating on deep tech such as biotechnology, while startups in Hong Kong are focusing on retail and fintech. Startups in Southeast Asia meanwhile are showing strong interest in the retail sector.

JUMPSTARTER 2021 winners in the other categories are:

• Retail – Outpos of Indonesia for using digital solutions to integrate  street food  hawkers into a modern street food ecosystem at a fraction of the cost and time it takes to setup a traditional restaurant.
• Fintech – Benefit Vantage of Hong Kong for improving mobile authentication and the user experience without compromising security and privacy through IPificiation, where mobile users can be easily authenticated via their Public IP address. The company also creates extra revenue for telco partners and helps service providers win trust with safe and seamless authentication.
• Deep Tech – Hinyeung Limited of China, which is committed to manufacturing high-speed, high-definition 3D visual devices. Its products are known for precision and are primarily used for robot navigation and industrial inspection. It has successfully worked with sectors including food, electric appliances, logistics, ceramics and shipping

The judging panel of JUMPSTARTER 2021 believes that due to the popularity among fintech in the last few years, participants in this area faced fiercer competition in the market. By region, startups in the Mainland concentrated on deep tech such as biotechnology, while startups in Hong Kong focused on retail and fintech. Startups in Southeast Asia showed strong interest in the retail sector.

Making Hong Kong Asia’s startup hub

Peter Yan,  CEO of Cyberport said innovative technology has become an important driving force for the global economy under the new normal.

“In face of current challenges, I look forward to seeing more startups solve real world pain points in innovative ways to create value for society. We are committed to providing comprehensive support to promising startups, and will work with institutions and investors to promote the development of Hong Kong's startup ecosystem,” Yan said.

According to Albert Wong, CEO of HKSTP said Hong Kong is home to a diverse talent pool with direct access to the Greater Bay Area and Southeast Asian markets, a diversified capital market and many factors to support startups.

“In recent years, the government, private companies and investors have strongly embraced the innovation and technology sector, making the city a great place for startups to develop their businesses. We have cooperated with Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and other organisations to create and nurture the innovation and technology ecosystem. We are confident in the startup development in Hong Kong,” Wong said.

Lukas Petrikas, head of Innovation and Data Lab, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) said, “We are excited to see the breakthroughs achieved by a growing number of Hong Kong startups. Hong Kong’s thriving corporate venture capital ecosystem bodes well for local startup success stories. HKEX looks forward to welcoming some of these home-grown startups to our world-leading equities market soon, adding more vibrancy and innovation to this international financial centre.”

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This was the key insight to the latest research from Frost & Sullivan, pointing out that the pandemic challenges have catalysed technology trends across the globe and accelerated organisations' digital transformations sooner than initially predicted.

“More than 50% of businesses have already invested in IoT and digital visualisation. The former offers potential for enhanced CX for organisations in insurance, healthcare, and manufacturing with its monitoring capabilities, and the latter can be valuable for agent desktops to improve employee performance,” said Alpa Shah, Global VP of CX Research at Frost & Sullivan.

She added: “"The retail/wholesale, travel/hospitality, energy, and education industries will invest in AI to facilitate innovation and are most interested in using the technology to boost CX. On the other hand, banking and finance companies, along with government and transportation, are focusing on cost efficiencies."

Other key findings of Frost & Sullivan’s latest research, include:

• Big data analytics takes the lead on investments in transformative technologies, followed by IoT and data visualisation. More than 75% of organisations will be investing in these solutions by 2022.
• Post-pandemic plans for technology investments are focused on moving applications to the cloud (31%), followed by video conferencing (25%). Over the next two years, 80% of CX solutions are expected to be in the cloud.
• The key digital transformation objectives in 2021 are adapting to the new work modes (35%), accelerating digital customer engagement self-serve (31%), and enhancing e-commerce capabilities (30%).
• For 44% of companies, customer satisfaction is the prevalent method for measuring digital transformation success, which aligns with top business goals and investment priorities.
• Cybersecurity continues to be the top concern for 51% of companies; this is only exacerbated by the number of remote workers caused by the pandemic. COVID-19 has augmented the move to the cloud and the use of digital commerce and digital marketing. While CX is a top corporate goal, CX investments are not ranked high.

The research report stated that delivering a holistic customer journey is top of mind among end-user businesses. Finance, healthcare, and travel and hospitality organizations are focused on managing the entire customer journey; high-tech and transportation companies want to leverage CX information across all departments.

"Companies recognise the importance of CX and even measure their digital transformation success on customer satisfaction but tend to invest in solutions that only solve short-term problems," Shah said.

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More than a faster version of mobile connectivity on 4G, 5G's speed, reliability, reduced energy usage and massive connectivity will be transformative for businesses and wider society, enabling ubiquitous access to super-fast broadband.

This is one of the key take-aways in the latest analysis by PwC on the economic impact of new and existing uses of 5G in utilities, health and social care, consumer, media and financial services. The analysis predicts that productivity and efficiency gains enabled by 5G’s application will drive business and service change worth US$1.3 trillion to global GDP by 2030.

Entitled “Powering Your Tomorrow”, the analysis covers eight markets, including Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, the US and the UK.

Based on the study, the US (US$484bn), China (US$220bn) and Japan (US$76bn) will experience the largest uplift as a result of 5G technology applications, due to the size of their economies and strong modern industrial production sectors.

At a regional level Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) is expected to benefit the most from manufacturing applications of 5G, due to the size of the manufacturing sectors. It demonstrates the potential for regional competitive advantage through approaches to the adoption and regulation of the technology.

"These numbers quantify impact, but perhaps more important, our study reflects the value of 5G - new levels of connectivity and collaboration mean companies will be able to see, do and achieve more. It will open up new opportunities for growth and change as organisations rethink and reconfigure the way they operate in the post-pandemic world,” said Wilson Chow, Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry Leader, PwC China.

He added: "With the pandemic accelerating digitalisation across all sectors, 5G will act as a further catalyst. It will emerge in this decade as a fundamental piece of our societal infrastructure and as a platform for driving the competitiveness of national economies, new business models, skills and industries."

Indeed,  economic gains are projected across all economies assessed in the study, as 5G offers the potential to rethink business models, skills, products and services, with the gains accelerating beginning in 2025 as 5G-enabled applications become more widespread

Expect transformation of health and social care

According to the PwC study, more than 50% the global economic impact – estimated at US$530bn – will be driven by the transformation of health and social care experience for patients, providers and medical staff within the next 10 years.

While the acceleration of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic provided a glimpse of the future of healthcare, remote care is just one area in which 5G can enable both better health outcomes and cost savings.

5G's applications include remote monitoring and consultations, real time in-hospital data sharing, improved doctor-patient communications and automation in hospitals to reduce healthcare costs.

Regional and sector impact 

The study  also shows that at a sector level, impacts of 5G deployment vary for individual economies.

The US and Australia are projected to gain the most from financial services applications: India from smart utilities; China and Germany in manufacturing.  Other industries analysed in the study show the significant potential of new and existing applications over the next decade, driving changes in skills, jobs, consumer products and regulation:

• SMART utilities management applications will support environmental targets to reduce carbon and waste through enabling combined smart meters and grids to deliver energy savings, and improving waste and water management through tracking of waste and water leakage (US$330bn).
• Consumer and media applications include: over the top (OTT) gaming, real time advertising and customer services (US$254bn)
• Manufacturing and heavy industry applications include: monitoring and reducing defects, increased autonomous vehicle use (US$134bn)
• Financial services applications including reducing fraud and improving customer experiences (US$86bn)

Chow pointed out that 5G is more than mobile connectivity as it puts a new lens on advancing productivity and rethinking entire business models for the future.

“Given the scale of potential and its impacts, every organisation will need a plan for 5G's implementation within five years across technology and business strategies to maximise opportunities and prepare for how they integrate their technology and business strategies, and engage with customers, supply chain and regulators,” he said.

Policy and trust

Meanwhile, the study highlights that the reach of 5G's technology potential will require businesses and government to consider new approaches to regulatory and consumer engagement - focusing on how the technology is used.

Chow said as with any technology, policy engagement, transparency and public trust are critical factors.

“Whether it's considering the use of self-driving vehicles or telemedicine, how data is managed, infrastructure deployed, or how different sectors collaborate, business and government need to shit from focusing on regulating a technology, to promoting transparency in 5G's application, building and sustaining public trust in its use and potential."

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The AI solution, developed by Hong Kong-based SenseTime, is composed of a video screen, camera, microphone and speakers installed onsite integrated with a tailor-made software that can detect, engage and interact with customers automatically.

The virtual receptionist aims to help the bank’s duty managers ease their workloads by handling customer queries, while offering a new banking experience to clients. It is designed to mimic its human counterpart by offering personalised services down to cross-selling other banking products and services to customers, where appropriate.

With the addition of a virtual receptionist onsite, the Zhongshan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China hopes to lift its overall service quality and operational efficiency.

Meanwhile, SenseTime said in a media statement that its digital human receptionist is not only available for offline customer engagement.

In fact, the company has upgraded the online customer service platforms of some of China’s state-owned banks and financial institutions with its digital human receptionist technology. The upgrade enables the banks’ respective mobile app to carry a 3D cartoon character that guides user journeys – from setting up a bank account to seeking other banking services.

When the virtual receptionist struggles to answer complex questions, a human customer service officer monitoring the process will take over remotely, to ensure the efficiency and performance of online services.

The AI digital human integrates SenseTime’s advanced deep learning technologies including AI animated character simulation and natural language processing abilities to achieve human-like interactions with users.

Currently, it supports ten voice commands and identifies over ten facial expressions or body language to offer a fun human-machine interactive experience. Furthermore, it can be customised to answer frequently asked questions and handle tasks for different industries and scenarios including cultural tourism, healthcare, retail, enterprises, and gyms.

