News in the Channel - issue #11

INTERNET OF THINGS

and what's right for what application, what’s supported by each device, or even what’s supported by the network infrastructure is difficult, especially for a small company.” Bhavesh adds that IoT solutions can require products from multiple vendors to be integrated and packaged together. “This makes the IoT space very challenging to navigate for any resellers looking to get started,” he says. “Accordingly, resellers have two options – either to make a significant investment and create their own IoT team for understanding this domain, testing and validating technologies, and building their own catalogue of solutions. Or they can partner with companies such as Ingram Micro that have gone through the effort of building an eco-system of multi-vendor IoT solutions and services that the resellers can choose from.” But for resellers that do offer IoT in their product suite, while it is important for resellers to educate their customers on IoT solutions at a high level, the focus of the conversation should be around the customer’s business problems that can be addressed with IoT solutions, Bhavesh adds. “This should then be followed by a clear ROI analysis to demonstrate the benefits in the form of a measurable value where possible.” Understanding needs Elliet agrees that resellers’ conversations with their customers should be to look to understand what their needs and wants are. “Understanding the end user customer’s challenges will lead to the identification of a business need/case,” he says. “For example, a company that manages 300 meeting rooms and wants to understand how often the rooms are being used as opposed to booked, for example, could get the answers they need by installing a PIR sensor, or could go deeper by using a people-counting solution to understand how many people on average are using the meeting rooms when in use. “Customers are seeing real results when they have installed IoT sensors – and it’s giving them a competitive edge. I also think we will see increased activity as the government’s drive to build healthy places starts to gain strength and importance. “The need to monitor and report on buildings will only grow. For example, while there isn’t an IoT sensor that detects mould

yet, we can monitor for the conditions that lead to the growth of mould and alert housing providers to what could potentially become a dangerous living environment. Any partner that has a knowledge of and access to a specific vertical market should explore the potential of IoT and where it could take them and their customers.” But these conversations should also be kept simple, Sam adds. “There's too many technical explanations sometimes in IoT,” he says. “Really, it’s just about understanding the value that it generates or the savings it creates and delivering that message to the customer. If they've got an IoT application, avoid the technical jargon, you just need to communicate the value.” More opportunities Bhavesh adds that as applications for IoT are only going to grow in the coming years, it will create new opportunities for resellers.

Elliet Hall-Jones senior business development manager

uk.tdsynnex.com

“We are seeing new and innovative solutions to problems which were previously thought unsolvable in virtually every industry vertical,” says Bhavesh. “As the size and complexity of the solutions increase, we are seeing new delivery models emerge such as IoT as managed services. This means that the provider handles the entire IoT eco-system

for the customer including hardware, software, connectivity and on-going maintenance.”

Sam agrees that the opportunities are only going to grow. “There are a lot of opportunities in banking, agriculture, transport with things like predictive analytics, for instance,” he says. “There are so many ways that IoT can be leveraged. “The UK is primed to take advantage of it. You’ve got to run towards technology sometimes and not run away from it.”

Sam Colley CEO

podgroup.com