Pratiti Technologies

Tag: IoT

  • How IoT is Transforming Healthcare?

    How IoT is Transforming Healthcare?

    When we talk about healthcare, the first thing you visualize is hospitals and medical practitioners. A lot has been made possible in the field due to the availability of IoT devices.

    Traditionally as well, doctors always used to rely on a variety of investigations to diagnose a patient symptom before prescribing medicines. Today, with the advent of IoT, a lot of these parameters can be monitored in real time and can significantly aid patient rehab and recovery. In the healthcare space of hospitals and medical practitioners, service providers, who can analyze data captured from smart IoT devices and report inferences are making rapid strides.

    There are a number of areas that IoT health care sensors are disrupting:

    • Elder care: From tracking wandering patients to monitoring the engagement and activities of elderly individuals in nursing homes and hospitals, elder care is a big market for IoT medical devices.
    • Patient data-gathering: This is the most mature field in health care but continues to grow with new innovations in the IoT world.
    • Real-time location: Today, hospitals are using IoT technology to track both people and assets at a lower cost than ever before.

    IoT is slowly allowing for the health care industry to reduce its dependency on humans (and their associated human errors). Even though IoT medical devices may not always impress the everyday consumer, they are steadily improving health care and providing early diagnosis and treatment of serious issues. Having said that though, there are quite a few IoT health care challenges that application developers have to overcome, which include:

    HEALTH CARE PRIVACY & HIPAA

    Security is important for the IoT industry as a whole, but it’s even more important when you add in patient privacy. The regulations that medical apps need to uphold make innovation in the IoT medical device field a challenge. HIPAA—the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—sets the standard for protecting patient data that is created, received, maintained, or transmitted electronically. Privacy is always an issue with health records, but since we now have sensors automatically collecting and storing our medical data, security is even more critical. This means anyone creating an IoT medical device has to keep patient privacy as a top priority.

    IT INTEGRATION & CYBER-SECURITY

    Cyber-security is a major concern in every sector, and the health care industry is no different. In March 2016, for example, health care group MedStar was a victim in a ransomware attack that rendered their computer systems—and vital patient records—unusable. The company had to resort to using paper records until they could restore their systems.

    All this to say, hospitals today are even more hesitant to put anything on their network that is not well-vetted—and since IoT medical devices are the frontier of connectivity and many new applications are hitting the marketplace regularly, they often aren’t well-vetted. But keep in mind that not all technology needs to be deployed within the IT network of a hospital.

    It’s hard to predict where IoT medical devices are headed next—but we are certain that with the rise in interest in IoT and the money being spent in health care innovations, good things are bound to happen in this space.

    If you’re looking for opportunities, health care is a great place to be. We’re excited to see what kind of innovations—from connectivity to data privacy, to application architecture—come into this space.

    Pratiti technologies is focused on the IoT space and has worked extensively in the healthcare sector, helping both medical practitioners as well as health care providers leveraging IoT for improving patient care.

    The core team at Pratiti has over 25 years of industry experience and we have built some great competencies in the Cloud Computing Technologies and Data Analytics. We offer flexible partnership models, through which we partner with you to build scalable technology solutions to bring your innovation faster to market.

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Do This to Ensure 100% Improvement in IoT Product Development

    Do This to Ensure 100% Improvement in IoT Product Development

    From computing devices to connecting devices and generating enormous data. However, this data is rendered useless if it is collected, stored, and analyzed effectively.

    IoT (Internet of Things) enables organizations to drive innovations through the efficient use of data. IoT capabilities, such as data analysis and automation, assist businesses with better decision-making, efficiency, and productivity.

    Organizations that get IoT right, the benefits are copious. Thus, it isn’t surprising that the IoT industry is growing in leaps and bounds. As per a report by Gartner, the IoT market is projected to reach a value of USD 2.0 trillion by 2020, with 8.4 billion connected things.

    That said, despite IoT’s significant growth and its priority in business decision-making, many IoT undertakings are registering stark failures.

    According to a Cisco study, as high as 60% IoT initiatives fail at the proof of concept level. In the same study, only 26% of companies agreed that they had a successful IoT project.

    Almost three-quarters of all IoT projects are failing. There are myriad factors contributing to this failure, some of these being an unclear objective, poor choice of technology, interoperability issues, or simply undefined project requirements.

    Based on experience with developing, launching, and expanding the IoT projects across organizations, we share some of the most essential to-dos that can help you in successful IoT software product developments and implementation.

    1. Avoid saving costs at the wrong place

    Prototyping enables companies to consider the needs, inputs, and requests of clients, and swiftly demonstrate, via mockups and wireframes, what their IoT product will look like while leaving enough headroom for iterations. So do not try to save costs by skipping prototyping, this will only increase your woes by adding additional expenses in the form iterations and change requests at the later stage.