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The company has teamed up with Singapore-based banking-as-a service provider MatchMove and wearable payment integrator Tappy Technologies to develop the innovation that turns custom wearables into secure contactless payment devices by simply attaching the small tokenised chip.

MatchMove cardholders can now add their MatchMove Mastercard to this payment chip by simply placing the wearable or the accessory on a Bluetooth-connected device developed by Tappy Technologies.

Tokenisation is the industry-leading security standard in electronic payments. Its integration into Tappy’s product is particularly important at the present moment, as consumers in Asia and across the world are migrating towards contactless payments during the pandemic to stay safe and adhere to social distancing measures. A Mastercard global 2020 study  found 91% of respondents in Asia Pacific were using tap-and-go payments, while 75% said they would keep using contactless after the pandemic is over due to concerns about safety.

After downloading the Tappy app and following the in-app instructions, the MatchMove Mastercard will be tokenised via Mastercard’s Digital Enablement Service (MDES) into the secure payment chip of a wearable via the Bluetooth device. This contactless enabled wearable device works exactly like any contactless card or digital wallet where the user taps the wearable at any contactless accepted terminal.

“We are proud to introduce network tokenization to the world of wearables in partnership with MatchMove and Mastercard.  The Tappy patented provisioning accessory digitalises payment credentials into wearables within seconds which is an absolute game changer to the banking industry.  Embedded inside the wearable is the Mastercard-certified payment chip which operates contactlessly without batteries.  Our goal is to rewrite the standards of consumer wearable by producing products that are secure, easy to use and at the same time maintaining the natural aesthetics of the fashion wearable accessories which is critical to end consumers,” said Wayne Leung, CEO, Tappy Technologies.

Mastercard initially developed its relationship with Tappy through the Mastercard Accelerate initiative, a global platform which offers start-ups and emerging brands a range of programs that support and provide assistance for every stage of their growth and transformation. The Accelerate program that connected Mastercard with Tappy is Mastercard Engage—an initiative that identifies qualified technology partners and connects them with thousands of Mastercard customers to help scale their business, quickly and efficiently.

“Mastercard is constantly innovating technologies that securely and seamlessly integrate payments into people’s day-to-day lives. By combining the versatility of Tappy and MatchMove’s technologies with tokenization, Mastercard is able to meet consumers’ need for both security and convenience at a time when contactless payments are more important than ever,” said Ben Gilbey, senior vice president for digital payments and labs, Asia Pacific at Mastercard.

Amar Abrol, chief commercial officer, MatchMove said the company’s collaboration with Mastercard and Tappy enables them to continue the process of innovation in a safe and secure manner.

“With the addition of the Tappy solutions to our banking-as-a service offering, our customers will be able to take greater control of how they make payments and how payments can fit in their lifestyles. We see this as a real opportunity to drive conversations in this space and create a new dimension of what’s possible,” he said.

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Based on its recent analysis of the Philippines' customer experience solutions in the banking industry, Frost & Sullivan last month awarded the bank with the 2020 Philippines Excellence In Customer Experience in ATM Ambience Experience and In Online Customer Experience.

The award recognised the bank's initiatives to stay ahead of the demand curve by offering best-in-class, personalised customer experience with robust 24/7 services.

"UnionBank has ramped up its digitalisation efforts in the past few years. A customisable system, self-service options, and personified robot assistant are among the digital options available to customers, half of whom now transact digitally," said Edurra Talib, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan.

Combining 5G and artificial intelligence (AI), UnionBank can better anticipate customers' preferences and behaviours through. This commitment to continuous, data-driven innovation has helped the bank deliver enriched customer experiences,  she added.

UnionBank launched its first smart branch in January last year, partnering with Globe Business, the enterprise arm of Globe Telecom,  to deploye 5G connectivity at its Dasmariñas, Cavite branch – the first of its ARK 2.0 branches - for faster speeds, higher bandwidth, and a more stable internet connection.

Twenty times faster than other networks available, 5G technology  enabled branch employees to connect 32 devices at the same time without sacrificing performance.

“Excellent customer experience will always be an important driver to a company's growth and relevance. This is the very reason why we at UnionBank constantly innovate and improve our services to ensure that we offer nothing but the best to our clients,” said Dennis Omila, executive vice president and chief information officer, said in a media statement following the smart bank launch “Partnering with Globe for its revolutionary 5G network and connectivity is one way we can provide more seamless and efficient operations.”

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But imagine using your finger to pay for groceries at a vein-pattern checkout scanner. Or completing your takeout order from your fridge, buying movie tickets using your car’s navigation system, or installing a smart landing pad on your balcony to pay for items delivered by drone.

The rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming the digital payment environment. These that are possible somewhere in the world, are forming an expanding version of IoT - Internet of Payments (IoP), which enables payment over IoT devices.

Use cases

In the meantime, we see the pandemic fuelling countries toward cashless societies. India's Prime Minister has encouraged the use of digital payments during the pandemic. Kyash, a Japanese-based digital wallet provider, raised $45 million recently to help Japan convert to a cashless economy. South Korea's central bank said in March it would aim to take all banknotes out of circulation for two weeks and would burn some of the bills to reduce the spread of the virus.

In Singapore, a chain of self-service laundry stores named Happy Families Laundromat implemented the country’s first Online-to-Offline (O2O) digital payment for in-store laundry-goers with the support of KuikPay. It decreases the usage of cash and coins which is regarded as virus-spreading in the post-pandemic world.

IoT devices with IoP capabilities are gaining momentum from this trend in creating a cashless business environment and better customer services. According to Statista’s research conducted in November 2019, there could be around 75 billion connected devices globally by 2025, with most having payments function.

IoT is growing and it’s shifting the way businesses interact with people. In the past, self-service laundromats used coin- or token-operated machines. The new system lets customers pay for laundry services and activate an IoT-enabled washer or dryer right from their mobile device or an in-store kiosk.

It is a good example of how IoT provides benefits to operators of coin-based business. They save time in coin-counting and paying extra bank charges like coin-handling fees. Additionally, it also attracts a group of high-spending tech-savvy consumers who are highly receptive to new innovations.

Benefits

The benefits have undoubtedly accelerated the adoption of IoP services in smart cities.  Payments and IoT are ready to intersect with each other and disrupt the market. To ensure an efficient and secure user experience, and deliver benefits for the company itself, here are the four key digital technologies that businesses should pay attention to:

• In-app payment for seamless checkout: Providing QR code for users to scan and click to pay in the app, triggering the IoP platform to activate the devices. This enhances the customer experience, replacing inconvenient coins, tokens or cards with just a smartphone for a fast and seamless checkout.
• Tokenization for secure one-click payment: All payment information, including the card number and expiry date, is stored securely in-app through an encrypted token. This enables fast and secure one-click payment without the need to present a physical card or to re-enter information.
• IoT to enable equipment to accept digital payments: The system’s IoT technology establishes a secure device as a machine communication channel, which enables traditional electronic and robotics equipment to accept digital payment. This provides a more cost-effective cashless digitalization solution than was previously possible, along with ease of use for the store customer.
• Cloud-based CRM to drive business improvements: Leveraging big data analytics and artificial intelligence, a centralized customer relationship management (CRM) solution in the cloud generates meaningful insights from the data the system collects. This helps the business operator improve store layout, offer relevant promotions to increase traffic and spending during festival seasons or special weather conditions.

Business operators are required to adapt to the rapidly changing world and constantly evolving customer preferences to stay competitive in the market.

Therefore, it’s crucial for businesses to get ahead by updating their payments infrastructure and solutions through a trusted expert in the payments industry, who can help them connect with customers at every point of commerce.

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NCR’s Digital Connected Services Internet of Things (IoT) management software will run on top of Azure IoT AI technology. That means data can be turned into insights faster, and incidents that could potentially impact availability can be identified sooner, increasing uptime.

Through this unique combination, NCR’s retail, restaurant, and banking customers will gain a wall-to-wall IoT monitoring and managed services solution that proactively keeps connected devices running with greater uptime, enhancing their customers’ experiences.

“With Digital Connected Services, our customers gain peace of mind that their mission-critical technologies are always ready and available,” said Dan Campbell, EVP for global sales at NCR Corporation. “We can help global retailers, restaurants and financial institutions protect availability of edge devices and quickly turn massive amounts of data into meaningful insights.”

NCR makes it simple to access these end-to-end technology services, with thousands of service professionals in 160 countries that provide the experience, breadth and global scope customers require.

"By leveraging Microsoft Azure and its AI and IoT capabilities, NCR is helping retailers, restaurants and financial institutions simplify and keep commerce running with Microsoft's trusted, secure and scalable platform,” said Sam George, CVP, Azure IoT at Microsoft Corp.

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Traditionally, a microchip implant is the method commonly used for digitising a pet ‘s identity, but many pet owners in China are reluctant to pay for this or risk causing discomfort to their pets Alipay says its technology is less invasive and has an accuracy rate above 99%.

Nose prints have long been  used to track and locate lost animals. Similar to facial recognition, experts long believe that the skin patterns of a dog’s or a cat’s nose in unique to an individual animal. Backed by this principle, Alipay developed a software that uses AI to create a biometric template for an animal based on its nose print, according to a news report by China-based Caixin Global.

The Chinese payment giant has teamed up with Ant Financial, which has just launched its first insurance program for cats and dogs. It is offered in partnership with China Continent Insurance and digital insurer ZhongAn.

The pet insurance is available for cats and dogs between the ages of three months and ten years, premiums ranging between RMB199 and RMB799 that can cover up to RMB20,000 in medical bills a year.

According to Caixin Global, China lags behind the UK and Japan with only 1% of its  nearly 100 million pet cat and dog population covered by insurance – more than a decade after such insurance policy had been introduced in the country. Both the UK and Japan have a coverage rate of 25% and 7% respectively.

