Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy Smedley explains that advances in AI (artificial intelligence) and the IoT (Internet of Things) is changing industries like healthcare and manufacturing. She says AI is part of a larger part of digital transformation and that an innovation culture can help employees and leaders seek new ways to solve problems. She cites statistics that show growth, including that jobs requiring AI have increased by 450% since 2013.

Peggy and Josh Peschel, assistant professor, agricultural and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, talk about the biggest drivers for AI and machine learning in the supply chain today. He says an exciting area right now is augmentation—being able to see what is in a warehouse through AR (augmented reality). Perhaps the most exciting thing is the implementation of machine learning in media and video production, he adds.

Peggy and Basavaraj Patil, a lead member of technical staff in AT&T's Internet of Things business unit, discuss the definition of the terms AI, machine learning, and deep learning. He says the term AI was coined back in 1956, but the technology has morphed today. He also explains how the IoT (Internet of Things) relates to all of it. Today, more and more companies are trying to figure out how to use all the data, he continues, and AI and machine learning can improve prosperity, react faster to malfunctions, and more.

Peggy Smedley talks about the challenges and opportunities for the digital supply chain—and why the IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (artificial intelligence) is playing a greater role. She points to examples of how manufacturers, retailers, and logistics companies are leveraging technology in today's on-demand economy. When done right, data can give businesses critical insights that can drive growth and profitability, she says.

Peggy welcomes back Robin Raskin, founder and president, Living In Digital Times, who says right now there are some big players in the supply-chain space, but we are going to see a lot of innovation happening in this area. She says we lose so many hours a year looking for records—there is fraud and noncompliance and counterfeit, which is costing the supply chain money every year. She adds that it is not going to be easy to get there. She suggests picking one thing and doing it first. She adds that having a record of every transaction in the blockchain is the answer for certain things.

Peggy and Alan Griffiths, principal analyst, Cambashi, says many IoT projects are one-offs or proof-of-concepts. Most of the companies want to buy technology in the form of an application that can help them do their business better. He adds companies that typically own the operational side and process manufacturing, and IoT, used to be apart, but now some companies have a deep understanding of both. He also talks about consolidation and how it impact the industry. While the big mergers tend to hit the headlines, there are many that don't hit the headlines that are impacting edge computing or analytics.

Peggy Smedley talks about how AR (augmented reality) is impacting the retail sector. She explains AR will be adopted where it will provide the most value and it will explode in this sector in the next several years. She adds that Wal-Mart is leading the way in adopting AR technologies. She says now the company is taking its VR (virtual reality) initiatives further, leveraging headsets that make learning experimental. She says one of the keys to success for retail going forward will be finding ways to integrate the online and store experience.

Peggy and Chris Westfall, author, Leadership Language: Using Authentic Communication to Drive Results, talk about communication, and he says just because you say something doesn't mean you should. Communication is key to success or unintended consequences. If you want to create a message with impact, you have to focus on leadership language. He points to a statistic: 69% of managers surveyed were uncomfortable talking to employees for any reason. It is creating an atmosphere where we are afraid to communicate. The importance of communication can't be understated, he says.

Peggy is joined by Carol Bartucci, president, Crisp Consulting, who says her goal is to really help people with IT—including developing a strategy and planning. She says companies can do a five-year plan, but they have to be constantly reevaluating it. She says it is good to do pilots and proofs of concept and it is essential to have integration with existing systems. The reality is people don't like failure because it sets them back and there is a loss of money, but sometimes companies have to go through multiple iterations. She suggests setting expectations. Still, she says the challenge is companies take a leap, buy new technology, invest in a new product, and it doesn't deliver—and it takes months for it to work. When it comes to women in the industry, she says women don't understand the roles. Today, we need to get more people to be involved—and high school is almost a little bit too late. Finally, she says trying to get everyone to agree on a forward path is hard.

Peggy Smedley says research suggests the global blockchain in energy market will grow tremendously in the next decade. For example, in countries like Japan, utilities are testing blockchain tech to determine the value it can offer. She also says there are seven different uses for this technology in energy. She adds that blockchain can help address some of the core challenges in the healthcare industry. Finally, she says blockchain will make an impact in the near future on elections as well.