    2. Don’t expect a ready platform to ease development

    The irony about picking an IoT development platform is that selecting an appropriate platform can enable your project, but the selection of the platform can be extremely testing.

    Though many users believe that off-the-shelf platforms can never go wrong since they have been tried and tested, this belief may not be always true.

    Off-the-shelf platforms have a generic design, which has been made for a wide range of domains, like home automation, renewable energy, etc. Moreover, you will have to rely on the vendor for firmware up-gradation and security patch updates, etc.

    Some research can help understand what will suit your need better an off the shelf platform or a bottom-up development using open source technologies.

    3. Scalability should be considered well in advance

    IoT is a network of connected objects sharing and exchanging data continuously via the Internet. With technology advancements, the motives driving IoT product development are evolving from simple tasks, such as data analysis, to more complex functions, such as smart networks.
    This quintessential shift demands an IoT product that is highly scalable, horizontally (expanding network to accommodate an increasing number of connected objects) as well as vertically (building the efficiency of an already-existing software/hardware by attaching more resources).
    Therefore, scalability is a functionality that should be considered right from the beginning of product development.

    4. Data security cannot be compromised

    With IoT comes the upside that we are able to achieve and do things that could not have been thought of before, e.g., switching on your washing machine using your cellphone. However, this continuous digital connectivity also poses higher security vulnerabilities.

    Research has proved that hacking can result in malicious access to critical data. So data security should be key right from product development. Security should be resilient from the most basic (password protection) to the most advanced levels (platform security).

    Employ functionalities such as hardware security modules, key manager, end-to-end encryption, machine-to-machine authentication, API security, and cloud security, to ensure your IoT solution has the toughest security perimeter. Talk to us to know more in this regard,

    5. Clear deliverables for hassle-free development

    Product engineering – designing, prototyping, developing, and implementing – involves various members and teams, including stakeholders.

    Communication and collaboration are key to product engineering. It is crucial that all stakeholders and teams are aware and informed well in advance about how the success of the final developed product is going to be measured.

    At Pratiti we use Agile and DevOps to ensure this clarity of objectives, proper planning, and timely reviews. All this ensures that everyone involved in the development process is on the same page and understands the expectations.

    Conclusion

    IoT or Software product development is an extensive process that requires attention to every detail.  Working with experts helps to smoothen your tech journey as nothing can replace knowledge, experience and sound advice.

    Over the years we have developed a unique tech development process that ensures consistent results for many of our clients. To know more about this process you may. Download this “GUIDE TO SUCCESSFUL TECH PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT”. Hope you find this guide helpful.
    These small details matters as much as the overall development process. If you need any advice or consultation with regards to your area of work, please feel to reach us on contact@pratititech.com

    Our Services

    Software Product Development | Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare App Development | Solar Energy Analytics

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • How Can Organizations Derive True Value Out of Their Data?

    How Can Organizations Derive True Value Out of Their Data?

    Across industries, organizations do spend a lot of time, analyzing the data that is generated on an ongoing basis. Most of this analysis happens post-facto, and not in real time, and decisions made based on the data usually have a significant lag in implementation as well. In this age of the all-consuming IoT (Internet Of Things), what if the data can be available in real time and decisions can be based on powerful analytics and reporting tools, which can save you millions, improve stickiness with the customer by providing better customer experience and enable monetization through new revenue streams.
    It is hard to find any piece of equipment that can’t be hooked up to the all-consuming IoT. Several of these devices are low cost and they also add low value, unless organizations find a way to capture and leverage the created data. And these devices, by their sheer number, are generating huge volumes of data. How many organizations will have the required infrastructure to capture or analyze this information? or the people with the skills to determine how best to leverage this data to drive real business value? This IoT enabled data revolution is not just about finding ways to drive business efficiency or improve customer service; it is about creating data streams that underpin new collaborative business models and can be action-ably monetized.

    Driving the Data-driven Experience

    Of course, many organizations have been capturing machine data for years. Telecom assets, O&M companies, for example, have fault information about their various assets, especially energy assets. Today sensors are helping them to automate corrective maintenance right from placing a call to a technician to monitoring need of resources like Diesel etc This is helping businesses to outperform with respect to the SLAs, that they have with Telecom service providers
    Same fault information can further be analyzed and integrated with preventive maintenance plans and schedule to further improve up-time of telecom towers. Predictive analytics by integrating operating conditions, environmental conditions and basic faults logs can deliver better up-time of telecom assets
    Current health status of various assets is valuable information to OEMs (Original equipment manufacturer) who are interested in either negotiating AMCs or wanting to replace parts or entire assets. O&M companies can very effectively monetize this data and analytics by establishing business collaboration with such OEMs.