The low rate of enrolment for pet insurance stands in stark contrast to China’s booming industry of pet-related products and services valued at RMB202 billion last year.

Meanwhile, Alipay is not the only Chinese company dabbling in facial recognition of animals and in offering digital pet insurance in the Mainland.

AI startup Megvii said last year that it was working on differentiating dogs by their nose prints. At the time, Megvii said it had achieved 95% accuracy. Furthermore, Lufax, an online finance platform backed by China’s largest insurer Ping An, last year introduced its own digital pet insurance by collecting biometric information. Customers can scan the face of their pets to sign up or file a claim.

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The new service called Soft POS was rolled out by Axis Bank last month in partnership with Mastercard and payments company Worldline India.

Merchants who have traditionally accepted cash payments, now have a simpler and more secure way to manage transactions. The merchant community can start using Soft POS almost instantly as the online registration process with the acquiring bank takes less than 30 minutes. The solution is available as a white label solution to all banks and payment aggregators in the industry.

“We have been continuously working on partnership led models & digital solutions for the merchant community, to help them lower their cost of business.  The launch of Soft POS is a step in that endeavour. Not only does this collaborative effort of Mastercard, Worldline and Axis Bank, open up a different channel for this community but also helps in penetrating the unexplored horizons of small ticket size merchants. We are excited to see how the smartphone turns into a business solution by bringing the merchant community into the tap, text & tweet world,” said Sanjeev Moghe, head of cards and payments at Axis Bank.

The service, available through a mobile app, allows more and more small merchants to accept contactless payments directly through their smartphones. The solution addresses the needs of small businesses, especially during these challenging times of COVID-19.

Besides face-to-face payments with Bharat QR and NFC payments, Soft POS is enabled for  remote payments for home deliveries via link-based payments. The app also allows banks to have complete visibility of a merchant’s transactions, making it easier for small merchants to get business loans.

Soft POS provides a cost-effective card acceptance solution for all micro-merchants and SMEs in India and eliminates the need to invest in a POS device. Merchants across the country now have an option to accept contactless payments directly via their own Android smartphones. This functionality is called “Tap on Phone” which means a cardholder can tap his/her contactless card on the merchant Smart phone with NFC functionality and hence encourages social distancing.

“To support Digital India and the country’s evolution to a less cash society, Mastercard is delighted to partner with Axis Bank and Worldline in its journey to equip 10 million merchants with digital payments acceptance infrastructure by 2020-21,” said Vikas Saraogi, vice president and head of acceptance for South Asia, Mastercard.

“Given the current pandemic, an option of accepting cashless payments and the speed of transactions are paramount for small merchants across the country. Mastercard has been working towards merchant and consumer education, development of low-cost payments acceptance solutions and last-mile support for merchants to start their digital onboarding. This solution is a great opportunity for us to support micro-merchants in conducting their business smoothly with contactless payments,” he added.

Soft POS is not just a payments app and its innovative features include:

• E-Khata: The app can record and store credit transactions the same way it is done in a local kirana store. It can send payment ledgers along with a payment link to the customer at the end of the month to ensure accuracy and ease of payment
• Cash Register: It can record cash transactions making it convenient for the merchant to keep a record of all expenses
• Online Dukkan: Merchants can use Soft POS app to create a catalogue of items available and offer convenience in ordering
• Zoho Business Solutions: As part of Mastercard’s partnership with Zoho, merchants who use Soft POS can run their entire business online with Zoho’s 45+ integrated suite of business apps at an exclusive price

Deepak Chandnani, managing rirector, Worldline, South Asia and Middle East expressed optimism about their partnership with Mastercard in developing the Soft POS application and launching with Axis Bank as the first bank.

“Soft POS will change the landscape of digital payments in India enabling millions of small merchants to accept all digital payments affordably. It has been built keeping in mind the needs and business practices of merchants in India with functionalities like ‘Khaata’ built in.  Soft POS is an example of combining technology with strategic vision to bring digital India to life. We look forward to working with Mastercard and the banking community to add new functionalities that will keep enhancing the experience and add to the revenue streams for the small merchant.”

Soft POS  is available in eight languages and easily links with platforms such as Google Pay, WhatsApp Pay, Amazon Pay, amongst others. The app is currently only available to Android users, however, will soon be launched for I-phone users as well.

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“The Nokia WING service will help us unlock the potential of IoT for our enterprise customers,” said

Danny Buldansyah, vice president and director, Hutchison 3 Indonesia, said. “Indonesia has ambitions to be the economic powerhouse of Southeast Asia and our ability to provide IoT to a broad range of key sectors means businesses across the country can compete on the global stage.”

Enterprise customers will be able to manage their IoT devices real-time, using the cloudified IoT core network, a single global connectivity management platform and 24/7 IoT command center capabilities. This will enable agile and secure operations, comprehensive service level agreements, whilst providing real-time insights, allowing enterprise customers to manage and adjust the connectivity according to their specific needs.

Helping Indonesia achieve Industry 4.0

The contract between Nokia and 3ID follows the Indonesian government setting out its vision to become a regional technology hub in Southeast Asia by 2020.

The country’s “Making Industry 4.0” provides a roadmap for major innovations in the digital technology economy, aiming to increase the global competitiveness and productivity of Indonesian businesses. The Nokia deal will enable 3ID to play a key role in this process, whilst also building up a substantial enterprise business as a new revenue stream.

3ID will be able to leverage new business models to address opportunities in various industries - with pre-packaged offer solutions available for agriculture, livestock management, asset management and logistics. 3ID will also be able to cooperate with other WING operators around the world to better provide the delivery of IoT services for global enterprises in Indonesia, as well as benefitting from IoT services originating from other WING operators and carried on the 3ID network.

“As more operators realise the unique opportunity IoT brings to win new enterprise customers, Nokia WING continues to advance their prospects,” said Ankur Bhan, head of Nokia WING.

He added: “Hutchison 3 Indonesia will now be equipped to provide end-to-end solutions for its enterprise customers and solve their IoT related needs with faster time to market. Ultimately, WING is unlocking new enterprise partners and revenue streams for Hutchison 3 Indonesia and we look forward to supporting them on this exciting journey.”

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As a result, the total 5G market in Asia-Pacific is expected to grow to approximately US$279 billion in 2026. The seven major industries that will contribute to this outcome, include government, manufacturing, transportation, finance, retail, agriculture, and media and entertainment. The key drivers of implementing 5G within these industries are the potential revenue growth opportunities for mobile operators and new business models.

Evolving business models

Entitled "Key Verticals to be Transformed by 5G in Asia-Pacific, 2018-2026", the report predicts that the transformation of these seven verticals will facilitate the evolution of business models and is expected to create economic value.

In order to transform industry applications and business models, the integration of 5G with other technologies is highly recommended. Network slicing is a significant feature in 5G, enables connectivity and data processors to be tailored to specific requirements and provide end-to-end virtual systems for the industry.

It is predicted that the region would see more edge computing utilization within 5G networks. Manufacturing, government, and the transportation industry will be among the initial few industries to experience the impact of 5G. The current increasing demand for video content indicates that 5G will bring a new dimension to the media and entertainment industry in Asia-Pacific.

IoT’s big role

5G technologies, such as artificial intelligence, edge computing, and automated control, will especially enhance the Internet of Things (IoT) use cases and create 5G-enabled revenue growth opportunities for mobile operators, the report revealed.

Demand is building for small-scale private networks and 5G-ready networks within Industrial IoT (IoT). The government sector, in particular, is expected to contribute the largest revenue component among key verticals as a result of the adoption of automation technologies and smart city applications.

Security is a critical success factor, as 5G will enable Massive Internet of Things (MIoT) applications, such as traffic sensors and Vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) services. It is critical that hackers do not get access to sensitive data, hijack IoT devices, or disrupt the 5G services. In view of this, security has been a top priority in most industries, particularly in healthcare and finance.

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But in reality, 5G will only be one component of the enterprise vertical technology stack, said ABI Research in its new whitepaper entitled The Five Myths of 5G.

“The telco industry has somewhat designed 5G as a technology that will complement, or even replace, several other competing communication technologies. This is, in fact, built into the standard: 5G includes eMBB, Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC), and Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) use cases. The first use case on this list, eMBB, builds on previous cellular generations, while URLLC can enable Time Sensitive Networks (TSNs), and can replace proprietary protocols and even Industrial Ethernet,” said Stuart Carlaw, chief research officer at ABI Research.

The mMTC is positioned to unify cellular IoT technologies into one system and introduce connectivity for millions of different types of IoT devices. In theory and according to its specification, 5G will enable connectivity that ranges from low power, low data rates, to ultra-high bandwidth and low latency, all under one system.

“From a pragmatic viewpoint, 5G will be another component in a patchwork of communication technologies and will certainly add unique value. However, it will not be the ‘network of networks’ the telco industry is currently discussing,” said Carlaw.

5G might miss the boat of the enterprise digitisation wave

Enterprise verticals—just like the telco industry—have their own established supply chains and families of communication technologies.

“Enterprise vertical end users prefer “function over form,” focusing on practical requirements, rather than insisting on standardised technologies. It is true that 5G can introduce a more cost-effective base (especially for chipsets and devices), but this will only materialise when enterprise verticals establish a critical mass for 5G and, in turn, economies of scale,” Carlow said.

ABI Research sees this may not happen, especially in the first 5 years of 5G, when the telco supply chain adapts to the requirements of enterprise verticals. This may also mean that 5G will miss the enterprise digitisation wave that is currently sweeping many markets, especially if the telco community does not act immediately. Telco operators and the infrastructure supply chain must build enterprise vertical expertise and partner with specialists when it is not necessary to organically grow this expertise internally.

“5G will only be one component of the enterprise vertical technology stack, and larger than connectivity only if the telco value chain builds expertise for each vertical separately,” Carlaw said.

