Starting from CES in Las Vegas in January ‘17 and more recently with Mobile World Congress (MWC) ‘17 in Barcelona, Spain; we noticed recurring themes come across all IoT related conferences. Those recurring themes were innovation, business value and partnerships.

HARMAN showcase at MWC 2017
Business Transformation through Innovation
The most remarkable commonality across all IOT shows was the emphasis on innovation. Whether IoT service providers or end-users, the drive to transform businesses and consumption models was front and center. Whether it be for fault prevention, competitive disruption, process changes, or product development; a keen interest on the part of decision-makers to embrace innovation was palpable at all events.
For instance, the building automation demonstration and the retail analytics demonstration clearly showed innovation in areas that have so far been under represented in the digital age.

HARMAN Smart Retail Solution
ROI and Profitability
Another significant development was the emphasis on profitability and return on investment. Service providers, end-users, and intermediaries demonstrated solutions which underscored the business value proposition. From the HARMAN perspective, an example of a solution that demonstrated such business value readily at MWC was the HARMAN Quick Predict solution. The solution – developed in partnership with Intel – address fault prevention in industrial IoT settings.
HARMAN Quick Predict
Partnerships
And finally, the emphasis on partnerships. Organizations are more aware that to come up with an IoT offering that meets the needs of a particular customers use case, a certain degree of flexibility and integration is essential. Finding the core components to bring a comprehensive solution together would take more than just one company. In keeping with that theme of partnerships, HARMAN announced a partnership with VMware at MWC. Click here to read more about the partnership.
Overall, we have a sense that IoT is at an inflection point where early adopters are finding business value through innovation. IoT solutions are evolving in a direction where businesses are able to readily benefit from an IoT deployment as long as the integration is well thought through and implemented.
Sandip Ranjan, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, HARMAN Connected Services
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