Transcript 0:00 Talk to me. Information, news and entertainment on demand. WSRadio.com. 0:10 [on-hold music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the voice of IoT in our connected world, with your host, Peggy Smedley. Welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:28 My first guest is an IoT expert and strategic technology l-leader who has a strong track record of leveraging cloud-based technologies to optimize and accelerate business strategy. 0:40 In two thousand and thirteen, he founded his company to impact the world through technology and a deep commitment to social responsibility. Please welcome Steve Latham, founder and CEO of Banyan Hills Technology. 0:55 Steve, welcome to the show. Hey, Peggy. Thanks so much for having me. Good to speak with you again. 1:02 You know, Steve, I love it because you guys have this great story when it c- when you come to the Internet of things and IoT because, you know, you get it right. 1:11 You guys really love to kinda drive the real business value of IoT, and that's what I like about you guys because it's, it's exciting. 1:19 You guys have this great vision as a startup and you, and you guys understand about putting business first, and I love that concept for you guys. Let's talk about that. You know, you guys have been self-funded. 1:30 You guys are driving things, and you guys are that... You guys have that excitement behind you guys. Talk a little bit about how you're helping companies really understand what the IoT is all about. Yeah, great. 1:43 Thank you so much, Peggy. And, you know, we started with the idea that our business is composed of two, two distinct areas. 1:51 One is, uh, a technology consulting arm, which is where we're bringing a tremendous amount of experience in IoT and unattended self, uh, self-service and kiosk devices. 2:03 We're bringing that expertise to the market through a consulting service, and then we're really using that expertise and that revenue stream to fund the build-out of a, uh, of an IoT platform that we call Canopy. 2:15 And the value in, in taking that approach is, uh, a couple of fold. One is we, we stay relevant in our space. I think we're, we're constantly being exposed to new trends in the industry. 2:27 We're having to, to maintain our technical sharpness and, and help our customers solve real-world problems, while at the same time, we're able to take that revenue, pump it into the build-out of our platforms, and basically translate real-world problems into our technology. 2:44 And by doing that, the other value, of course, is that we're not taking the traditional approach that a lot of other startups have to do at times where we go out and we do a venture capital raise or we ask for investment dollars. 2:56 We're really starting with self-funding through our technology service. 3:03 Steve, I think when we talked last time, we really talked about that idea of the platform, where you guys understand w- helping companies kinda understand that they have to kinda monitor and manage and kind of monetize things for them. 3:16 And, and when you guys were talking about your platform, you talked about it's a different way of going to market in some ways that they have to think differently. 3:25 And, and, and how's that mindset that you try to get your customers to think about that if when they're using Canopy, that it, it, it's, it's looking at the network of devices, you know, and, and trying to keep them secure and it, it's a whole... 3:41 I, I guess it's a holistic concept. And, and I... 3:44 Talk us through that again because wh-when, when we were talking, I, I kind of felt like you were helping people think a little bit differently than just always saying it's a platform. 3:53 'Cause it's always a, a, you know, it's, it's kinda everybody has a platform, but you were trying to get people to think differently about the way they go to market. Absolutely. The... 4:03 When we, when we develop a relationship with a customer that's exploring operating a large network of devices, it truly is a relationship that starts with us coming in to help them understand collectively what's happening in this industry. 4:20 And we almost become... 4:21 We're a, we're a partner in the sense that we, we aim to first understand what is their business challenge, what are they trying to solve for, and making sure that IoT, um, that they're not looking at IoT just because of the hype around the industry, but it really is applicable. 4:37 And then what we start to do is we start to build a technology roadmap in partnership with that customer to help shape the vision of where they're going to grow, grow and scale their network. 4:47 And it really begins, as you said earlier on your show, I think, you know, one of the first things that we have to think about is if we're going to take a previously, uh, a machine that does not necessarily have a connection to the internet, and we're going to, to enable IoT on a, on a device that's within their network, it starts with thinking about security and scalability at, at the beginning of the experience, not the end. 5:12 And so making sure that from a physical, uh, physical device standpoint as well as a software and network, uh, each of those layers, that we're establishing a secure framework that will allow them to operate their technology, uh, in a way that, uh, that reduces downstream risk. 5:31 Everybody talks about we, we wanna keep a secure thing, and we know it's not secure, but maybe we should take a step back. Let, let's go... In your mind, you know, how do you define the Internet of things? 5:42 'Cause we wanna keep it secure, and we, we say that, but we all know the, the internet is not secure. So should we go back and first define what is the Internet of things and then say how do we keep it secure from there? 5:54 Maybe if we help the audience understand what your definition of the Internet of things is so that we can think about how do we secure it. Maybe we need to define it first.Sure. I absolutely. 