Connected Enterprises

Advice from industry leaders on transforming

your business with cellular technology
May 2021
 2 Introduction Connected Enterprises | May 2021

In this report

Many enterprises are navigating their Introduction2

way to a better future by connecting their
businesses using cellular technology.
Section 1
The Ericsson Connected Enterprises report
will guide you along that path. It features The fundamentals of connectivity 4
invaluable insights from industry leaders
who have already arrived at exciting places.
Learn from digital transformation success Section 2
stories like Globe Tracker, who used IoT The 6 golden rules for digital 9
to change how food spoilage is reduced, transformation success
and Grundfos, whose smart use of data
revolutionized water distribution. Listen to your customer 10

We’ll set out the 6 golden rules for digital In the spotlight 14
transformation success, along with tips
for overcoming challenges. And we offer
unique insights, such as AT&T’s advice on Section 3
the benefits of a fail-fast approach.
How to stay ahead 20
As Dr. Henning Löser of Audi notes, “You’ll
see how IoT and cellular connectivity, like
4G and 5G, are making things possible that Conclusion24
were impossible in the past.”

“You’ll see how IoT and cellular Final word 25

connectivity, like 4G and 5G,
are making things possible that
were impossible in the past.”
Dr. Henning Löser,
Senior Manager, Audi Production Lab
 3 Introduction
No limits, except
your imagination
IoT’s boundless potential
The global IoT market is projected
to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. By
2026, there will be almost 27 billion
connected devices. That means
almost every object around us will be
connected. Streetlights, thermostats,
electric meters, fitness trackers,
water pumps, cars and elevators.
The transformative potential this
holds for business and society is
boundless, allowing us to solve
problems like never before.
Now that COVID-19 has sped up
widespread digitalization, this
transformation is happening faster
than ever. And this means decision
makers need to be prepared
for change.
“The applications
of IoT are endless
and hold incredible
potential.”
Warren Chaisatien,
Senior Director of Global IoT
Marketing, Ericsson
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
Helping put IoT to work
As our goal has long been to realize
the dreams of innovators and help
companies seize new opportunities,
we created the “Talking IoT with
Ericsson” podcast.
This report features insights from
interviews with leaders who have
applied digital transformation in
varied and powerful ways, like
increasing operational efficiency
or creating new revenue streams.
We’ll draw on their learnings and
show how to put these insights into
practice in your own business.
We’ll also reveal how cellular technology,
5G, dedicated networks and other
technologies can help you define the
future of your own company.
In the words of Warren Chaisatien,
Senior Director of Global IoT Marketing
at Ericsson: “The applications of IoT
are endless and hold incredible potential.
We can make safer work environments,
create new customer experiences,
reduce environmental impact, all while
developing profitable new revenue
streams. We can do good, and do
what’s good for business, now and
well into the future.”
4 The fundamentals Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Section 1