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During the field test, small, refrigerated trucks equipped with DENSO’s small freezer will be lent to drivers. Drivers will then deliver fresh and frozen food for shippers. DENSO and GMS will examine the needs for transportation services of refrigerated parcels and driver’s revenues from delivering fresh and frozen food for shippers.

The two companies will aim to operate services using GMS’s loan repayments system* in the near future and open the delivery job for those who do not have enough income to take out a loan for a truck as well as improve refrigerated transport services in Indonesia.

GMS’ loan repayment system allows fleet managers to manage the vehicles in real time, including remotely preventing the engine from starting when drivers miss loan payments and restarting the engine when they repay them. This system is realized by using an IoT device and mobility service platform.

Building a cold chain logistics network in Indonesia

GMS conducts business in Japan and other countries in Southeast Asia. As a global startup from Japan specialising in financial inclusion business, it provides a mobility service for people who do not have access to financial services.

In March 2017, DENSO took its first stake in GMS to verify the development potential of the mobility IoT business. In August 2019, DENSO took an additional stake to develop and expand the business for commercial vehicles in emerging countries. The company will continue to identify the needs and issues of service providers, promote market-oriented business development, and accelerate efforts to build the logistics network including the cold chain.

In the field test, both companies aim to build a cold chain logistics network in Indonesia – hoping to identify and solve potential issues in establishing a new commercial business model for the future.

In Southeast Asia, there is growing demand for frozen and refrigerated food delivery due to diversifying dietary habits, economic growth and the spread of e-commerce.

However, current refrigerated logistics services still experience issues with food safety and quality, and it is necessary to improve the effectiveness of refrigerated trucks in the region.

The increased demand for deliveries also serves as an opportunity to create new delivery driver jobs, particularly for those in need of work.

During the test, DENSO and GMS will do the following:

• Visit candidate shippers who are willing to participate in the field test
• Verify the economic rationality of financial institutions providing loans to delivery drivers after the field test
• Conduct a survey on business feasibility in ASEAN and other countries and conduct test marketing
• Conduct a study to gather and analyse the temperature management data of freezers and refrigerators manufactured by DENSO

DENSO and GMS will work on the safe and secure transport of food and contribute to creating a sustainable society to improve the lives of people who wish to work by deploying innovative services using IoT technologies in cooperation with partner shippers and financing companies.

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“Between 2017 and 2018, Hong Kong ranked sixth in the corporations’ mind about where we were from a smart perspective. We were behind other cities like Shenzhen and Shanghai. Now we only lag behind Tokyo and Singapore.” said Leonie Valentine, managing director for sales and operations at Google Hong Kong.

“In the business world, 44% of corporations and 39% of small-and medium business (SMBs) now consider Hong Kong to be a smart city – an increase of more than 15% and 12% from 2018. Yes, the relative positioning of Hong Kong against other cities is stilled ranked fourth – there is no change but the perception of Hong Kong to be a smarter city has actually improved,” said Valentine during a press briefing held in the city.

The poll was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Google Hong Kong for the latter’s Smarter Digital City (SDC) Whitepaper, the third and final edition of which was released last Monday. The SDC Whitepaper tracked the progress of digitisation in Hong Kong across four key business verticals – travel, retail, finance and living.

According to Google Hong Kong, this is the first time over the whitepaper series where noticeable improvements in digital adoption were observed across all four key sectors of the local economy.

“This final research report shows that Hong Kong’s digitalisation is progressing well over the past three years,” said Valentine. “However, more effort is needed to communicate the value of digital applications and how digitalisation can improve overall quality of life for Hongkongers. It is also important for all stakeholders – policymakers, corporates, SMBs and consumers – to bring an open mindset and actively collaborate to drive innovations that will be beneficial for all.”

Valentine further pointed out the need to bridge the gap between perception and reality about the city’s smart city standing in people’s minds.

“Promoting the awareness and tangible benefits of technology applications and initiatives in people’s everyday life can help build a receptive community that is eager to adopt new technology,” she said.

Business sector stepping up the smart city plate

The business sector, however, are not blind to the growing digital adoption in the city. The SDC whitepaper said 89% of corporates in Hong Kong will increase digitalization investments over the next two years. Of these companies, 30% are considering to implement initiatives related to machine learning and AI, a jump of over 14% compared to last year.

And SMBs in the city have fence-sitting and are now playing catch-up, according to Valentine.

“There are more ways for SMBs to be digital in Hong Kong. We actually see an increase in POS terminals, accepting contactless payments and mobile payments. We see more competition in the payment industry,” she said. “Twelve months ago, I couldn’t pay for a taxi with a credit card in Hong Kong. Today, I can use the HK taxi app. So, we are being exposed to these everyday useful things and that also increased the perception of our SMB clients.

Talent shortage a major barrier

The SDC whitepaper showed that lack of skilled workforce continues to be a major barrier to the city’s smart city and digital transformation, with 64% of corporates finding it difficult to employ talents with STEM expertise.

However, Valentine believes that the shortage in digital talent is also a matter of perception.

“The perception is Hong Kong does not produce graduates in STEM. Actually, this perception is not fact,” she said. “If have a look at Hong Kong Census data, the number of undergraduate students is somewhere around 22,000 a year through the university grant scheme, roughly 23% to 24% of all HK graduates are STEM students.”

“We are actually producing a lot of kids who have the ability to learn digital. They have the foundational skills – the conceptual stuff that actually matters. So, we do have a ready pool of kids coming through university, who could be trained and retrained to acquire digital skillsets. They are much closer to that than thinking about how we actually have to train for AI and ML (machine learning) from the very young age. They might be tricky to find because they are introverted, but they are really doing cool stuff in Hong Kong.” Valentine said.

Furthermore, the silver lining on the horizon is that 81% of Hong Kong residents are willing to learn and acquire new digital skills for the smart future. App development (41%), machine learning and AI (40%) and data analytics (37%) remains to be the top three digital initiatives that Hongkongers want to learn.

Meanwhile, Google Hong Kong has been doing its share in helping build a smart workforce. To date, over 1,000 primary and secondary school students have participated in Google’s fundamental coding program called CS First. The company also has been promoting ML and AI applications in Hong Kong through its advanced education program such as Google Cloud Certified Program and Explore ML program. It has also brought in its digital marketing curriculum called Digital Garage to Hong Kong, which has trained 20,000 people in the last two years.

“The appetite for learning is there. We only need to connect that desire to opportunities to learn those skills. And they create a much healthier ecosystem where we have the jobs here for Hongkongers. Because that is where we can see relative improvements in terms of the standard of living and relative improvements in terms of liveability of the city as well,” Valentine said.

Providing on-the-job training

She added that organisations must also do their part in providing on-the-job training for new recruits who may not have the full digital capabilities needed for their position.

“Companies should be able to say – ‘we will hire you for your innate ability and your potential. We don’t mind that you don’t have the exactly the right discipline for that job. We will train you’. We need more of that mindset in Hong Kong of looking at raw talent and potential regardless of which institution you came from,” Valentine said.

“We want smarts. We want kids who can really change things. There is an onus on organisations to invest in training their employees and make sure they reach their full potential.”

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FutureIoT spoke to Tim Sherwood, vice president – Business Development, Mobility & IoT Solutions, at Tata Communications to understand the technical and operational hurdles that CSPs must overcome as they grapple with the business [aka revenue] potential of IoT with the launch of commercial 5G services.

What is the connection between Internet of Things and 5G? Is IoT’s future success tied to the success and growth of 5G?

Ovum has identified 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) as the two trends in Asia to watch out for in 2019. These technologies are increasingly proving to be the key pillars that will drive operational and cost efficiencies through enterprise digitisation.

While the development of 5G for IoT is still in the nascent stages, there is a huge potential for IoT to scale even ahead of that. This is the phase where a shift is being seen from exploring PoCs to active commercialisation of IoT projects. Use cases across verticals that are resulting in significant RoI for the customers are drawing more customers and IoT players in the game.

Bain & Company predicts the IoT market will more than double to $520 billion by 2021, and the majority of these associated IoT deployments will be done on networks in place today such that IoT growth can be achieved ahead of 5G network build-outs and roaming agreements.

However, 5G will enable further expansion of IoT adoption, namely around managing heterogeneous access network capabilities, enabling higher bandwidth consumption use cases like V2X and Augmented Reality (AR) and turning connected devices from “data collectors” to intelligent edge actors.

As billions of smart devices go online over the next several years, 5G networks will become instrumental in transmitting massive amounts of new data. 5G will provide faster speed, lower latency, improved bandwidth and more flexibility as it has the capacity to support a wider range of devices, sensors, and wearables than any previous generation.

This enables 5G, unlike 4G, to expand beyond desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets to encompass the revolution of sensors, low-cost transmitters and cloud-based IoT. Along with artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing, 5G wireless technology will be at the heart of augmenting the IoT revolution.

It will play a major role in the development of Industry 4.0 i.e. smart city applications, smart industrial software, powering connected cars, smart homes and buildings. Seamless mobility, improved bandwidth, negligible latency, and reliability of mobile broadband will help 5G in making revolutionary IoT projects implementable with ease.

NB-IoT is already deployed in some applications, can it co-exist with non-cellular IoT (LoRa, Sigfox)?

The rapidly growing IoT market has enough opportunities for all forms of cellular (NB-IoT, LTE-M, future 5G networks) and non-cellular networks (LoRa and Sigfox) to coexist. Both the networks need to amalgamate in order to have an interoperable platform, which is critical to realise the true potential of IoT. This allows enterprises to choose from any number of connectivity options as per their project requirements.

There are advantages and disadvantages for each – while non-cellular IoT offers good value for private, low power, low bandwidth and low-cost solutions, cellular IoT provides scale and greater reach through roaming agreements enabling multinational and multi-operator deployments.