    Understanding Value

    Of course, with so much potential for the IoT driven information and so many different areas to explore, it is tough for companies to priorities and understands how best to drive value from this data. IoT is not a magic bullet; nor is big data analytics. And only a tiny minority of the very largest companies can justify a multi-million-dollar investment in the infrastructure, tools and analytic skills required to understand and prioritize the new business opportunities.

    This is why the cloud analytics model is so compelling – from the investment in secured cloud infrastructure globally to the creation of dedicated analytics tools designed specifically to handle and drive value from vast data volumes. Organizations now have the chance to embrace IoT and explore these new data resources with minimal investment – opting for a monthly fee model to gain access to both the technology and data experts required to help prioritize activity and identify new data-driven data streams.

    Conclusion

    IoT is revolutionary, but not in the way perceived by many organizations today. Organizations that have never considered the chance to monetize their data now have the opportunity to mine these rich new data streams. Indeed, many of what have traditionally been core business processes could soon be superseded in value by the demonetization of IoT provided information.

    The challenge for organizations is not about simply slapping sensors on every piece of equipment but to actively look at the new data streams that will be generated and their potential value, both within the business and to third parties. It is those companies that explore cloud analytics, which begin to think differently about the way data is used and actively embrace the new collaborative world that will gain huge potential value of IoT, from new business processes to entire new data-driven revenue streams.

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • How Predictive Maintenance Can Earn You Dollars?

    How Predictive Maintenance Can Earn You Dollars?

    Across organizations, it is common to see curtailed capital expenditure spending predictively, especially on expensive assets. With ‘everything as a service’ models becoming rampant, at several places, these capital expenditure items are already making way for working capital per month costs or per usage costs. Whichever way you look at it, it makes sense to exploit and fully utilize expensive assets. Downtime can be expensive, in pure play terms as well as based on the impact it may cause to the overall activities.

    To prevent downtime, predictive maintenance has been around for quite some time now. In most instances, though predictive maintenance is done post-facto when the asset is brought in for servicing, or it is already causing some problems. Leveraging Internet of Things (IoT), a lot of this predictive maintenance can be on-going and can ensure higher utilization and availability of the asset. Today predictive maintenance is all about detecting the problems & errors before they occur. Traditional business intelligence (BI) is no longer enough.

    Today there are a number of products & tools providing real-time analytics. These comb through vast quantities of data and finds outliers all at rapid speed, providing businesses with greater insight without the usual time delays. The promise and potential are huge. Several manufacturing industries like automotive, off-highway, industrial equipment are starting to link this vision of fully automated factories.

    Managing up-time challenges for a manufacturer of off-highway vehicles – A case

    For a company manufacturing off-highway vehicles and forklift trucks, managing up-time of these vehicles was never an area that they were directly involved in. But with customers expecting high up-time, it was critical that they got in and worked on a solution that would minimize downtime for its customers. This meant additional cost and planting additional electronic devices, which will track and monitor key performing metrics of the vehicle. But the value that this created for the customers was huge. Based on the parameters captured, data was analyzed at the back end and service reminders were created for the customers as well to the nearest service center. Based on this, the vehicle could be brought in and refurbished without causing any unplanned downtime.

    Reducing downtime of machines, apart from saving a lot of time is synonymous with creating more revenue opportunities for the organization.

    In Summary

    We agree on one thing though, that for most organizations, the path is not entirely clear. Depending on organization policies, there may be security concerns, challenges over what data should be sent and collected and of course bringing in some standardization among different locations.

    Knowing that machine is going to have a problem, being able to prevent it before it occurs, or before the problem has become severe, is something that will definitely increase the productivity of every machine. When all of your machines are running on 100% productivity, it’s an ideal situation.

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • IoT: Creating a More Efficient Healthcare System

    IoT: Creating a More Efficient Healthcare System

    Imagine if you are a relative of a chronically ill patient who has forgotten to take his medicine and his condition is worsening. You receive the alert about the changing health condition, are able to know the location of the patient, quickly check some of their vital parameters remotely to see if hospitalization is becoming necessary. Not only this, by while you are gathering all this information, your car’s navigation system can inform you, which of the nearest hospitals have a free bed and create the clearest traffic route to get there in a jiffy. This is not storied from a sci-fi movie but something which is now being made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT).

    “Internet of Things (IoT) refers to any physical object embedded with technology capable of exchanging data connected together over the Internet.”

    IoT is creating a more efficient healthcare system in terms of time, energy and cost. One area where this technology could prove transformative is in healthcare.

