Transcript 0:00 [on-hold music] Technology, you know, is hard, and something worth having is hard, right? Okay. So IoT adoption is really about strategy, integration, and re-engineering. That's what you need to be thinking about. 0:15 So at the end of the day, your manufacturing procurement process is only as good as your ability to optimize the integration of the people, processes, and technology. 0:26 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:48 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. As always, I'm your host, Peggy Smedley, and what a great day to be on the radio. 0:57 A new month marks a new focus here on The Peggy Smedley Show, and this December, I'm looking forward to highlighting procurement and supply chain and how the IoT is making an impact on business processes. 1:10 Today in, on segment one, I'll be, uh, talking about some of the common hurdles businesses face as we kinda integrate into the IoT and artificial intelligence and technologies into the supply chain and all of its operations. 1:24 Later on in the show, I'll be interviewing Daniel Quant, vice president of strategic development at MultiTech, and then I'll wrap up the day with a show regular, Joshua Peschel, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University. 1:42 So let's get started. Our feature article this month, we talk about how the IoT is impacting procurement process and how businesses are leveraging the IoT throughout the supply chain. 1:54 The idea is that one day the supply chain will essentially think for itself. Now, if you haven't, check out the new article on connectedworld.com. 2:03 It's a pretty great article with a lot of great details, so I want to encourage you to get up there, but so let's talk about this. 2:08 For the next several minutes, I will be building on the foundation laid in our feature article and talking about the hurdles people are telling us they're facing as they're implementing the IoT in their businesses. 2:21 And I found this really interesting as I was doing all the research for today's radio show, as well as all the things up on connectedworld.com, and I usually like to start by defining the market expectations for whatever sector I'm discussing. 2:36 And I, I, I guess I should start with back in twenty seventeen, when worldwide IoT spending reached eight hundred billion, according to IDC. 2:46 At that time, IDC pointed to the supply chain as the biggest use case and opportunity for the Internet of Things. 2:55 Now, this all makes sense to me because segments within the supply chain, like manufacturing operations, freight monitoring and logistics, and production asset management can all benefit from the real-time visibility and increased access to data that the IoT offers. 3:14 So looking at just logistics, research and markets as the global IoT devices market in the logistics sector is expected to grow from ninety billion, which was what in twenty fifteen, to two point four billion next year alone. 3:31 So think about all these numbers, and the number of IoT connections within the logistics industry is expected to increase from fifteen billion to two hundred and fifty-five point five billion by twenty twenty. 3:45 So I, I love to give you all these numbers because I think it sets the stage for what we're talking about. 3:51 So all that said, there's been significant IoT adoption in supply chain and logistics in the past few years, and the projections suggest the future is very bright despite all what we hear about the GDP and whether we're gonna hear about the big R, you know, or recession or whatever. 4:12 But as, as, like I like to keep all of you in mind and, and nothing is for certain. You know? So again, as we talk about what the economy's going to be, projections make a number of assumptions, and again, assumptions. 4:26 So for instance, these research firms are assuming that certain hurdles currently holding sectors back in terms of IoT adoption will be overcome, but I wanna keep that but in mind. Maybe costs will drop. 4:42 Maybe new technologies will be invented, or maybe new en-entrance to the market make new use cases plausible and affordable. So it's a safe bet because this is almost always what happens, and I like to present that. 4:57 But as an organization in the throes of IoT adoption, it's not always easy to see the big picture, so hurdles may seem insurmountable. 5:07 Let's talk about some of those hurdles now because I think that's what you have to think about when you're doing all this. I'll start kind of general and get into more specifics as we, as we go. 5:19 First, in general, what are some of the big challenges in integrating the IoT? Here are a few I want to throw out, yeah, maybe for consideration. 5:28 So I want you to weigh in on social media after the show, and maybe you can give me your thoughts on what you think. So please help me add to my list. Maybe that's a great way on social media at ConnectedWmag. 5:40 So there's meeting customer expectation as one hurdle. How do you do that, right? Customer expectation's always changing. Then there's security. We're always talking about what? Those nefarious characters. 5:53 Now, I think this is a big one, and we can't ignore this. As a related concern with security is keeping your hardware and your software updated to ensure the tightest security possible.Right? That's a big one. 6:05 And then there's always, you know, some sort of connectivity issues to overcome. Connectivity's changing, how do you keep up with that? 6:13 And then I'd like to always say waiting for governmental regulation can be a hurdle, possibly more for some, depending on what sector you're in, right? Because regulations are different depending on what industry. 6:26 And I'd love to say that adopting IoT simple- technologies is as simple as buying something off the shelf, plugging it in, and then simply reaping the benefits. But we all know it's not that easy, right? 6:39 It's just not, and I'm here to say, you know, I have trouble sometimes with these technologies, and it's just not that easy. 6:46 But all of you as my listeners know that technology, you know, is hard, and something worth having is hard, right? Okay. So IoT adoption is really about strategy, integration, and re-engineering. 