In either case, the key to success for IoT solution providers is to remove the challenges associated with different connectivity technologies and network options in order to provide a common overlay platform to manage IoT connected devices. This will then serve as a foundation for the IoT service provider to move up the value chain and offer vertical solutions.

For 2019, what do you see will be emerging drivers of IoT?

Asia has undoubtedly been the world’s largest manufacturing hub and now with the influx of advanced technologies like IoT, the manufacturing landscape in the region is changing.

With connected sensors increasingly finding applicability across industries, especially manufacturing in the automotive industry and consumer and industrial appliances, the Asia Pacific region is scaling up its IoT adoption to fortify its strength in this space. This paradigm shift in the manufacturing sector, with the help of IoT, is fuelling the rapid progress of Industry 4.0 in the region.

Over and above the private players, Asia-Pacific governments are also extending support to promote the adoption of IoT across major use case areas such as smart manufacturing, smart cities, transportation, and retail, amongst others. As per the latest forecast from IDC, the IoT spending in Asia-Pacific is expected to reach USD 398.6 billion by 2023, setting the path for Asia Pacific to become the leading market in the IoT landscape.

Other critical emerging drivers impacting IoT will indisputably be 5G and AI. Although niche and in the early stages, newer technologies like edge computing and blockchain will also be key in driving IoT adoption.

The enhanced speed and flexible connectivity of 5G networks will drive fundamental change and create entirely new approaches to businesses and business models.

While 4G revolutionised the smartphone experience, 5G will have an even bigger impact on other smart consumer commodities – such as autonomous vehicles and its impact on our lifestyle.

As IoT technology is becoming more prevalent, the challenge of protecting sensitive customer data has become increasingly complex. A recent Gartner report indicates that worldwide IoT security spending will more than double to $3.1 billion by 2021.

With the IoT’s rapid expansion, social, legal and ethical issues come to the limelight and will have to be addressed. The introduction of new data regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR will have a significant impact in 2019.

The responsibility will lie on businesses to control and monitor the data their devices generate and to eliminate any vulnerabilities that may lead to data leakage. Government and regulatory agencies will establish stringent rules on data creation, collection, storage, transfer, use and deletion of information related to IoT projects.

Beyond purely sensors and devices, what major areas of innovation can we expect in 2019 that will accelerate or impact the direction of IoT adoption in Asia?

Findings from a recent survey by Zebra Technologies revealed that the entire Asia-Pacific region was identified as the world leader in IoT adoption, as 22% of the companies were recognised as ‘intelligent enterprises’ – up from a mere 2% in 2017.

Asia-Pacific is also best positioned to create a cost-effective technology infrastructure to support industrial and consumer IoT deployments as it has access to abundant cost-efficient software and hardware sourced locally or from neighbouring countries like China and India.

5G networks, with their high speed, improved bandwidths and negligible latency properties will also aim to provide the necessary infrastructure for IoT to scale.

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SUNMI specialises in delivering a wide range of intelligent commodity hardware devices, including mobile, smart payment, desktop and self-service equipment to build business IoT solutions for a wide variety of industries.

The China-based manufacturer sells more than 1 million POS terminals to local and foreign markets per year. The SUNMI P1 POS terminals incorporating NEXT`s certified fingerprint technology will be used in Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) applications.

"The P1 POS terminal is our first device to incorporate biometrics. The NEXT fingerprint sensor technology has been our deliberate choice because of its excellent reputation and proven installation base," said Lin (Jack) Zhe, founder of SUNMI. "We look forward to a successful market launch and growing customer base for Aadhaar enabled payments."

"We are pleased that SUNMI joins the growing number of hardware manufacturers benefitting from our certified and proven sensor technology," said Alain Faburel, NEXT Biometrics chief sales and marketing officer. "We are making good progress in expanding our network of business partners for Aadhaar-based applications."

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The good news is that consumers are already showing the path of least resistance through social media and smart devices. But not everyone will find the path to the customer’s wallet that easy. In fact, rising customer expectations are moving the tipping of return on customer experience.

Figure 1: What people value most in their customer experience

Source: Future of Customer Experience, PwC 2019

The solution may come in different sizes, shapes and formats but share a common persona.

Forrester says customer expectations for high-quality touches are expanding beyond the mobile and web realms. “Internet-of-things (IoT) technology offers new capabilities to sense and control physical products and real-world experiences. So, CIOs and customer experience (CX) pros need each other's help to weave relevant context and control available from IoT sources into customer journeys,” said the analyst.

Through 2028, Gartner expects a steady increase in the embedding of sensors, storage, compute and advanced AI capabilities in edge (or smart) devices. In general, intelligence will move toward the edge in a variety of endpoint devices, from industrial devices to screens to smartphones to automobile power generators.

Uli Braun, chief technology officer at Atos, says IoT enables digital transformation but not in the conventional method typically associated with traditional technologies such as computing devices or enterprise software.

“It is close to what the business outcome is going to be. It is not a backend system. It is more at the front end of what a customer, an industry or a business is doing. It has a direct impact on the product is making or to the consumer who is coming it,” said Braun.

Watch the full video to understand how IoT is impacting IT operations, and what the CIO and/or CTO needs to do to take advantage of the technology.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Professor Wei Xiang is the Founding Professor and Head of Discipline of Internet of Things (IoT) Engineering at James Cook University and an elected Fellow of the IET and Engineers Australia. He is a well-recognised international leader in IoT and has been awarded several prestigious awards and fellowship titles.

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The collaboration has led to the development of the company’s first AI-powered chatbot, called Nadia, that is able to respond to client queries on portfolios and account balances in real time.

Melissa Ries, general manager, Asia Pacific and Japan, TIBCO, said that as financial firms like Affin Hwang AM in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia undertake digital transformations to stay ahead of the curve, cloud-native API platforms help them create, manage, and analyse APIs seamlessly with a single view of all on-premises, cloud, and edge APIs.

“This visibility improves efficiency and aids the transformation from a hybrid architecture model with legacy tools and services to a cloud-native architecture over the long term,” she said.

The collaboration between the two companies includes the Affin Hwang AM’s implementation of the TIBCO Connected Intelligence platform.

API management platforms are essential to digital businesses adopting cloud-native development and deployment practices.

“We are now taking steps to leverage the full capabilities of the API to instill deeper learning within Nadia and offer a more personalized service. These efforts bode well for our innovative initiatives to create value for our clients,” said Allen Woo, chief innovation officer, Affin Hwang AM.

“By housing all workflow processes in a cloud-native infrastructure, we can drive better connectivity with our partners, especially as the world migrates towards an API environment. This will allow us to enlarge the ecosystem by ensuring collaboration happens across all platforms so that data can be exchanged quickly,” he added.

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At issue however is how to effectively manage and orchestrate these disparate data sets to allow for more intelligent management? This video covers strategies to creating a sustainable smart city operation using TIBCO Spotfire technology. It includes use case applications including traffic, street light management, and energy management.

In this short video, TIBCO presents its Connected Intelligence offering which is used to spot and seize opportunities to differentiate and lead.

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Watch a short demo to see how TIBCO Data Science and TIBCO Flogo can be used together to solve the most challenging of IoT use cases.

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“These technologies are those that supply chain leaders simply cannot ignore,” said Christian Titze, research vice president at Gartner. “Within the next five years, if half of large global companies are using some of these technologies in their supply chain operations, it’s safe to say that the technologies will disrupt people, business objectives and IT systems.”

The top 8 supply chain technology trends in 2019 are:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI technology in supply chain seeks to augment human performance. Through self-learning and natural language, AI capabilities can help automate various supply chain processes such as demand forecasting, production planning or predictive maintenance.

“AI supports the shift to broader supply chain automation that many organizations are seeking,” said Titze. “For example, AI can enhance risk mitigation by analyzing large sets of data, continuously identifying evolving patterns, and predicting disruptive events along with potential resolutions.”

Advanced Analytics

Advanced analytics span predictive analytics — those that identify data patterns and anticipate future scenarios — as well as prescriptive analytics — a set of capabilities that finds a course of action to meet a predefined objective. The increased availability of Internet of Things (IoT) data and extended external data sources such as weather or traffic conditions allow organizations to anticipate future scenarios and make better recommendations in areas such as supply chain planning, sourcing and transportation.

“Advanced analytics are not new, but their impact on today’s supply chains are significant,” said Titze. “They will help organizations become more proactive and actionable in managing their supply chains, both in taking advantage of future opportunities and avoiding potential future disruptions.”

IoT

The IoT is the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to interact with their internal states or the external environment. “We are seeing more supply chain practitioners exploring the potential of IoT,” said Titze. “Areas that IoT might have a profound impact on are enhanced logistics management, improved customer service and improved supply availability.”

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

RPA tools operate by mapping a process in the tool language for the software “robot” to follow. They cut costs and eliminate keying errors. “We are seeing a significant reduction in process lead times RPA technology is used to automate the creation of purchase and sales orders or shipments, for instance,” said Titze. “RPA technology reduces human intervention and improves consistency across manual data sources within manufacturing.”

Autonomous Things

Autonomous things use AI to automate functions previously performed by humans, such as autonomous vehicles and drones. They exploit AI to deliver advanced behaviors that interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.

“The rapid explosion in the number of connected, intelligent things has given this trend a huge push,” said Titze. “The once distant thought of reducing time for inventory checks by using drones’ cameras to take inventory images, for instance, is here.”

Digital Supply Chain Twin

A digital supply chain twin is a digital representation of the relationships between all physical entities of end-to-end supply chain processes — products, customers, markets, distribution centers/warehouses, plants, finance, attributes and weather. They are linked to their real-world counterparts and are used to understand the state of the thing or system in order to optimize operations and respond efficiently to changes.

“Digital supply chain twins are inevitable as the digital world and physical world continue to merge,” said Titze.

