IoB Insiders is designed to give you a front-row seat into how the Internet of Things is changing every vertical, and the companies within them.
As I said in my newsletter on Friday, Internet of Business has had some year as we approach our first birthday (7 December). Let’s take a quick glance:
- Almost 800 articles posted, including deep-dive analysis on the IoT ecosystem and thought-provoking ‘exclusives’ on pilot projects and roll-outs
- Offices launched in London and Boston, US – with the team growing to nearly 40 people in that time
- A website redesign, including a move to Internetofbusiness.com and HTTPS for better web security
- A full-team of journalists – including well-recognized tech freelancers and our first reporter Fred Roberts
- Cited in the Financial Times and other prominent industry publications
- Discovery of our content leading to discussions with C-level executives at some of the world’s biggest companies
- First whitepapers produced with Beecham Research and Intel
- Nine vertical-specific IoT conferences in manufacturing (x2), insurance (x2), retail (x2), healthcare, banking and IoT Build
This is just the start for the publication, though, and next year we are going to be delivering webinars, breakfast briefings, more video and much more besides. If any of those sound of interest, or even if you’ve got some advice on how to make them relevant and valued, you know where I am.
One thing I can announce today, however, is the launch of our IoB Insiders program – a new network of expert columnists to tell us how IoT technologies are impacting each vertical, from retail, to manufacturing, health and so-on.
Why have we hand-selected these experts? Well, we get to hear a lot of vendor news in the IoT world, but not so much end-user case studies, challenges etc. These columnists will be writing their own views of IoT from their experiences on a monthly basis. Now, to announce the columnists in question:
Chi Onwurah is one of the leading politicians in the UK when it comes to understanding technology. As a former engineer, she ‘gets’ the IoT and has been vocal in how the government needs to prioritize investment and infrastructure if the country is to truly take advantage of these nascent technologies. She’s active on Twitter, and you can expect some strong opinions from her on these pages.
Adam Leach heads up the R&D team at Nominet, the official registry for UK domain names. The firm is very active with IoT, developing a set of IoT tools for developers, and delivering some of the earlier examples of smart parking, IoT-powered flood protection and smart cities.
Leach, who like Onwurah has a strong following on social media, is a regular speaker on the conference circuit, and is ideally placed to tell you how the IoT market is changing, and where end-user traction is growing.
Andrew Yeoman is CEO and co-founder of Concirrus, which provides a software platform to help insurers leverage data from the Internet of Things (IoT) for new products.
Concirrus has some interesting case studies to talk about, including how it helped an airport baggage handler to become more efficient through IoT, and Yeoman is generally very opinionated on why financial services firms must adopt these technologies, or face going out of business. We look forward to his views on IoT in insurance.
Cam is co-founder and MD at SharpEnd, an IoT consultancy that has worked with retail giants such as Absolut, Pernod Richard and Unilever. This ‘Agency of Things’ claims to specialize, in particular, in the areas of smart packing, smart spaces and designing connected products.
Cam will be writing about the impact of IoT in retail, an area he already feels is being disrupted by the emergence of Amazon’s Alexa and voice recognition in general.
Andrew Tarver is a serial tech entrepreneur, and was formerly MD of tech start-up Bold Rocket, UK CEO of financial services consultancy Capco and also held senior positions at UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs.
Now MD of tech consultancy Jigsaw, Tarver is a tech expert, having built algorithmic technology platforms for the world’s leading banks, and is also a regular speaker on IoT. In his monthly column, he will look at the changing IoT ecosystem.
As head of Analysys Mason’s Digital Economy practice, Rebbeck is always looking at the M2M/IoT space, the telco operators, and emerging areas like LPWA networks and autonomous cars.
A regular commentator for IoB, and SIG Champion at Cambridge Wireless, Rebbeck will look at the changing IoT market and the technologies that will form the backbone of the Internet of Things.
Steve Sandquist is an insurtech and healthcare advisor and speaker. He is currently CEO of Sandquist Consulting and advisory committee member for Autonomous_ID, which creates biometric identification and monitoring tech for insurance, health and fitness industries.
Sandquist is opinionated on how the insurance and healthcare markets must change, and will be using his monthly column to focus on the role IoT can play in both industries.
Weightless CEO William Webb is a long-time technology professional, having previously held senior strategic roles at UK-based Neul (bought by Huawei for $25 million in 2014), Ofcom and Motorola.
Now CEO of the Weightless Special Interest Group (SIG) which is harmonizing the Weightless technology as a global standard, he naturally has a view on IoT standards, 5G and general adoption by the end-user community.
Rami Avidan is Managing Director of Tele2’s IoT group, and was previously CEO at M2M/IoT connectivity player Wyless (acquired by Kore in March).
Avidan is a regular speaker on the conference circuit, and is passionate about bringing these technologies to all industries.
Nick Lansley, innovation consultant, Nick Lansley’s innovation lab
Nick Lansley is now an innovation consultant, but previously worked as head of open innovation at Tesco and head of R&D at Tesco.com.
A self-confessed tech geek, Lansley preaches about the potential of open data and APIs, and has experience of bringing concept tech projects in life in retail stores. Naturally, he’s a good fit to be discussing the impact IoT will have on retail.
Industrial Internet Consortium
If you are interested in the Industrial Internet (or Industrial IoT), you will have doubtlessly come across the Industrial Internet Consortium.
The IIC has hundreds of members – most of whom are technology companies – and works with these to set standards, best practices and processes of the Industrial Internet – helping to create the future of industry. Their members will be writing about the IIoT on these pages, well worth a reading for any company looking at improving their manufacturing and supply chain management.
More to be announced soon…