6:05 I think that broadly speaking, I think the, the opportunity or the definition around IoT is taking a device and then enabling that device with the appropriate hardware and software that allows it to connect to the internet, such that the device can be remotely monitored and managed from a central location. 6:29 And then that device also is enabled in a sense in a way that allows it to communicate not only to its enterprise, but communicate with potentially other devices that reside on that network. 6:40 And so when I think about security, uh, I think, you know, first... the first thing to do is really pay attention to the standards. 6:48 And, and part of the problem in IoT at the moment with all of the hype and the energy that we have in the Internet of Things is that it's a little bit like the wild, wild west in terms of standards that are evolving and being chosen for device communication as well as security protocols that... 7:05 for, for that communication. 7:07 And so I think it's very important to maintain a pulse on what's happening in those, in those standard bodies and the compliance and the regulatory requirements for, uh, for security so that we can easily adapt. 7:20 But I think at, at, at a very basic level, it has to do with, one, let's make sure that this device is connecting to the internet in a way that is secure from a network standpoint. 7:31 In a lot of implementations that we, that we support, we always establish a virtual private network that adds a... the ability for that device to operate inside of a network that we maintain control of. 7:44 And so from the network, then I think you have to look at the physical device itself and look at what it is that you're trying to protect. 7:51 And so we look at it's got a base operating system, but the, the, the physical device oftentimes has ports, uh, that need to be locked down and managed through the operating system to prevent a physical attack on that hardware. 8:05 And then obviously moving up the stack, then we get to the security around the software that lives on that device that's responsible for operating it remotely and then communicating back to the enterprise. 8:16 You have to make sure that that security and the way that it's communicating, uh, to the enterprise is not only, it's not only communicating, uh, within a safe network through a virtual private network, but it's also adhering to these evolving and ever-changing standards and making sure that you're on top of that so that you can be, you can be relevant, uh, as, as those standards evolve. 8:39 So I hear what you're saying as Banyan Hills. I hear what you're saying, but why are companies still struggling to make that leap into the IoT? 8:46 I know everybody's saying companies are doing it, but I'm talking to companies every day, and they're just... they're nervous. They're... the, the, the path to IoT is not as, as smooth as everybody's talking. Right. I... 9:00 Well, you know, it's funny, I was thinking about this earlier today. I, I, I think you can categorize companies into several distinct areas. 9:07 I think you've got, you've, you've got some companies today that are very mature in their industry, very mature in their technologies and their implementation of products that they build and ser- the markets that they serve, that are forcing themselves to think about IoT simply out of the fact that there's hype around IoT. 9:28 And I, I think that those companies, at times, that's an, that's a, that's an appropriate behavior that forces and drives innovation into a culture that otherwise would become stagnant. 9:38 And I think that that's certainly the good that comes from it. But at other times, you have companies that are trying to force themselves into a situation that just doesn't make sense. 9:47 And so I think the right partner early in the game as you're exploring this, these new technologies is very, very important. So that's one category that I would put customers. 9:57 And then you have the opposite end of the spectrum, where you've got companies that arguably have been doing IoT for a couple of decades now. You know, the internet has been around for a while. 10:07 The ability to remotely manage sensors and devices has been there. It just hasn't been economically viable to a consumer-based market like we're seeing them today. 10:16 And so I, I think those companies are almost agitated that we've put such a strong marketing term on IoT, and you can sort of categorize them into a, in, in one bucket as well. 10:29 And then you have the sweet spot, which I think is in the middle. 10:32 You've got companies that have, uh, that they have the opportunity to drive operational efficiency into their business through the introduction of automating the physical world through IoT, and that's really where I think the opportunity is. 10:48 And so I guess, you know, to come back to your question, I think that there's a little bit of a, uh, a self-reflection, who are you in each of those categories? And make sure that IoT is appropriate for you. 11:00 Make sure that there is the opportunity to drive future innovation into your business by introducing IoT to extend existing products and services. And then at that point, I think realize that there... 11:14 because this is new, because this is very complex to manage large-scaled networks of devices, I think creating the right alliance around and partnerships around how to take this to market is, is extremely important. 11:27 Doing this alone, I feel like oftentimes prevents customers from maximizing their opportunities. [upbeat music] Steve, we're out of time, but you have to come back. I love when you're on the show, and we're talking. 11:39 But thank you very much. Hey, listeners, we're out of time. Stick around. We've got more to talk about h- right here on The Peggy Smedley Show, The Voice of IoT. 11:47 Remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. We'll be right back right after this commercial break.Education. Industry experts. Back to the basics. 12:00 Is your company using the Internet of Things to its fullest potential? 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