Immersive Experience

Immersive experiences such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and conversational systems are changing the way people interact with the digital world. “In supply chain, organizations might use AR along with quick response (QR) codes and mobile technology to speed up equipment changeovers in factories,” said Titze. “Immersive user experiences will enable digital business opportunities that have not yet been fully realized within global supply chains.”

Blockchain in Supply Chain

Although supply-chain-related blockchain initiatives are nascent, blockchain has potential to fulfill long-standing challenges presented across complex global supply chains. Current capabilities offered by blockchain solutions for supply chain include traceability, automation, and security.

“Organizations might use blockchain to track global shipments with tamper-evident labels, allowing a reduction in the time needed to send paperwork back and forth with port authorities and improved counterfeit identification,” said Titze.

Gartner clients can learn more in “The 2019 Top Supply Chain Technology Trends You Can’t Ignore,” which provides an outlook into other emerging trends that might disrupt supply chain operations in the upcoming years, such as 5G and edge computing.

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Yes, financial institutions are one of the top spenders when it comes to technology but often the technologies being adopted have already proven themselves in other industry verticals and, more importantly, have received the blessings of the local regulator as well as global industry bodies.

Case in point, public cloud has been in use by consumers (in the 1990s) and some industries like retail (as early as 2002) but in mature markets like Hong Kong, only a few banks have agreed to start including cloud in their IT strategy.

The rise of Fintechs may have changed the thinking of financial institutions as to what emerging technologies should be included in the product roadmap.

“Faced with thinning margins and subdued economic outlook, there is a pressing need for banks to enhance performance, simplify operating models and re-engineer legacy technologies, while still ensuring cost management and regulatory compliance. Thus banks need to seek more cost-efficient technology-enabled regulatory and compliance solutions,” said Chris Lim, partner at Ernst & Young Advisory based out of Singapore.

In an exclusive interview with FutureIoT, Lim openly discusses the challenges and opportunities financial institutions must face as they evaluate and adopt IoT as part of their business strategy.

According to the Deloitte Center for Financial Services research, there are near- and long-term opportunities for the financial services industry to see the benefits from IoT.

Jim Eckenrode, managing director of the Deloitte Center for Financial Services, said: “But the IoT may be as broadly transformational to the financial services industry as the Internet itself, and leaders should make an effort to recognize the opportunities and challenges it presents for the financial sector as well as for industries with which FSIs work closely.”

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He also talks about the securities issues that come with innovation.

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For Keating, the ability to engage with her fans, her audience, directly can be as important, if not more important, than receiving monetary compensation for her work. And she is not alone in this view. The financial services industry has started to accept the premise that the only way they will emerge unscathed by the onslaught of digital disruption is by harnessing the power of data.

The use of technology to disrupt traditional financial services, and in the process introduce new players in the market, has caused incumbent financial institutions to investigate emerging technologies like advanced analytics, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more recently, the Internet of Things or IoT.

Some of the early use cases are in wearables, payments, blockchain-based smart contracts, using beacons to create smart banking experiences, home banking, and chatbots.

But as Chris Lim, partner, advisory – risk & regulatory at EY, caution in the rush to identify and mine innovative ways of using IoT in banking and insurance, vendors are responding with solutions that are not built with an appreciation for how regulations have evolved to safeguard both customers and the financial institutions that serve them.

To date, IoT is being used in product planning and management, to help in creating tailored marketing for the customer of one, is being used to deliver so-called proactive service, and the growing popularity of wearables is making its way into retail banking and insurance.

Lack of standards: the number one problem of IoT

As with all emerging technologies and free market society, everyone hopes that their approach becomes the standard.

IDC predicts that by 2020 50% of IT networks will transition from having excess capacity for handling the additional IoT devices, to being network constrained with nearly 10% of sites being overwhelmed. Within a year, 40% of IoT-created data will be stored, processed, analyzed, and acted upon close to, or at the edge of the network, predicts the analyst.

But to get to this future, the world will need to come to the understanding that standards must be applied to reduce risk while providing viable economic returns to everyone.

In a press release, M2M Alliance chairman, Dr. Andreas Fink said: “Uniform standards and appropriate certificates would eliminate the greatest weak points from the outset. “If we want to ensure that insufficiently protected hardware cannot become a mass phenomenon, the industrial, research and political sectors need to sit down and work together on solutions.”

Security: the other number one problem of IoT

In a similar vein, financial institutions are wrestling with defining use cases for IoT. The Smart Payment Association (SPA) paper, IoT Payments: addressing the protection problem, raises several concerns about the security of mobile payments. It refers to a Symantec claim that “the number of malicious attacks on IoT-enabled devices grew some 600% between 2016/17.”

IoT is certainly a large and growing target, and with personal data ‘gold’ on offer for successful hackers, there’s every reason to assume attacks will continue to grow in volume, ferocity, and sophistication.

But just because risks abound shouldn’t stop the industry, and the rest of the ecosystem, from stopping to develop and evolve the technology. The SPA points out that where payment is concerned the opportunities are many. The SPA believes that the industry should push ahead, but to “do so with caution and a better understanding of how to protect these internet-connected devices to minimize the risk of attack and fraud.”

What to do now

In the short term, such security standards and mandatory certificates may cause growth in the IoT sector to be somewhat slower than predicted by Gartner and other studies at the moment. However, in the long term, secure solutions should contribute to its popularity and thereby encourage further growth.

Lim offers this advice: “Focus back on the fundamentals and then in the back of that overlay what exactly you use cases and then you're probably in good hands.”

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The plan is to expand its Technology Risk Management (TRM) Guidelines issued in 2013 and the Business Continuity Management (BCM) Guidelines issued in 2003.

MAS said the two guidelines continue to emphasize the importance of risk culture, and the roles of board of directors and senior management in technology risk and business continuity management.

However, the regulator sees the need to take into account the rapidly changing physical and cyber threat landscape.

“A cyber-attack can result in a prolonged disruption of business activities. Threats are constantly present and evolving in sophistication. We cannot afford to be complacent,” said Tan Yeow Seng, Chief Cyber Security Officer, MAS, in a media statement.

MAS proposes to expand the TRM Guidelines to include guidance on effective cyber surveillance, secure software development, adversarial attack simulation as well as the management of cyber risks posed by the Internet of Things (IoT).

It also proposes to update the BCM Guidelines to raise standards for FIs in the development of business continuity plans that will better account for interdependencies across

Last week, it released the consultation papers for the TRM and BCM plans, which it said were developed in close partnership with the financial industry.

The public consultation will run from 7 March to 8 April 2019.  

In a speech last January at the launch of the Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) Project Scenario, Elean Chin, Division Head of the Monetary Authority of Singapore said that in an increasingly digitised world, cyber attacks are becoming an almost daily occurrence and one of the biggest threats to doing business.

"Asia is one of the most digital connected economic blocks, with high internet connectivity and smartphone penetration levels. Yet, cybersecurity investment and data breach protection laws remain inadequate, she said.

"As a result, Asia-Pacific saw the highest number of compromised records and security events in the first half of last year, accounting for close to 40 percent of global cybersecurity incidents and 30 percent of compromised records worldwide," she added.

Chin said in Singapore, the Cyber Security Act came into force in August 2018, which created a regulatory framework for the monitoring and reporting of cybersecurity threats.

The initiative of MAS in updating its TRM and BCM Guidelines is a move along this goal.

Moreover, within the financial services sector, MAS has partnered the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (FS-ISAC) to establish its Asia Pacific Regional Analysis Centre in Singapore.

"The Regional Centre, which supports member financial institutions across nine Asia-Pacific countries, allows its members to share and receive cyber threat intelligence," she said.

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Fred Landis, Sr. Manager, CRM/Social Enterprise Strategy@Capgemini, says “IoT has a big role to play in customer experience by enhancing communication, reducing wait times and gaining greater insights.”

In this short video, Frank Wammes, CTO, Application Services - Continental Europe at Capgemini discusses how Customer Experience can be improved with the help of the Internet of Things (IoT).

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The researcher attributes the growth of smartphone assistants to Google Assistant and Siri, with Amazon’s Alexa setting the pace as leader. These voice assistants owe their success, however, to hardware revenues – which remain the only way to monetize consumer voice assistants.

According to the Juniper whitepaper, ‘The Digital Assistants of Tomorrow’, current usage of OEM-based voice assistants is estimated at 46.5% of smartphones worldwide. The preference to use voice assistants has the unintended consequence of reducing screen time on smartphones.

There are also indications that smart speaker voice assistants are becoming integrated in to daily routines in a way that voice assistants on other platforms are not. This means that voice-only interactions will become increasingly expected in the future.

“Despite this, smart displays are a voice assistant device category that has emerged strongly within the past 12 months, alongside tablets and tablet docks designed to offer contextual smart display functionality. Both of these developments hint that voice assistants are now looking to provide multimodal support, with Google in particular noting that more than half of Assistant interactions on smartphones involve both voice and touch,” noted James Moar, research analyst and author of the paper.

The other Juniper paper, Digital Voice Assistants: Platforms, Revenues & Opportunities 2019-2023, notes that, as demand for multi-platform assistants increases, standalone apps, made by independent vendors for smartphones and tablets, will decline. Juniper expects revenues from these apps to begin to fall in key markets from 2022.

The big exception here is China, where companies like WeChat and Alibaba provide app-based offerings alongside speakers that are not part of an operating system. This means that China will have 78% of voice assistant apps installed globally in the next 5 years.

Voice commerce takes off but

Juniper’s report also shows that voice commerce will grow substantially; reaching over $80 billion per annum by 2023. However, this includes money transfer and purchases of digital goods alongside its use for more traditional purchases.

“We expect the majority of voice commerce to be digital purchases, until digital assistants offer truly seamless cross-platform experiences” remarked Moar. “Connected TVs and smart displays are vital here, as they can provide a visual context that is lacking in smart speakers.”