    Care at Home

    There are people all over the world whose health may suffer because they don’t have ready access to effective health monitoring. But small, powerful wireless solutions connected through the IoT are now making it possible for monitoring to come to these patients instead of vice-versa.

    Let’s check this example for a patient suffering from dementia if we can equip them with sensors/ wearable and their health could be monitored remotely by their caretakers hopefully the patient can be allowed to stay within their own homes for longer. This can prevent or delay the need for costly long-term care in nursing homes plus reduce the need for unplanned hospital admissions and Doctor visits.

    Similarly, for elderly, we can detect the onset of a wide range of health issues, from high blood pressure to early signs of delirium. Emergency admissions could be reduced – with proactive health systems in place to address the problems before they become more serious or irreversible.
    The data that could be taken from a network of IoT devices will also be able to significantly lower margins of error thus making remote health diagnosis and treatment possible thus dramatically cutting down on the necessity for routine reviews and checkups. Patients could be allowed to leave hospitals and clinics earlier, as professionals are enabled to monitor them from home and health specialists from around the world can provide consultation or even diagnosis from hundreds of miles away rather than keeping them in hospitals for observation.

    Care in Hospitals

    Hospitalized patients whose physiological status requires close attention can be constantly monitored using IoT-driven, non-invasive monitoring. This type of solution employs sensors to collect comprehensive physiological information and uses gateways and the cloud to analyze and store the information and then send the analyzed data remotely to caregivers for further analysis and review. It replaces the process of having a health professional come by at regular intervals to check the patient’s vital signs, instead of providing a continuous automated flow of information. In this way, it simultaneously improves the quality of care through constant attention and lowers the cost of care by eliminating the need for a caregiver to actively engage in data collection and analysis.

    Using IoT devices patients with chronic diseases may be less likely to develop complications with an early diagnosis, for example, patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases who are being treated with digitalis could be monitored around the clock to prevent drug intoxication. Arrhythmia that is randomly seen on an EKG could be easily detected, and EKG data indicating heart hypoxemia could lead to faster detection of cardiac issues. The data collected may also enable a more preventive approach to healthcare by providing information for people to make healthier choices.

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • The Role of SMART Grids in Transforming Utilities in the U.S

    The Role of SMART Grids in Transforming Utilities in the U.S

    The electrical smart grid in the United States experiences more blackouts than that of any other developed nation. Much of the physical equipment on the grids has aged to the point of obsolescence. And most industry experts would agree that the American utility industry has reached a critical point. And update in the infrastructure is the need of the hour.

    Pratiti Technologies is an innovative solution provider focusing on SMAC and IoT driven digital transformation. Pratiti help customers realize their innovations through deep technical expertise and agile development approach

    At the same time, utilities are also experiencing a transformation to their business models. Green energy sources, referred to as Distributed Energy Resources, are turning the centralized power generation and distribution model inside out.

    SMART GRIDs

    A ‘smart grid’ offers us a SMART alternative. A Smart grid can recognize, circumvent and even prevent problems before they occur. Ultimately, smart infrastructure will improve the reliability and resiliency of the power grid.

    The smart grid offers benefits to utility companies, such as detection of energy theft or loss, outage management, an efficient balance between energy demand and supply and improved demand response. This becomes even more critical as we integrate renewable energy in the grid, Renewable energy resources are known to be more unreliable in the sense that a steady output 24*7 cannot be expected and change in wind speed, solar radiation needs to be factored in planning energy Management.

    Utilities will benefit through better asset utilization and power management by seeing real-time demand spikes and potential grid failures. The result is that the companies can prevent blackouts before they occur and optimize power generation based on actual demand.

    The benefit of SMART GRIDs to Consumers

    Smart Grid will interface with and also benefit consumers via Smart Meters and Home Area Networks (HAN). HAN’s. Consumers will be able to see near real-time energy use information and also take advantage of ‘time-of-use’ pricing. For example, appliances that consume a lot of energy such as washers and dryers and water heaters can automatically be set to operate during low-cost periods, reducing the cost to the consumer. This places control in the hands of the consumer.

    Distributed energy resources, demand/response digital customer connections, net metering and the Internet of Things are all here to stay. Business models have to adjust to survive in this rapidly evolving landscape. That’s exactly why utilities are among the leaders in IoT adoption. At Pratiti we help Utilities and product technology supplier circumvent problems associated with this technology adoption.

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • A Practical look into Remote Monitoring using IoT!

    A Practical look into Remote Monitoring using IoT!

    When it comes to maintenance, it offers the ability to create a clear and concise program for organizing equipment maintenance data and using remote IoT to make informed decisions that can pay immediate and long-term dividends.