Peggy and Elise Keith, co-founder, Lucid Meetings, and author of "Where the Action Is: The Meetings that Make or Break Your Organization", discuss meetings. Keith says every aspect of our world is moving faster, and thus we need to bring the people together. For many, meetings are just something that people do—it is not something leaders get training in. She suggests that is not always safe. Some organizations are very intentional and design systems that are very clear about how they make decisions and other techniques. She says there are 16 distinct types of meetings—each of which is designed to achieve a specific goal. Often, problems are caused because people aren't clear on what they are trying to achieve. Three major categories of meetings include: monitoring and moving forward the work we are already doing; create new ideas and solve problems; and partnerships and the art of the deal.

Peggy chats with Senthil Ramakrishnan, lead member of technical staff in AT&T's Internet of Things organization, who says one of the first steps with cybersecurity is understanding what IoT is—and it starts at the c-level. The primary mistake companies make is they deploy IoT without understanding the difference between IT and IoT. Often, they don't include the new cybersecurity challenges that the IoT brings. The second challenge is devices will have a very long lifecycle. He explains that it all starts with education. Today some industrial control systems are still running legacy systems, but a company can use a multilayer strategy to get data off devices to the cloud, he says. Once a company has a multilayer strategy, it can then manage its risk.

Peggy Smedley says too many businesses are undergoing an IoT (Internet of Things) transformation lack a cybersecurity understanding. She says cybersecurity is the c-suite's job too, suggesting responsibility for risk starts at the top and involves everyone. She encourages c-suite executives to engage themselves in cybersecurity and the company's digital transformation. She also looks at cyber insurance—and addresses if it provides a dangerous sense of security. She says we can predict so we don't have to react.

Peggy and Christian Crews, foresight and transformative growth lead, Kalypso, talk about what happens when IoT devices get abandoned by technology developers. He says there are two levels: if you are a company buyer versus if you are an end consumer. He asks: Is it core to the value you are delivering or is it context—something that is allowing you to deliver value separately. If it is core, you need to invest directly into some of these. If it is context, you can outsource it, and if it fails, you learned a lot, but it is not completely damaging your core value that you are delivering. He says, we have been saying that AI (artificial intelligence) is 10 years away for the last 50 years, and then all of a sudden it was here. In the contracting space, we are seeing much stronger emphasis on putting language in the contract to protect companies, but the best thing that IoT does is to move away from some cost in hardware. He suggests considering hardware-as-a-service. There has been a lot of bandwagon with blockchain, but the reality is blockchain works for some things, but not all things, he adds.

Peggy chats with Ben Dolmar, director of software development, The Nerdery, about how people getting into the IoT space look at technology and what they could do. He suggests looking at the needs and the workflow—and then measuring and streamlining. When you go to bring something like this to market, start with a plan and then do research, he says, and next test with groups of people. Then as the build out happens, have a plan for how to maintain a rollout. Further, he talks about machine learning and how it can help automate simple tasks, but there is still human value at the end of it. He suggests there are places where AI (artificial intelligence) may or may not take over a process, but we will end up with new jobs when we automate processes. Today, a big part of what we get out of the IoT is more sophisticated solutions to capture and process a lot more data.

Peggy Smedley tells the story of smart-home devices that were left orphaned in many people's home. She talks about the fallout when technology is abandoned as a result of mergers and acquisitions. She says the FCC sums it up, when it listed the questions IoT businesses should ask itself. Security is another big concern with orphaned technology, as vulnerability could put consumers' lives at risk. One smart move is to make sure you are buying from a trustworthy and reputable company. She suggests to make sure to ask a provider what their plans are. For providers, she says don't pretend that you are never going to change as a company—be upfront about what your plans are.

Peggy and Josh Peschel, assistant professor, agricultural and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, says we have been seeing orphaned technology for decades. In some respects, it depends on which part of the technology market, as little guys are more innovative, but have technology that disappears tomorrow, while the big guys are able to absorb those things. An ecosystem enables a company or community to support a technology that may turn into legacy. He adds any technology throughout the world has been vulnerable and the market is responding to that with companies with niches can help address cyber-security issues. We have technologies—that may or not be secure—and next year may have a different protocol, but over time people who educate themselves and become specialists will increase.