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According to EY, the massive deployment of sensors will result in unprecedented capabilities for gathering objective data about the world around us. It can be argued that the application of other technologies like machine learning, deep learning or artificial intelligence to a large repository of data courtesy of IoT devices may be used to draw insight leading to data-driven decision-making.

FutureIoT spoke to Varun Mittal, global emerging markets Fintech leaders at EY, on the potential use cases of IoT in financial services. In this exclusive, he shares his views on real-world applications of IoT in financial services, including banking, payments, and insurance.

“Everywhere where more data can help you make a decision – that is where IoT adds value to financial services,” Mittal concluded.

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Gartner defines a strategic technology trend as one with substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and use, or which are rapidly growing trends with a high degree of volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years.

“The Intelligent Digital Mesh has been a consistent theme for the past two years and continues as a major driver through 2019. Trends under each of these three themes are a key ingredient in driving a continuous innovation process as part of a ContinuousNEXT strategy,” said David Cearley, vice president and Gartner Fellow.

Gartner defines ContinuousNEXT as the future evolution of concepts introduced by the analyst in recent years, and that will build momentum through digital transformation and beyond.

“For example, artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of automated things and augmented intelligence is being used together with IoT, edge computing and digital twins to deliver highly integrated smart spaces. This combinatorial effect of multiple trends coalescing to produce new opportunities and drive new disruption is a hallmark of the Gartner top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019,” elaborated Cearley.

The top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019 are:

Autonomous Things, such as robots, drones and autonomous vehicles, use AI to automate functions previously performed by humans. Their automation goes beyond the automation provided by rigid programing models and they exploit AI to deliver advanced behaviors that interact more naturally with their surroundings and with people.

“As autonomous things proliferate, we expect a shift from stand-alone intelligent things to a swarm of collaborative intelligent things, with multiple devices working together, either independently of people or with human input,” said Cearley.

Augmented analytics focuses on a specific area of augmented intelligence, using machine learning (ML) to transform how analytics content is developed, consumed and shared. Augmented analytics capabilities will advance rapidly to mainstream adoption, as a key feature of data preparation, data management, modern analytics, business process management, process mining and data science platforms.

Automated insights from augmented analytics will also be embedded in enterprise applications — for example, those of the HR, finance, sales, marketing, customer service, procurement and asset management departments — to optimize the decisions and actions of all employees within their context, not just those of analysts and data scientists. Augmented analytics automates the process of data preparation, insight generation and insight visualization, eliminating the need for professional data scientists in many situations.

AI-Driven Development refers to a future business model where a professional application developer can operate alone using predefined models delivered as a service – without the need for support from data scientists. This provides the developer with an ecosystem of AI algorithms and models, as well as development tools tailored to integrating AI capabilities and models into a solution.

Gartner forecasts that by 2022, at least 40% of new application development projects will have AI co-developers on their team.

“Ultimately, highly advanced AI-powered development environments automating both functional and non-functional aspects of applications will give rise to a new age of the ‘citizen application developer’ where non-professionals will be able to use AI-driven tools to automatically generate new solutions. Tools that enable non-professionals to generate applications without coding are not new, but we expect that AI-powered systems will drive a new level of flexibility,” said Cearley.

A digital twin refers to the digital representation of a real-world entity or system. By 2020, Gartner estimates there will be more than 20 billion connected sensors and endpoints and digital twins will exist for potentially billions of things. Organizations will implement digital twins simply at first. They will evolve them over time, improving their ability to collect and visualize the right data, apply the right analytics and rules, and respond effectively to business objectives.

“One aspect of the digital twin evolution that moves beyond IoT will be enterprises implementing digital twins of their organizations (DTOs). A DTO is a dynamic software model that relies on operational or other data to understand how an organization operationalizes its business model, connects with its current state, deploys resources and responds to changes to deliver expected customer value,” said Cearley.

Empowered Edge refers to the growing trend of bringing computing resources (or topology) and content closer to the edge where it is needed. One of the goals is to keep the traffic and processing local, with the goal being to reduce traffic and latency.

In the near term, edge is being driven by IoT and the need to keep the processing close to the end rather than on a centralized cloud server. However, rather than create a new architecture, cloud computing and edge computing will evolve as complementary models with cloud services being managed as a centralized service executing, not only on centralized servers, but in distributed servers on-premises and on the edge devices themselves.

Over the next five years, specialized AI chips, along with greater processing power, storage and other advanced capabilities, will be added to a wider array of edge devices. The extreme heterogeneity of this embedded IoT world and the long life cycles of assets such as industrial systems will create significant management challenges.

Longer term, as 5G matures, the expanding edge computing environment will have more robust communication back to centralized services. 5G provides lower latency, higher bandwidth, and (very importantly for edge) a dramatic increase in the number of nodes (edge endpoints) per square km.

Conversational platforms are changing the way in which people interact with the digital world. Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) are changing the way in which people perceive the digital world. This combined shift in perception and interaction models leads to the future immersive user experience.

“Over time, we will shift from thinking about individual devices and fragmented user interface (UI) technologies to a multi-channel and multi-modal experience. The multi-modal experience will connect people with the digital world across hundreds of edge devices that surround them, including traditional computing devices, wearables, automobiles, environmental sensors and consumer appliances,” said Cearley.

Blockchain, a type of distributed ledger, promises to reshape industries by enabling trust, providing transparency and reducing friction across business ecosystems potentially lowering costs, reducing transaction settlement times and improving cash flow.

Today, trust is placed in banks, clearinghouses, governments and many other institutions as central authorities with the “single version of the truth” maintained securely in their databases. The centralized trust model adds delays and friction costs (commissions, fees and the time value of money) to transactions. Blockchain provides an alternative trust mode and removes the need for central authorities in arbitrating transactions.

”Current blockchain technologies and concepts are immature, poorly understood and unproven in mission-critical, at-scale business operations. This is particularly so with the complex elements that support more sophisticated scenarios,” said Cearley. “Despite the challenges, the significant potential for disruption means CIOs and IT leaders should begin evaluating blockchain, even if they don’t aggressively adopt the technologies in the next few years.”

Cearly many blockchain initiatives today are positioned as a means to achieve operational efficiency by automating business processes, or by digitizing records. They have the potential to enhance sharing of information among known entities, as well as improving opportunities for tracking and tracing physical and digital assets. However, these approaches miss the value of true blockchain disruption and may increase vendor lock-in.

A smart space is a physical or digital environment in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems. Multiple elements — including people, processes, services and things — come together in a smart space to create a more immersive, interactive and automated experience for a target set of people and industry scenarios.

“This trend has been coalescing for some time around elements such as smart cities, digital workplaces, smart homes and connected factories. We believe the market is entering a period of accelerated delivery of robust smart spaces with technology becoming an integral part of our daily lives, whether as employees, customers, consumers, community members or citizens,” said Cearley.

Digital ethics and privacy is a growing concern for individuals, organizations and governments. People are increasingly concerned about how their personal information is being used by organizations in both the public and private sector, and the backlash will only increase for organizations that are not proactively addressing these concerns.

Clarley cautioned that while privacy and security are foundational components in building trust, trust is actually about more than just these components. Trust is the acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation. Ultimately an organization’s position on privacy must be driven by its broader position on ethics and trust. Shifting from privacy to ethics moves the conversation beyond ‘are we compliant’ toward‘ to ‘are we doing the right thing’.”

Quantum computing (QC) is a type of non-classical computing that operates on the quantum state of subatomic particles (for example, electrons and ions) that represent information as elements denoted as quantum bits (qubits). The parallel execution and exponential scalability of quantum computers means they excel with problems too complex for a traditional approach or where a traditional algorithm would take too long to find a solution.

“CIOs and IT leaders should start planning for QC by increasing understanding and how it can apply to real-world business problems. Learn while the technology is still in the emerging state. Identify real-world problems where QC has potential and consider the possible impact on security,” said Cearley. “But don’t believe the hype that it will revolutionize things in the next few years. Most organizations should learn about and monitor QC through 2022 and perhaps exploit it from 2023 or 2025.”

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The new research, IoT in Finance: Payments, Insurance & Banking Opportunities, Transaction Forecasts 2018-2023, has found that the automotive sector will become the most lucrative IoT platform by 2021; accounting for $63 billion in transactions that year, 55% of the overall market, compared to just over $50 billion for connected home devices, including smart speakers and TVs. However, car‑based spend will mostly be payments for fuel and tolls, but with little increase in spend overall.

Voice payments to reach $51 billion in transactions

Meanwhile, smart speaker voice-enabled commerce transactions are forecast to reach $51 billion annually by 2023. Goods purchased through these devices will account for just under 12% of connected home transactions by volume over the next 5 years. The majority of purchases will be for digital content, typically made through connected TVs.

“Full financial service products will be slow to come to voice commerce, as the automated processes need to satisfy compliance requirements”, remarked research author James Moar. “However, with voice assistants already supplying advisory and finance updates, there will be much data to draw on once the regulatory requirements are met.”

Caution needed as insurers implement IoT

The research found a significant opportunity for players in the IoT-enabled insurance market which will exceed $334 billion by 2023, primarily through telematics-based motor policies. However, this will reduce premiums; impacting insurers’ gross revenues.

Juniper believes that this decline in premiums will be offset by improved overall profitability due to reduced costs per claim; this will become more immediately evident in home insurance, with automated accident prevention through the IoT.

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This video shows how indoor positioning and navigation, heatmap analysis, mobile ticketing and queuing, and proximity marketing are enabled by beacon technology.

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The ebook describes the IoT platform, IoT stack, advancements in IoT, IoT ecosystem and the technologies underway around IoT. It also presents current challenges for the technology as well as a list (not exhaustive) of vendors offering IoT products and platforms.