7:00 That's what you need to be thinking about. So at the end of the day, your manufacturing procurement process is only as good as your ability to optimize the integration of the people, processes, and technology. 7:13 That's what I've been saying, right? That's what we've been talking about on this show for weeks and weeks and weeks. 7:17 So one of the people we interviewed for this month's feature, Nicholas Petrousi, a professor of supply chain management at Penn State, said something in our v- interview with him that made so much sense to me, and it resonates so well. 7:32 And it didn't make it into the feature, but it stuck with me, and I wanna share it with you right now. He basically said, "A technology upgrade is only going to be mostly superfluous," if you think about it. 7:44 Superfluous in the way that if you're not only willing to think how you're going to re-engineer your en- entire system to best leverage the new technological capabilities. It's not... It, it... 7:58 I guess it's really good food for thought, and this is why. 8:02 Of course, we must not ignore the financial hurdles because if we think about it, all of this ways we're doing things, we have to think about everything as it's connected. 8:12 Many companies also face budget constraints, and the cost of ensuring IT connectivity across all platforms and network entities can be a barrier for sure. So we've gotta keep all of these things in mind. 8:26 So another hurdle I wanna mention is resistance to change within an organization. Oh, there's always someone, and maybe it's the whole organization. 8:36 So this can be sneaky because often resistance to change is at the heart of a company's reluctance to go for it, right? I mean, we just don't wanna go for it. 8:46 So management may see this list of hurdles their team has compiled, and many of which I've already mentioned, and just say, "Hey, it's too risky. We just can't do it." 8:56 Instead of thinking these hurdles, you know, or taking them on one by one, they feel more comfortable just saying, "No, it's just not worth the risk. We just forget it. We don't wanna do it." 9:07 So I'll bet the real issue is fear of change. It's not that chipping away one at one, it's just, "Hey, we're not gonna do it. Let's just get out of this thing right at the onset," you know? 9:19 But one trend we're seeing in procurement and supply chain is that the increased use of AI technologies to enable proactive decision-making. Now think about that, proactive decision-making. 9:31 So within new uses of relatively new technologies, we need to accept that only some of these hurdles are known at this point. 9:39 We don't even know what they are, but we're learning through all of these technologies what the hurdles are. 9:45 So as we continue to leverage AI in supply chain operations, there will be unknown challenges that kinda crop up, and businesses will need to be prepared, we-- to kinda meet these challenges head on. 10:01 We're not always ready to do that because we don't even know what they are. 10:05 But with AI, you have to think about these things like unintended consequences from an AI's decision-making process, and that's gonna open up a lot of eyes. 10:17 And there are a lot of ethics, and we've talked about this, and privacy questions raised by AI in almost all of these applications, and I think these all count us and count into hurdles as well. 10:31 And sometimes we just don't know because AI is introducing those to all of you, all of us, as we're developing those. So I guess this is what I wanna raise for all of you today. 10:43 And, and here's my tip for today, is when you're considering the hurdles to implementing technology in your business, and if it feels overwhelming, and it's going to, people process technology, it's going to feel overwhelming. 10:59 Ask yourself, is resistance to change at the heart of my team, your team's reluctance? Are these real hurdles or just fears? You know, a hurdle or a fear? A hurdle or a fear? 11:15 Because that's what weighs in heavily. You've gotta ask yourself that because that's the difference sometimes. Is it a hurdle or a fear? 11:22 Sometimes we don't wanna do something 'cause we simply just fear it, and that's a hurdle. So as, as with that, here's, here's my opinion. 11:32 You've heard me say this before, and you've listened to my show for a while now, I think many of you have. With great technology comes great responsibility, and that's my tagline on a lot of things. 11:44 So as your company is weighing hurdles and figuring out how you can overcome them, don't forget to look at not just security, but also privacy. Security and privacy. 11:59 Again, with great technology comes great responsibility. You've gotta look at security and privacy. So if you're implementing AI, consider what potential unintended consequences may arise from these AI algorithms. 12:15 And don't shy away from ethical discussions, 'cause they're going to come up, and you need to be thinking about them. So those are all the things I have for you today, and I want you to think about them. 12:26 So as always, I want you to share your thoughts about everything we've talked about today, and I'd love to know what you think. I want you to tweet at me at connectedwmag. 12:35 Only when we share these thoughts, and I know we've been getting some new followers, and you guys are coming up, and you're sharing your thoughts on Twitter and on LinkedIn, keep it up, because that's the way we're gonna grow this industry, and that's the way we're all gonna get better at this stuff that we're talking about. 12:48 Technology's changing, but we've all gotta change with it. So all right. That's all the time I have for this first segment. 12:54 You know, check out my website and the new article on connectedworld.com and our show website at thepeggySmedleyShow.com. 13:00 And, uh, we're gonna take a quick commercial break, but remember, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. 13:10 Go get that quick cup of coffee, and we'll be right back after this commercial break. [upbeat music]