Peggy chats with Mobeen Khan, AVP product marketing management Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T, who says the cadre of customers and the customer interaction was just amazing at the AT&T Business Summit last month. Also, he explains that AT&T is becoming very embedded in different verticals. He says the challenges faced by each vertical is different in nature. For example, fleets need to comply with mandates, but they also have a big focus on worker safety—which is one case of how a vertical has unique challenges. On the other hand, retail needs to manage floor space versus online, as another instance. Each has a different pace at which they want to make investments. He explains that just like any other technology, network technology goes through an evolution. There are three things AT&T thinks about when it thinks about 5G: speed, latency, and adoption of IoT.

Peggy Smedley says we can expect 12.86 billion IoT sensors and devices to be in use by 2020 in the consumer sector alone, and vertical-specific sensors and devices will exceed 3 billion by 2020, but she says the IoT has to work to do before it starts living up to all the hype. She explains that as an industry, we need to be really meticulous and slightly cautious when bringing IoT devices and solutions to market. She also says we need to keep talking about performance issues and security issues and sharing best practices with each other—even in cross-industry situations. Finally, the more communication within the industry, the better it will be for everyone in the long run.

Peggy wraps up the show by talking with Robin Raskin, founder, Living in Digital Times, who explains says users get frustrated when each device requires an app of its own. She reveals that there are already more devices than humans on the planet. As an example, a thermostat can be set, or it can learn behaviors about you and can save you money and time. The new generation of IoT devices will have some analytics and machine learning behind it to predict what you want. She also explains that some great things have happened in the IoT space for seniors and accessibility.

Peggy chats with Heikki Laine, VP of product & strategy, Cognata, who says the company was founded two years ago, offering technology for autonomous vehicle testing. Autonomous vehicles have huge potential to increase safety on the road and improve mobility, but in order to keep that momentum and maintain public support, there is a lot that needs to go on beyond just technology, he explains. We need a structured approach that delivers technology and public confidence in parallel and we do see driverless cars on the road today in some limited situations, he says. The regulations need to be around how the vehicle delivers driving functions—that is one shift that is necessary. Another perspective is the jurisdiction issue. Right now, regulation is at a state level for testing, and that varies, he adds.

Peggy Smedley says there is a lot happening in the world of AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning. She's a big fan of making technology available to more people, saying more companies are using resources and taking a look at sustainability. She is also looking forward to how big companies are going to tackle issues with help of AI, machine learning, and IoT (Internet of Things). The IoT has the potential to change the world and help humanity solve some of its most pressing challenges in the years to come. Machine learning, in particular, is going to transform industries such as healthcare. She points to an example of a boy who is leveraging AI to improve pancreatic cancer.

Peggy is joined by Chris Penrose, president, Internet of Things, AT&T Business, and James Brehm, founder and chief technology evangelist, James Brehm & Associates, who identify the biggest hurdles of the IoT including security, integrating IoT into business, scaling IoT, and lack of talent. Penrose explains how AT&T is helping manage security end-to-end. They also talk about the trends going forward, including the fact that every business will change the way they operate by introducing IoT technologies.

Peggy Smedley chats with Chris Penrose, president, Internet of Things, AT&T Business, and James Brehm, founder and chief technology evangelist, James Brehm & Associates, about the approval of new LPWA network technologies and the verticals seeing the most IoT (Internet of Things) penetration including connected car, healthcare, retail, smart cities, and more. They also discuss the AT&T Foundry and why it is important to brainstorm and change how companies operate businesses. Further, they discuss big trends such as surveillance-as-a-service and inspection-as-a-service.

Peggy and Christian Crews, foresight and transformative growth lead, Kalypso, says success is being able to leverage datasets and get new sets of data coming into the product development lifecycle. He adds that now we are starting to get data out to end of life and warranty issues are just the beginning. We are now getting a closed-loop innovation cycle, he says. He explains we are going to need to protect the data and we need to make sure we are managing customer data well. At the end of the day, you have to take the lead from your customer.