Download the ebook here.

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The consultancy says a key to unlocking pent-up demand lies in IoT vendors addressing barriers to adoption, providing more targeted solutions, and easing integration concerns.

“Our survey found that vendors are aligned with customers’ concerns about some barriers, such as security, returns on investment, but less so on others – notably integration, interoperability and data portability,” Ann Bosche, a partner in Bain & Company’s Global Technology Practice and an IoT expert.

“Based on our experience with previous technology cycles, the key to addressing these concerns lies in focusing on fewer industries in order to learn what customers really want and need to ease adoption,” she added.

Bain highlights three areas holding back Industrial IoT adoption: security, integration with existing technology, and uncertain returns on investment.

On a positive note, Bain also lists out three universal themes for IoT vendors: Focus on getting a few industries and use cases right; offer end-to-end solutions to ease adoption; prepare to scale by removing barriers to adoption.

Michael Schallehn, a partner in Bain's Technology practice, shares the three things executives should consider when deciding how to expand into the industrial IoT sector.

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Standard Chartered and Huawei have announced that they are developing an Internet of Things (IoT) powered solution corporates' and banks' systems will be able to 'speak' to each other in real-time, triggering financing or payment instructions through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

The solution, unveiled during Huawei Connect 2018, combines IoT and cloud capabilities so the bank will be able to track the movement of goods on a real-time basis, reducing operational risks and providing reliable data that can be used in financing decisions.

Availability of real-time data enables straight-through processing for a wider class of use cases and can significantly reduce turn-around times, opening up possibilities for a broader range of financing solutions for manufacturers and their distributors.

The IoT solution uses Huawei's OceanConnect, an open platform built on IoT, cloud computing, and Big Data technologies. With a cloud-based unified IoT device management capability as its core, it links up with connected devices and collects real-time data through a series of agents while providing user-friendly open APIs to application developers to design and orchestrate the business process.

Dr Michael Gorriz, Group CIO of Standard Chartered said one of the aims of the bank is to make banking seamless and effortless for clients through the use of IoT technology.

"We are committed to delivering financial solutions to our clients across our diverse footprint and to bank businesses of all sizes. Technology can change the fundamental way we do banking. We look forward to piloting the solution with clients and working with Huawei and other technology partners to explore new use cases," said Gorriz.

Qiu Lei, Vice President of Marketing and Product Solution Sales of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said: "It is Huawei's mission to help create a fully connected, intelligent world as more industries adopt IoT and embark on their digital transformation journey. In the face of the challenges within the journey, technology is often only part of the solution. Determination and vision are equally critical. We partner with Standard Chartered for their strong determination and great vision from the very top echelon of the company to support their clients when it comes to digital transformation."

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The process of evolution of smart technology has considerably changed the overall lighting industry in terms of energy and money saving, ensuring increased safety and convenience of the users. With the installation of the smart lighting system in a building, 50% energy costs can be reduced, enhancing the productivity and comfort of the user.

The global Lighting as a Service (LaaS) market is expected to witness tremendous growth during the forecast period 2018-2025. The market is growing due to the increasing demand for energy-efficient lighting systems.

Growing implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) with lighting services is expected to increase the adoption of this service worldwide.

The lighting sector has been undergoing significant changes since 2010. Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights are gaining traction over other types of lights because they provide high performance and are cheaper as compared to the traditional lights.

Unlike other traditional lights, LEDs can be integrated into the design of a light fixture. Additionally, government organizations and commercial buildings are retrofitting the buildings with LED lights owing to its energy saving and cost-effective features.

To reduce the installation and maintenance costs and facilitate the growth of the LED lights market, the manufacturers and service providers have developed a new financial structure known as "Lighting as a Service" (LaaS). This new financial structure helps public and private sector companies in capitalizing constant innovations taking place in the LED industry without any upfront costs.

In this model, customers pay a monthly fee for the lighting service to upgrade the lights.

The global lighting as a service market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 40.8% in the forecast period 2018-2025. In terms of application, the commercial segment is anticipated to dominate the market throughout the forecast period register the highest growth during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the widespread adoption of LaaS business model by various commercial organizations as it offers enhanced energy savings and cost reductions.

Due to widespread adoption of the lighting as a service in various countries of Europe, such as Germany and the U.K., the Europe market for LaaS is expected to see the fastest growth rate in the forecast period 2018-2025. The growth of LaaS model in Europe is attributed to the increase in demand for energy efficient lighting system.

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David Schubmehl, research director, Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems at IDC, observed that the AI market continues to grow at a rapid pace.

"Vendors looking to take advantage of AI, deep learning and machine learning need to move quickly to gain a foothold in this emergent market. IDC is already seeing that organizations using these technologies to drive innovation are benefitting in terms of revenue, profit, and overall leadership in their respective industries and segments," he commented.

Software will be both the largest and fastest growing technology category throughout the forecast, representing around 40% of all cognitive/AI spending with a five-year CAGR of 43.1%.

Not surprisingly the two areas of focus for these investments are conversational AI applications (e.g., personal assistants and chatbots) and deep learning and machine learning applications (employed in a wide range of use cases).

Hardware (servers and storage) will be the second largest area of spending until late in the forecast, when it will be overtaken by spending on related IT and business services.

Both categories will experience strong growth over the forecast (30.6% and 36.4% CAGRs, respectively) despite growing slower than the overall market.

The cognitive/AI use cases that will see the largest spending totals in 2018 are automated customer service agents ($2.9 billion), automated threat intelligence and prevention systems ($1.9 billion), sales process recommendation and automation ($1.7 billion) and automated preventive maintenance ($1.7 billion).

The use cases that will see the fastest investment growth over the 2017-2022 forecast are pharmaceutical research and discovery (46.8% CAGR), expert shopping advisors & product recommendations (46.5% CAGR), digital assistants for enterprise knowledge workers (45.1% CAGR), and intelligent processing automation (43.6% CAGR).

"Worldwide Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems spend has moved beyond the early adopters to mainstream industry-wide use case implementation," said Marianne Daquila, research manager Customer Insights & Analysis at IDC.

"Early adopters in banking, retail and manufacturing have successfully leveraged cognitive/AI systems as part of their digital transformation strategies. These strategies have helped companies personalize their relationship with customers, thwart fraudulent losses, and keep factories running. Increasingly, we are seeing more local governments keeping people safe with cognitive/AI systems. There is no doubt that the predicted double-digit year-over-year growth will be driven by even more decision makers, across all industries, who do not want to be left behind," she concluded.

Banking and retail will be the two industries making the largest investments in cognitive/AI systems in 2018 with each industry expected to spend more than $4.0 billion this year. Banking will devote more than half of its spending to automated threat intelligence and prevention systems and fraud analysis and investigation while retail will focus on automated customer service agents and expert shopping advisors & product recommendations.

Beyond banking and retail, discrete manufacturing, healthcare providers, and process manufacturing will also make considerable investments in cognitive/AI systems this year. The industries that are expected to experience the fastest growth on cognitive/AI spending are personal and consumer services (44.5% CAGR) and federal/central government (43.5% CAGR). Retail will move into the top position by the end of the forecast with a five-year CAGR of 40.7%.

On a geographic basis, the United States will deliver more than 60% of all spending on cognitive/AI systems throughout the forecast, led by the retail and banking industries. Western Europe will be the second largest region, led by banking and retail. China will be the third largest region for cognitive/AI spending with several industries, including state/local government, vying for the top position. The strongest spending growth over the five-year forecast will be in Japan (62.4% CAGR) and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China) (52.3% CAGR). China will also experience strong spending growth throughout the forecast (43.8% CAGR).

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“We spend most of our work life essentially guessing at what’s going on. How much better will it be if instead of periodically shedding a light into one dark corner of the operation, we could turn all the lights on all at once and see what’s actually happening,” he mused.

Watch this video as Raynor probes into the capabilities of the Internet of Things, presenting concepts like strategy and innovation can help organizations reinvent businesses of almost any type.

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CityU IS department has collaborated with BOCHK-Cyberport Innovation Studio to launch a FinTech Talent Training Program in 2017.

The purpose of this program is to give students the opportunity to apply what they have learnt at school to real business problems as part of a consulting project. BOCHK and/or Cyberport companies will specify the requirements of the project. Students will work in a team on a part-time basis under the supervision of a faculty member and deliver the work product within one or two semesters.

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IDC forecasts total global spend to reach US$260 billion in 2022, with the aforementioned industries reaching US$129 billion.

A new update to the Worldwide Semi-annual Big Data and Analytics Spending Guide from IDC forecasts worldwide revenues for big data and business analytics (BDA) solutions will reach $260 billion in 2022 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.9% over the 2017-2022 forecast period. BDA revenues are expected to total $166 billion this year, an increase of 11.7% over 2017.

"At a high level, organizations are turning to Big Data and analytics solutions to navigate the convergence of their physical and digital worlds," said

According to Jessica Goepfert, program vice president, Customer Insights & Analysis at IDC, the adoption of BDA is driven by the desire by banks to manage and reinvigorate customer experience. Manufacturers, on the other hand, want to reinvent themselves into high tech companies, using their products as a platform to enable and deliver digital services.

More than half of all BDA revenues will go to IT and business services over the course of the forecast. Services-related revenues will also be among the fastest growing areas of opportunity with a combined CAGR of 13.2%.

Software investments will grow to more than US$90 billion in 2022, led by purchases of End-User Query, Reporting, and Analysis Tools and Relational Data Warehouse Management Tools. Two of the fastest growing BDA technology categories will be Cognitive/AI Software Platforms (36.5% CAGR) and Non-relational Analytic Data Stores (30.3% CAGR). BDA-related purchases of servers and storage will grow at a CAGR of 7.3%, reaching nearly US$27.0 billion in 2022.

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