The fundamentals
of connectivity
As businesses the world over pursue
digital transformation, new opportunities
and revenue streams are opening up.
But ideas around how to digitalize
goods and services are only as strong
as the connection driving them. To
make them happen, they need reliable
and secure connectivity, and that is
what cellular technology provides.
So before you harness the potential of
cellular, you need to grasp the technical
and operational fundamentals.
Although this technical foundation
is important, the true path to success
lies in having a clear business case
and understanding the value you want
to create.
The right knowledge, the right business
model and the right mindset will help
you bridge the gap between possibility
and reality.
5 The fundamentals
Fundamental #1
Making IoT
work for you
Business first, technology
second
IoT solutions are now more easily
available to businesses than ever.
But it’s important not to be seduced
by the new technology and instead,
take a business-first approach. The
path you take must support business
needs, not just technical ones.
“It’s clear that IoT is now on the agenda
in the boardroom in most enterprise
businesses,” notes Phil McDermott,
the Chief Commercial Officer
from Arkessa, an IoT connectivity
service provider.
But Martin Whitlock, CTO of Telenor
Connexion, emphasizes the need to
think business-first: “There are so
many disciplines that you need to do
IoT, and you can do IoT in different
ways – but my recommendation
is that regardless of what kind of
focus you have…whatever it is you’re
going to do, don’t only focus on the
technology, but on the business as well.”
“It’s clear that IoT is
now on the agenda in
the boardroom in most
enterprise businesses.”
Phil McDermott,
Chief Commercial Officer, Arkessa
There are several ways to approach
building this business case. Consider
how to create new efficiencies or
optimize processes. Think of other
approaches – like differentiation –
by adding more services or value to
existing offerings, which can help
you gain a competitive advantage.
Infinite connections,
infinite potential
Mo Katibeh, EVP Chief Product and
Platform Officer for AT&T Business,
believes there are infinite possibilities
for businesses to grow if they can
spot the potential: “Almost every
single vertical is seeing the potential
of how they can use 5G and IoT to
drive outcomes for their business”,
explains the AT&T Business EVP
Chief Product and Platform Officer.
“It can be improved efficiencies in
terms of their operations. It can be
improved effectiveness in terms of
how they’re thinking about safety
for their employees. It can even be
a way of changing outcomes for their
end customers and creating entirely
new experiences for them, which can
manifest itself as new revenue sources.”
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
IoT success flows top
down
Ultimately, in order to see new IoT
initiatives through, you need to get
buy-in at the top of your organization.
Showing a strong case for return on
investment will give you a strong
business case, and will make the
C-Suite more comfortable with
throwing out the rulebook.
As Martin Whitlock advises: “You
need a management team that is
willing to commit to this, to see the
business value, and maybe taking
some risks and throwing out new
types of business models as well,
that to some extent may or may not
challenge the legacy business model.”
“You need a management
team that is willing to
commit to this, to see the
business value, and maybe
taking some risks.”
Martin Whitlock,
CTO, Telenor Connexion
6 The fundamentals
Fundamental #2
Let values guide
your vision
Be vision-first
When planning to harness IoT, your
team should be clear about the
value you’re creating for customers
and stakeholders. Try to anticipate
tomorrow’s demands and see if
they align with your values. This
will help you start from a vision and
work backwards to formulate the
problem you’re trying to solve for the
good of your business and society.
Most of the digital experts we spoke
to not only focused on business value,
but also had a clear organizational
purpose that motivated them to
make a positive impact on society.
Kent Eriksson, a former senior advisor
at industrial software company PTC
is a good example: “When you talk
about industry 4.0, it’s more about the
technological innovations, but these lead
to economic opportunities…and these
lead to social impact. Social impact in
the fourth industrial era will be much
higher than we have ever seen before.”
“Social impact in the fourth
industrial era will be much
higher than we have ever
seen before.”
Kent Eriksson,
former PTC advisor
Henrik Norström also leads a company
that puts impact first. “Originally, we
were really about solving specific
problems,” said the CEO of Brighter, a
Swedish health-tech company whose
Actiste device tackles the global diabetes
epidemic.“…Over time, we’ve realized
that we are also having an impact on
people’s lives.
So, we have moved into being a very
impact-oriented company.”
Helping society grow
With purpose-driven approaches,
IoT and cellular connectivity can not only
improve business revenue, but can also
make a positive impact on society.
As Don Miller, Chief Sales and Marketing
Officer for Globe Tracker notes, “What
excites me about IoT specific to our
application on maritime, transport and
refrigeration in general, is that we’re
really at a stage where we can change
the way food is saved globally. As
technology evolves – and it is evolving
quickly – we’re going to be able to
identify products in a container that
may ripen faster than others…you could
have a first-expired-first-to-shelf method
so that those could get consumed
and you wouldn’t generate waste.”
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
Think longer to think
bigger
Companies must remember not to get
bogged down in day-to-day challenges,
but rather adopt a long-term mindset
focused on the business value end goal.
“I have seen at close distance how this
technology can change things for the
better – how we can be much more
efficient, how we can save time, energy
and resources that we couldn’t before…if
you multiply that by millions and billions
of things that can act in a different way
when they are connected and when
they have intelligence on board, the
impact can be quite powerful,” said
Fredrik Östbye, Chief Digital Officer of
renowned pump manufacturer, Grundfos.
“Over time, we’ve realized
that we are also having
an impact on people’s
lives. So, we have moved
into being a very impact-
oriented company.”
Henrik Norström,
CEO, Brighter
7 The fundamentals Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Fundamental #3