Peggy talks with Kiva Allgood, chief commercial development officer, GE Ventures, who says she grew up on a farm and the phone did one thing, but now a phone does many things. In the consumer realm, a device serves multiple purposes—and this is beginning to extend to industrial. She says every industry has its own unique set of data and collecting data is more difficult than anticipated, but technology is catching up. She is excited about the fact that the technology exists, and now we just need to find the champions. We need trades to help build large industrial equipment, but that transition isn't going to occur fast enough. The companies who will do it faster will be more profitable, she says. If you can reimagine every single process and technology in the industrial space, imagine the impact it can have on people, she says.

Peggy Smedley answers the questions: Can artificial intelligence brew a better beer and can machine learning make better cannabis-related recommendations? She explains that there are a number of applications for AI and machine learning and they are changing the game for manufacturing. She says one of the greatest opportunities for manufacturing is to create personalized products, with manufacturing poised to bring more mass personalization. She also explains that how products are delivered through the supply chain will evolve.

Peggy and Jeremy Hitchcock, founder and CEO, Minim, talk about the DDoS attack against Dyn in October 2016, which served as the inspiration for Minim. He says the number of connected devices installed in our home is growing, but they are not necessarily put together with the best software. He says the best thing manufacturers can do is make sure their devices auto-update by default. He explains it is trying to create a shared sense of empathy and help make homes more secure.

Peggy speaks with Chad Markle, partner, Kalypso, about connected manufacturing, who says manufacturing has relied on advancing technologies to get a competitive edge. Manufacturers are used to exploring technologies and are focused on ROI, he explains. He adds that the focus in the beginning is to find an enlightened executive and then develop a solid strategy. He suggests keeping it small in the beginning, discover results, and then scale quickly. He points to the example of a client who asked: can we leverage generative design and advanced machine learning to generate fixtures that are generated by the machine? He elaborates on this example and what is entailed. He says the future is bright and it is exciting because it allows us to reshore and bring back some of the manufacturing capabilities that we offshored.

Peggy Smedley takes a moment to pause and remember the deadly attacks of September 11, outlining who a first responder is and the goal of using technology, which is to set first responders up for success by giving them the best resources available to perform their duties. She also says there are some exciting new applications of connected technologies that can help people get help in times of need. She explains with data, users can make better decisions about where to deploy officers or how to train first-response team. She also asks: Are we as a society truly investing the time and resources to make sure our first responders have the technology they need when and where they need it?

Peggy and Joshua Peschel, assistant professor, agriculture and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, says some of the most interesting things going on are with small-scale manufacturing—and these manufacturers need to have access to AI (artificial intelligence) and robotics. He explains it is important because it is going to allow them to get into some new and different markets. He adds that technology companies should not price out the small manufacturers because those are the ones who could benefit from it the most. He adds that there are issues that are both upstream and downstream. For example, everyone is interested in shipping and is looking for the next Uber of shipping.

Peggy is joined by Trisala Chandaria, CEO and cofounder, Temboo, who says one thing that is really important is how to make emerging technologies more available to a wider group of people. She explains that software development and writing code is one of the biggest hurdles today. She says the company spent a lot of time on user experience and making it as easy as entering a field in a form. What has been interesting at Temboo, she explains, is it has been valuable to explore what customers are doing, and what she has observed is there are two types of adoptions or initiatives in IoT: the first is companies like Otis that are looking at how their business models can move into servitization, and it is still very early for that. The second is people retrofitting their existing equipment facility processes and doing it in a way where their current systems stay in place and they are adding on top of it a digital layer to help them with very specific problems that they have identified up front. Those are areas that have adopted the IoT most successfully, she says. She adds that people on the ground that are trying to build and use systems often come from a mechanical background, and that the responsibility of a tech company is to enable a mechanic or service technician to be able to prepare for the next evolution of what their work would look like.

Peggy dives into the topic of security, saying it is a huge consideration for any business undergoing a digital transformation. She points to three big trends that can give manufacturers a better chance at preventing cyberattacks from happening in the first place. She continues, explaining that industrial IoT systems can open doors for cybercriminals to move laterally across a manufacturing network as they search for ways to wreak havoc and accomplish their nefarious goals. She says security checkups need to be put on the agenda at every meeting and employees need to be continuously trained about risks, solutions, and how they can help keep systems secure

Peggy and John Pletz, senior reporter, Crain's Chicago Business, discuss the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Chicago. Companies are trying to figure out how to use data to make manufacturing better, faster, and smarter, he explains. Still, many manufacturers are at the early stages. While there are sensors that are cheap enough to be on machines, the hard part is pulling it all in and making sense of it, he adds. They also discuss sensors in buildings, and he says new buildings are being built with the idea of sensors and data on the front end—and then a lot of buildings are being retrofitted with digital controls as well. This is allowing building operators to improve efficiency.