    Automation

    Automation can streamline maintenance and record keeping activities, aiding information gathering and thus making decision-making easier and faster. Automation tools can be used to schedule maintenance alerts, which significantly reduces the effort and time involved in a traditional data collection process and associated cumbersome paperwork that is used to trigger preventive or corrective maintenance.

    Business owners and fleet managers no longer need to make job site visits and phone calls to obtain basic data such as engine hours, fluid levels or operating temperatures. In addition, the information gathered is more accurate based on a steady flow of real-time data and the elimination of handwritten notes and associated paperwork.

    Remote monitoring gives ability to track the health of the equipment and detect problems associated with temperatures, pressures, Vibration before they blossom into unnecessary expenditures and downtime.

    As an example, data could reveal that a machine needs an oil change sooner than recommended by the manufacturer based on the type of work the machine is involved in. Conversely, a machine might not need to be serviced as frequently as another machine based on the work it does.
    Further, automated alerts can reduce the reliance on equipment operators to intervene and alert the maintenance team about items that need attention.

    For instance, the owner of a machine on a demanding project in a hot climate might set up the program to keep tabs on the machine’s operating temperatures. If the temperatures climb outside acceptable limits, the program can alert the maintenance team, or the dealer who services the equipment.

    Connecting device gives IOT ability to mine a rich history of information to improve maintenance practices. Some systems can gather information from as far back as 18 months, or even longer if it’s regularly downloaded and stored. With historical data, users can spot trends that point to potential problems.

    Fuel usage Monitoring is a good example, if the data reveals a spike in fuel consumption for a given machine it could be symptomatic of an issue that demands further investigation.

    Investing in the business

    Having a keen understanding of operation characteristics of machines and operators over time allows users to flag issues that appear out of the ordinary, and in the process, minimize potential maintenance headaches before they strike.
    The ability of IoT to deliver tangible efficiencies and costs savings when deployed for Remote monitoring is well proven and provides an excellent return on investment. But like any investment, the decision whether to adopt Remote Monitoring using IOT demands a hard look at the technology from every angle to ensure it benefits the business.

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • How Is Your Enterprise Leveraging Data Generated From IoT Devices?

    How Is Your Enterprise Leveraging Data Generated From IoT Devices?

    The use of IoT powered devices is growing rampantly across industries, and so is the quantum of data that is generated from these devices. The important question to address though is – How is your enterprise getting ready to leverage this enormous amount of data that is being generated on a daily basis.

    All of us accept that the Internet of Things (IoT), and the amount of data from connected devices is in the early stages of tremendous growth over the next few years. A recent report from a leading analyst firm estimates its potential economic impact could be up to $11.1 trillion by 2025. The impact of this projected growth is already making its way into the operations of many enterprises. While this number is staggering in its implications, enterprises have a lot of work ahead to create real value from the IoT systems/devices and the resulting wave of IoT system data.

    How many different connected devices or IoT systems are you using in your production facilities right now? It is quite likely that data that is being generated from these devices would be close to several gigabytes. But the important question to ask is, how much of this data is really being used to speed and improve business decisions. It is common to see across several organizations, that over 95 percent of connected device data is not currently being used or used sub-optimally.

    It is necessary to have a clear strategy and framework for the usage of this data in business decision making. The right analytic tools in combination with solutions in big data aggregation and an overall enterprise application integration strategy is critical.

    It’s fairly straightforward to connect device data from one IoT system to one data service provider for analysis and reporting. The challenge comes in aggregating data from multiple IoT systems to be processed by multiple best-in-class data service providers to get the most out of your data. This is where the need for interoperability becomes very important. It’s difficult to scale your solution to its maximum potential when limited by closed systems or locked data.

    There is a technical prowess required to make IoT solutions work together, enterprises that once tried to consolidate their systems with one all-encompassing vendor are now embracing the interoperability of many specialty vendors to provide the best operational efficiency and accelerated deliverables. Before IoT Systems integration requirements, many successful enterprises were already utilizing a mix of on-premises EAI platforms and cloud-based solutions for Enterprise System integration.

    If your enterprise wants to become a part of the IoT landscape, you need to have good answers to how you’re going to integrate multiple IoT platforms and create actionable results from IoT data. The power, in the true sense, is in the information & decisions that you can derive from the data and not in the data itself.

    At Pratiti, we have been involved in several projects, where we have been driving the IoT strategy as well as execution for our clients and helping them realize true business value. We would be happy to engage in discussions with you, as well, to help you achieve your objectives, leveraging IoT.