Begin with
holistic thinking
In order to execute successful projects
at scale, you must organize your
By keeping an end-to-end mindset,
you can set up the business for long- “You’ve got to take
business for long-term transformation.
That includes setting up operational
term success in a way that works for
you. If you’re an asset-heavy business, an end-to-end
foundations in a smart way. ripping and replacing isn’t necessary.
Instead, think of the things you can perspective all the
Firstly, you’ll need to embed digitalization
into the core of the business. It can’t just
upgrade and enhance over time.
way from supply
be an afterthought if you want to clear Fredrik Östbye, Group Vice President
a smooth path to business growth. and Head of Digital Transformation chain into the core
at Grundfos, believes that, “In the
Plus, to proceed with an end-to-end
implementation in mind, you’ll need to
basics, IoT is quite simple. It’s a device manufacturing
that connects and delivers data. But in
ensure that you possess or can source
the right skill sets and capabilities.
reality, there are some challenges… process and the
as this technology spans quite wide.
Sachin Mathur, Hexagon’s Head
of Strategic Partnerships, Smart
It spans from physical devices in one end delivery.”
end to cloud infrastructures and APIs in
Manufacturing, believes that thinking the other end. And this end-to-end Sachin Mathur,
longterm is the key: “You’ve got to set-up is extremely important to get Head of Strategic Partnerships,
plan your digital transformation. You’ve in place.” Smart Manufacturing Hexagon
got to plan it around the capabilities
and the skill sets that you have within
your own office environment…You’ve
got to take an end-to-end perspective
all the way from supply chain into
the core manufacturing process and
the end delivery.”
8 The fundamentals Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Fundamentals

Forging ahead with

ground-breaking innovations
New developments in artificial “5G is ushering in a new
intelligence, edge computing and
5G are creating new ways to take era of innovation, and the
IoT forward to new frontiers. best way to discover new
These new uses for IoT will benefit possibilities is to learn from
business and carry a lasting impact
on society. those that have started on
“5G is ushering in a new era of this path.”
innovation, and the best way to
discover new possibilities is to learn Warren Chaisatien,
from those that have started on Senior Director of Global IoT Marketing,
this path. For example, the new Ericsson
developments are breathing life into
greater passenger safety on the
road; robots are taking the place
of humans in hazardous working
environments; and service personnel
are doing amazing things with
sophisticated human-machine
collaboration. These advances
are adding huge value to businesses
and society,” said Chaisatien.
9 Golden rules Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Section 2

The 6 golden
rules for digital
transformation
success
We set out how to get your
customers center stage,
step into their shoes and
speak their language.
These golden rules represent
the key learnings we have
gleaned from businesses who
are already forging ahead on
the path towards digitalization.
10 Golden rules Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Section 2