Peggy kicks off the segment, talking about how technology is redefining the workplace, and how the use of short-term contractors is estimated to grow. She and Greg Settle, director of national initiatives, TechForce Foundation, discuss new trends surrounding the workforce of the future. He says TechForce Foundation is a nonprofit, with the mission to champion students to improve their education in the transportation industry. He explains that a four-year college is not the only path to success—and the problem with sending everyone there is that not everyone learns that way and we are not educating young men and women about the huge opportunity and demand in all the trades. He adds that with transportation technicians there is a lot of training that takes place once you get into the workforce. He says hands-on learners can fit in well with the technician profession.

Peggy talks about interoperability, saying in order for a smart factory to work as its intended, all of the different components of a system need to be able to talk to each other. She explains that mutually agreed upon standards for the Industrial IoT and the entire supply chain in manufacturing are important in supporting interoperability and reliability going forward. She continues that to achieve digital transformation, manufacturers will need to invest in the concept of individualized manufacturing and what some call "batch size 1."

Peggy and Dan Miklovic, research fellow, LNS Research, explains why companies struggle to get past the proof of concept on the industrial IoT side. He says too often companies pick a technology they think will be useful and implement it, but they haven't thought about how they are going to change business. On the other hand, there are companies that know exactly what they want to do and then they try to do a proof of concept, but the technology is not yet economical or it is too fragile. The tips to be successful is to find that sweet spot where you are using technology that is ripe and ready for deployment and using it to solve a business challenge.

Peggy and Chris Smith, vice president, service innovation, Otis Elevator Co., talk about how big-data analytics are changing how it provides services. He says it is a transition and it is learning as it goes, but the first thing it did was collect a lot of data. When he looks at what customers want, they want elevators up and running, so it looked at data and how to solve customers' problems. The company also identified how to create a predictive model and turn it into a proactive scheduled maintenance visit, and still do the maintenance, but during a time that the customer wants to do it. Otis has built an algorithm around predictive door maintenance, and Smith explains the IoT helps because it can provide data to the customer about how the elevator is declining in health and how it can move the needle back to a healthy state.

Peggy says two combined factors—global population growth and urbanization—could result in another 2.5 billion people living in urban areas by 2050. She asks the question: What exactly is going to happen when more than half of the global population resettles in urban centers? She suggests smart-city services are going to be an important part of how we solve the urbanization puzzle, from smart buildings and smart grid, to connected transportation and connected infrastructure.

Peggy and David Stephenson, author, The Future Is Smart, talk about his new book. He explains the primary audience of the book is not the thought leaders and doers, but the skeptical mainstream businesses that have maybe heard a little bit of the IoT, but they are intrigued about the economic payoffs. He talks about the concept of collective blindness, saying for the longest time when we manufactured something, we did not have real-time feedback. Approximations led to a lot of errors and inefficiencies. Companies don't realize how beneficial it can really be, hence collective blindness. Everyone who needs real-time information can share that information instantly, and that changes everything.

Peggy and Sam George, director of Azure IoT, Microsoft, talk about servitization. He says IoT is a pretty profound technique to sense the real world in realtime. When talking about the digital feedback loop, he explains an IoT solution today is not what the same IoT solution is going to look like tomorrow. Predictive maintenance is evolving into the predictive stocking of parts, for example. He says if you think about the life of a service engineer, what they care about is fixing the equipment the first time. With the digital feedback loop, and being able to proactively schedule, the service engineer gets empowered and feels a greater sense of accomplishment. They see themselves as being part of the cutting-edge IoT revolution and this has a profound effect on the companies hiring these engineers because they want to be part of a company that is forward looking. George adds that it is important to talk about digital transformation and change, along with the new technology when introducing it in a company.