    Recently we have launched Industrial Grade, Multipurpose and Cross-Industry Device: Pragate – IoT Gateway Device, know more

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • 5 Questions You Need To Ask Before Choosing An IoT Partner

    5 Questions You Need To Ask Before Choosing An IoT Partner

    The journey from conceptualizing to implementing any Internet of Things (IoT) project is an arduous one. Even though many companies start out thinking that developing an IoT solution is a onetime affair, it is rarely so. As the technology landscape evolves, existing solutions continually call for the need to evolve and upgrade with the changing times.

    Hence, choosing the right development partner in this continuous journey right from the beginning is critical in terms of ensuring agility of processes, the efficiency of resources and ending up with successful project outcomes.

    Given this reality, it’s pertinent to ask the right questions to choose the most appropriate IoT partner for your project. On that note, here are 5 questions to help you make a good decision –

    Do they have the requisite knowledge and experience to do “your” job?

    When investing in building an IoT solution, you’ll ideally want to trust someone only with the desired experience and expertise, specifically related to your own specific requirements.

    While assessing any service provider, you should find out if they have a portfolio that reflects a history of creating capable solutions at the enterprise level. If they have worked in your industry segment it can be a big plus for you. Even if they haven’t, as a single company may not have experience in all industry verticals, you can examine their approach, for that might mean a lot in terms of demonstrating their capabilities.

    It’s also relevant for you to check how proficient they are in terms of both hardware engineering and software development, as any IoT solution essentially covers both these aspects. Knowledge of software development is important, but the ability to tackle the hardware engineering aspect cannot be ignored. Good knowledge and experience in both are critical in terms of influencing outcomes positively.

    Ideally, it’s best if you choose a provider that is experienced and provides a one-stop solution, across all your needs. Such a choice would imply efficiency, both in terms of execution and costs over the long term.

    How flexible are they?

    In addition to the technology fit, it’s very important to look out for flexibility in your IoT partner. You must attempt to find out how much the provider is willing to align their solution with your legacy architecture and whether they’re agile at implementing.

    Ideally, you should try to look out for one that is willing to use the technology you already have, and the devices and tools you prefer. It also makes sense to check if they agree to provide a customized or personalized solution in sync with the other aspects of your company’s infrastructure.

    Another filter you can apply here is to check whether they lock you in with proprietary technology. It’s only intuitive to avoid such providers from a future point of view.

    Do they have the ability to scale up as your needs evolve?

    As your solution propagates in the market, which is under constant evolution, your solution will naturally need to upgrade over time.

    The right IoT partner will be the one that demonstrates the ability to scale up and help you manage changes seamlessly. You might need to add new features or devices, and this must not imply reorganizing your entire solution.  Completely discarding your existing solution or turning to multiple third parties at a later point will only throw in unnecessary inefficiencies, delays, and unexpected cost escalations. Hence, it’s necessary to engage with an IoT partner that is capable of scaling up as your solution evolves.

    Moreover, you also need to be sure of their ability to work and manage your projects remotely.

    Are they trustworthy in terms of ensuring data security?

    Given the dynamic nature of the IoT environment, robust data security can be easily regarded as a non-negotiable requirement. The environment must be controlled, protected and have robust security mechanisms.

    Hence, you need to ensure that you only shortlist the provider who knows how to address and incorporate encryption of data, protection of your device and security mechanisms for device and cloud storage.

    The fact is that the end-to-end process of developing any IoT solution is multilayered. It covers the technology stack, devices, data collection, storage, and transmission, connectivity, cloud services, and much more. Any partner you pick needs to demonstrate thoroughness in this entire process and its components to avoid possibilities of data security breaches. You should also review their security audit process and tools.

    What is their cost structure like?

    All said and done, usually budget is the final deal maker or breaker when it comes to arriving at a decision. Taking the last call on the basis of a blended, ballpark cost estimate without a detailed breakup is incomplete information to make a budget based decision.

    It’s only intuitive for you to ask for a detailed quote. This will ensure that you have an apple-to-apple comparison between the different service providers. Also, the budget can never be the only decision point. You should be prepared to pay a premium to get a reliable and robust solution provider. This can save you significant headaches at a later date.

    With these considerations in place, you’re likely to pick a service provider that does justice to your project, time and resources.

    Our Services

    Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare Software Development | Solar Energy Analytics | Digital Product Development

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • How IoT Is Helping Solve Efficiency Problem In The Manufacturing Industry With Industry 4.0?

    How IoT Is Helping Solve Efficiency Problem In The Manufacturing Industry With Industry 4.0?

    Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 together are changing the face of the manufacturing industry, making manufacturing processes smarter and more data-driven. Prior to these getting introduced, manufacturers were tied up with daily operational tasks with limited time to spend on strategies. A lot of data was gathered around vendors, customers, product demand, supply chain, and related important sections but to utilize the data to get sight full results weren’t easy in absence of Industry 4.0.
    Moreover, low efficiency, high supply chain-related costs, and the lack of innovation was an add on. These concerns are now a thing of the past with Industry 4.0 transforming processes and IoT makings its way onto the production floor. Machine-to-machine communication is digitizing factories and production floors by decentralizing control, while IoT-enabled sensors are automating the workflow through smart IoT devices. Moreover, the industrial assistance systems are now being added, which use intelligent communication and Augmented Reality /Virtual Reality to offload the burden on human resources by enhancing production efficiency and driving productivity. It should be noted that decentralizing production has caused a paradigm shift in the manufacturing sector. Today, floor and factory equipment are not simply products; they are intelligent, smart products that can communicate with each other, provide instructions, and share information.

    IOTizing Automation

    IoT and Industry 4.0 share a mutual connection: Industry 4.0 always uses IoT or Intranet of Things for digitizing the manufacturing processes. All devices, equipment, robots, tools, and simulations used in Industry 4.0 have IoT-enabled sensors that regularly communicate and exchange data. Therefore, automation and IoT work in tandem, but the ambit and the range of possibilities, IoT introduces to automation are limitless. Though the flooding of new technologies can prove overwhelming for many, sorting and selecting the key automation goals can be very beneficial for manufacturers.

    A quick glance into history will affirm that automation and IoT are not new for manufacturers. They have already been using robots and sensors connected to servers to automate tedious and monotonous manufacturing processes, but today, technology has moved beyond simple data gathering. Manufacturers are now working in a digital, connected environment. This near-real-time insight for optimizing processes is new for manufacturers. They can work this arrangement to their benefit by leveraging the data generated from smart, connected systems to distinguish their services and recognize new revenue opportunities. Data from machines on the shop floor can be fed into the cloud-based Manufacturing Operations System (MOM) to manage manufacturing operations more efficiently. Real-time data analysis by MOM/MES will offer complete visibility into, control of, and sync between inventory and production, thereby guaranteeing quality is always maintained.

    Complete Manufacturing Visibility

    Smart factories are now a reality, but it doesn’t stop there. Manufacturers still have plenty to gain by becoming more in tune with machines and devices. The greatest potential for IoT in conjunction with Industry 4.0 will be complete supplier visibility: Information about every component or product can be easily tracked, right from the manufacturing start to the final destination.

    IoT-enabled sensors in automated systems can be used, instead of the human judgment, to monitor the performance of floor equipment and machines. Sensor data generated from different parts of the manufacturing floor can be leveraged to track equipment condition. Machinery data can be used to adjust workflows, remove inefficient practices, monitor capacity erosion, and eliminate line performance bottlenecks. With predictive maintenance, sensors can inform when machines need servicing to prevent breakdown, and in the event of a breakdown, data can be analyzed to find out the root cause and prevent similar occurrences in the future.

    When machines and equipment are operating efficiently, quality and production get augmented as up-time is higher, equipment is effective, scrap is less, rework is minimal, and operating costs are low. Floor operators are more engaged, and front-line workers and management have all the necessary information for greater responsiveness, accountability, and ownership, thereby ensuring complete manufacturing supply chain visibility.

    Conclusion

    IoT and Industry 4.0 can be combined to create the digital twin of a manufacturing plant. Data from all sensors can be gathered in a big database of IoT Platforms, and a new enterprise software system can be developed basis the data. The software system, replete with alerts, dashboards, and reports would provide a clear picture of the current status and operational efficiency of each machine & manufacturing process. Data and reports can also be used to drive continuous improvement across the manufacturing plant. We employed the same technique for a leading client from the injection molding industry, and it resulted in enhanced process efficiencies for our client.

    By connecting automated production technologies and smart manufacturing processes, IoT and Industry 4.0 are building a new manufacturing landscape, which is smartly automated and all set to transform the manufacturing value chain and business model in the days ahead.

    Our Services

    Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare Software Development | Solar Energy Analytics | Digital Product Development

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • What Will it Take to Realize the Promise of IoT

    What Will it Take to Realize the Promise of IoT

    IoT Why now? What’s new? : Did you know the term “Internet of Things” (IoT) was coined way back in 1999? Some of the key elements of IoT have been around for a pretty long time. Oil fields, for instance, have had 1000s of sensors for quite some time. SCADA systems have been around since the 1960s. What’s new is the ability to connect billions of sensors/devices to the Internet. What’s new, is the ability to analyze petabytes of data streaming in from these devices, and then to drive decisions. Also what’s new, is that devices have become a lot smarter with better processing capability and lower cost. The convergence of these developments has created a powerful mix. So much so, that IoT is expected to drive the next Industrial Revolution – Industry 4.0. The convergence has also created a powerful set of expectations. So much so, that IoT sits right on top of Gartner’s Hype Cycle.

    Is it overhyped?

    Near-term value: Over the next 3-5 years, IoT will definitely transform certain processes across some industries/environments

    Inhibitors: However, significant hurdles will have to be overcome, to quickly cross the “Trough of Disillusionment”, and realize the full potential.

    Monetization: A lot of value will come from integration, and novel business models will be needed to share this value equitably amongst the participants.

    Near-term value

    IoT indeed is for everyone. It is useful to think of a maturity model for IoT. Wherever you may be on this model, chances are there is some implementation / upgrade that will be appropriate for you in the near future.

    The maturity of IoT adoption and the ability to move to the next level will govern the near term value created. E.g. the monitoring phase is mature in the process and manufacturing industry, and the near-term value for them is how quickly they can climb to ‘Predict’ and ‘Optimize’ levels.

    The macro-economic environment also has a direct impact on the value delivered. For instance, in developing economies, implementing a simple monitoring solution (e.g. monitoring water transportation from a reservoir to tap) can give huge benefits and value, as compared to same in developed economies. At the same time, developed economies can harvest value by implementing predict / optimize the solution for their existing monitoring solution.

    Inhibitors

    Hurdles around sensor/device costs, system security, and organizational structures, while non-trivial, will get addressed sooner – driven by the economics of IoT. Hurdles around data ownership, interoperability and infrastructure will be more complicated to overcome, and could hold back IoT from delivering its promise fully.

    Data ownership and privacy: These topics have been debated in the context of social media – does the data belong to the user, or to the platform provider, how much can be shared, with whom etc. Fresh debates will arise in the wider context of IoT, when an enterprise gets connected with its suppliers and customers more seamlessly. These debates may have to be resolved case-by-case and hence may take a while to settle down.

     Interoperability: The current phase of “” will lead to robust and scalable solutions in the long run. In the short run however, the explosion of point solutions and even of platforms, can lead to severe interoperability challenges. While industry consortia like the All Seen Alliance are working on evolving common standards, the challenge is unlikely to get resolved in the short run.

    Infrastructure: Many use cases require a level of infrastructure that does not yet exist in developing economies. The “digital divide” has reduced but is far from gone. There are regions that still don’t have electricity. Internet penetration rates in Asia and Africa are still less than 40%. Where access exists, speed and reliability is often lacking. It is no wonder then, that as per OECD’s 2015 report, variation in the number of online devices per capita is not a few percentage points, but is in the range of 3x – 5x!

    Our Services

    Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare Software Development | IoT development services | Digital Product Development

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Realizing The Vision of Industry 4.0 for Discrete Manufacturing

    Realizing The Vision of Industry 4.0 for Discrete Manufacturing

    Background:

    Our client is a part of the injection moulding industry, a 150 billion industry and growing fast. Injection moulding is the most common method for manufacturing plastic parts and is used in a variety of applications including automotive, packaging, furniture etc. Typical manufacturing plant may have 20-150 moulding machines. Large companies have multiple plants spread across a country and even internationally.

    Business Challenge:

    ‘Increase the Operational efficiency and achieve the Overall Equipment Effectiveness by 90%’

    1. Though the industry is growing, managing and improving operational efficiency continues to be a challenge. In most production plants, because of custom requirements from clients, the machines must constantly switch from one part to the other, which means that there are frequent down times involved for mold changes times.

    2. Availability of material is also frequently an issue, which leads to machine down time. Besides this, there are also maintenance issues which lead to machine down times. All this pulls down the production efficiency by quite a bit. The throughput finally achieved is further reduced due to high part rejection. The combined effect of all these inefficiencies is that true Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is not even 60%.

    Unavailability of reliable and real-time data is one of the biggest hurdles in driving efficiency improvement. Traditional ERP systems have not been able to deliver the required data and information. Hence many plants have gone back to spreadsheet-based management, which has its own limitations.

    Know more about how Pratiti delivered the solution as required by the client and the Benefits, fill the form to download the detailed case study,

    Download The Case Study

      How did you find about Pratiti Technologies?*



      Nitin

      Pratiti Technologies

      Pratiti was founded in 2015 to help global customers realize their innovations faster. Cloud technology, Artificial Intelligence, IoT and Mobility technologies driving disruptions in all businesses globally. Pratiti is becoming a partner of choice for technology partnership for outsourced product development (OPD) for Startups as well as Enterprises.

    Request a call back

       

      x