Peggy asks: Are services really that important to growth? Simply, yes. She goes on to explain that IoT global spending will reach more than $772 billion in 2018—up about 14.5%. Even more, by 2021, services spending is expected to nearly equal hardware spending. She dives into vertical markets, saying in 2018 the industries that stand out in terms of the most money spent in IoT will include manufacturing, transportation, and utilities. In all three, asset management will be an important driver of IoT spending. She also takes a look at servitization in action, pointing to an example from Rolls-Royce and its Nor Lines. Servitization requires companies to think differently and step outside the box, she explains.

Peggy and Joshua Peschel, assistant professor, agriculture and biosystems engineering, Iowa State University, says if you look at the tracking different assets and understanding their supply chain, having access to detailed information is not something companies were able to have prior to now. He gives an example of taxi tracking in large cities. If you could know where taxis were located, you could know about illness spreading, because you know how many times taxis or Ubers went to hospitals. He says there is going to be a big squeeze on the supply chain, no matter what part of it you are in.

Peggy and Duane Wald, VP and managing director, EMEA and APAC, MultiTech, chat about the Internet of Things, and he says in the context of Industry 4.0, it is less about technology, and more about business strategies and business models. He adds that people understand the opportunity, but there is a lot of effort to use technology to solve problems. Creating the ecosystem and business model is what the industry is challenged with today—and that is where we are at in the evolution of this now, he explains. The technology is maturing and that is the key today, he says, as technology is making new applications possible that weren't possible five years ago.

Peggy talks about how servitization can open the door to new revenue streams. She explains that if you are in business today, you are in it to make money. Using IoT (Internet of Things) and data to sell services that complement a product portfolio is just smart business. She talks about how to go on the journey toward servitization—and make it a profitable one. She points to research that shows that companies that are further along in their servitization journey also report higher profitability.

Peggy and Chuck Freiheit, COO, F.H. Paschen, talk about the aging workforce. He explains that we have to be intentional about inspiring the next generation. He also says we need to use technology to attract the talent. The advent of the iPhone and the iPad have helped and one of the things it did a couple years ago is decide it wasn't going to have one platform to solve all problems. He adds that safety is very critical and technology can help.

Peggy and Claire Rutkowski, CIO, Bentley Systems, talk about our infrastructure. She explains that we are absolutely failing with our infrastructure and there are a number of reasons including a funding a gap. She says there are offsetting savings. For instance, repairing our roads can save drivers money. She adds that while funding is the most important, private investors have assets under management. Infrastructure projects, in theory, should be good, stable investments. Also, we don't have clear accountability in government for infrastructure improvements, she adds. Aligning priorities can help deliver improvements much quicker and technology can definitely help address the gap, she adds. The first step in change management is awareness, and she says there is broad awareness that there is a problem. She explains that we all know things have to change, which is half the battle, but the tricky bit is understanding how we need to change.

Peggy says one beacon of hope for people who hate sitting in traffic is connectivity. She says autonomous vehicles will be a part of our lives and it will reduce traffic and road accidents and fatalities. V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication enables the sharing of data, giving the ability to see around corners and through other vehicles. Someday these vehicles will react to the data, she says, rather than relying on the people to react. V2X (vehicle-to-everything) technology is going to play a huge role in helping drivers, and eventually vehicles, react to crash situations before it is too late.

Peggy and Cassandra Rutherford, assistant professor at Iowa State University, discuss some of the research she is doing as it relates to soil testing, foundation, and more. She explains that every project we have touches the soil and she looks at how soil responds to different types of loads. She is also looking to the future and doing research as it relates to critical infrastructure. A lot of research and funds need to be put into levees, she adds, saying we need $80 billion to maintain the levee system. She also talks about her efforts in elementary education, saying students admit they have never heard of geotechnical engineers, with many thinking engineers just drive trains.

Peggy and Rich DiClaudio, president, CEO, and founding board member, The Energy Innovation Center Institute, chat about this organization's mission, which is to transform how humans interact with energy and technology. He explains that we need a resilient electric grid and that the institute is always pursuing activities to enable resilient cities. He says in developed economies, it is unusual for a business to last more than 12 years. Looking at cities, unless something odd has happened like an earthquake, it is not unusual to see cities that are 500 years old, 1,000 years old, or more, and are still thriving quite well. He explains that human resources become more and more important.