Listen
to
your
customer
Three key principles for
solving real world problems.
11 Golden rules
Rule 1
Know your
audience
Put the customer first,
not the product
The customer must always be the focus,
not the technology. You first have to
understand the challenge they’re trying
to solve. Then, you can determine how
technology can support it. Trying to
push technology for the sake of selling
technology will not make a customer
happy in the long run.
As we sat down with more and more of
the visionaries helping guide other digital
transformation journeys, a very common
theme began to emerge. “Listen more,
talk less,” summarized Tanner Folk,
CEO of agtech provider, IntraGrain.
Everyone saw incredible value in listening,
versus telling. In order to create something
that’s useful to the world, you must
spend time listening to customers and
fundamentally learn the nature of
their business.
Once you have an understanding of their
business dynamic, use cases can then be
devised to help them achieve their goals.
“Make sure you understand
your audience and you’re
providing solutions to solve
real world problems.”
Tanner Folk
CEO, IntraGrain Technologies
But it’s important that organizations set
business goals, not technology ones –
technology is just a tool to enable the
achievement of those goals.
IntraGrain’s Tanner Folk agrees: “Make
sure you understand your audience and
you’re providing solutions to solve real
world problems.”
Hexagon’s Sachin Mathur shares this
view: “To be able to define pain points,
to be able to define how to improve
day-to-day operations, by gaining the
true understanding of the customer
and employee needs, then you can align
the technology goals with the business
goals and then prioritize the areas
which make the largest impact quickly.”
Speak their language
It’s been said many times, but you must
learn to speak your customer’s language.
Get out in the field and work with the
client, rather than seeking the isolation
of a research and development lab.
Speak like your clients think and you’ll
help them lay a clear, viable path
to what they consider success. The
ability to proactively identify win-win
outcomes for customers will go a
long way towards helping everyone.
“Make sure your products are truly solving
a pain point and not just pushing down
a feature or an idea that was developed
but never researched.”, advises
IntraGrain’s Tanner Folk.
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
Focus on the user
The customer must always be the
primary focus, and the user experience
should be firmly at the heart of
everything you do.
By learning what success looks like
to them and their business, then
you’ll be in a position to add true
value that will help everyone.
Simplification is key for customers.
Essentially, simplicity is about the
reduction of the unnecessary.
We optimize the user experience by
removing complexity. Ultimately, users
don’t want to have to think about the
technology – they just want to plug in
and go.
“When the ecosystem comes together,
it needs to add value in the eyes of
the customer, and not complexity,”
said Arkessa’s Phil McDermott.
“When the ecosystem
comes together, it needs
to add value in the eyes
of the customer, and not
complexity.”
Phil McDermott,
Chief Commercial Officer, Arkessa
12 Golden rules
Rule 2
Capture the data
opportunity
Insights are precious
Each day, an ocean of data is generated
and stored. However, there is no point in
collecting another byte if the data isn’t
put to work. Some have claimed that
“data is the new gold,” but Victoria Van
Camp, Chief Technology Officer for SKF,
the world’s largest bearing manufacturing
company, believes that’s too simplistic.
“It’s not data that’s the new gold, it’s the
insights. That’s the new gold!” Data,
itself, is of no value unless actionable
insights can be learned from it. Until it’s
acted upon, it’s just data. The value is
in the insights.
Tapping into data
Fredrik Östbye explains how data
transformed his pump business:
“We can understand how much water
we are pumping; what kind of pressure
we have; what kind of temperature we
have… If we can pick up those signals…
and turn that into awareness and
insights…then our pump is not only a
pump anymore. It’s a valuable sensor.
And all of a sudden, we can innovate
in completely new ways together with
our customers. If we didn’t have those
new features, we would be extremely
commoditized… The Grundfos chief
digital officer believes that innovation
will flow from better use of data:
“Data can help us to create even better
products, which leads to even more
customers, and even more data, which
creates even greater products. So, we
try to come into that positive spiral using
data to innovate.”
Grundfos has shown that the potential
contribution actionable data can make
towards areas like efficiency and
sustainability can be huge. It prevents
commoditization while enabling
innovation, sometimes through
identifying unintended benefits.
Data can break down silos and unite
information to empower decision
makers to act on things on which
they previously weren’t able.
The data dilemma
Unfortunately, many businesses are
still unsure how to use their data. As
Nishant Batra, points out: “The question
customers should be asking is what can
we do with the data that is created? It’s
a question that is beginning to be asked,
but the monetization strategies are not
entirely clear. Everyone in the world is
really struggling as to what you do with
this data. There are some good use
cases, but there can be so much more,”
advised the former Veoneer CTO.
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
The future of data
Our podcast guests have provided some
helpful advice. These recommendations
included examining what can be done
that provides added value or advantages,
or how it can be monetized.
Another suggestion is taking a full stack
perspective – evaluating everything
from how data is structured to how
it’s governed.
Partner ecosystems with their variety
and depth of expertise can enable a user
to go beyond just basic analytics to
create deeper, more complex insights.
“The future will actually be less around
the device and more around the
platforms and the analytics and
the artificial intelligence… During the
next 10 to 20 years, that part of the
industry will absolutely explode, it’s
going to be massive, probably bigger
than the IoT piece itself,” said Globe
Tracker’s Don Miller.
“It’s not data that’s
the new gold,
it’s the insights.“
Victoria Van Camp,
CTO, SKF
 13 Golden rules Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Rule 3

Test your
proof-of-concept
Start small, then scale up
Once the decision is made to pursue
data collection via IoT, don’t go rushing
in blindly. Start small with a pilot program
or proof-of-concept. Try it out. Run tests.
Experiment. Make sure the intended
value is being met before applying other
solutions elsewhere. Once it’s working
well, then you can scale.
“We tell our customers, let’s make a
proof-of-concept, let’s make a minimum
viable application. Because it’s about
learning. It’s not about technology, it’s
about seeing what the value is for the
customer. So, I think we need to experiment
with our customers to get these kinds of
early successes,” said Staffan Dahlström,
CEO of HMS (Hardware Meets Software),
the leading independent supplier of
solutions for industrial communication
and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Act fast, test early “Fail fast and you
In the early stages of creating IoT
projects, enterprises can take inspiration can take that time,
from how start-up companies operate.
These lessons include: that money, that
Act fast, act early, and test often. Plus, resource, and shift it
be ready to fail fast, regroup, and then
optimize. Start small, integrate with to the next initiative
various systems gradually, and then
scale on the back of success. to drive outcomes.”
“Scalability is a question of maturity in
Mo Katibeh,
understanding the business models that
EVP Chief Product and Platform Officer,
can be created out of it,” said Brighter’s
AT&T Business
CEO, Henrik Norström.
AT&T Business’s Mo Katibeh believes
it’s good to fail fast: “Being able to
show up and say that something is not
working is just as good of an answer,
because it means you can fail fast and
you can take that time, that money, that
resource, and shift it to the next initiative
to drive outcomes.”

“It’s not about

technology,
it’s about seeing
what the value is
for the customer.”
Staffan Dahlström,
CEO, HMS
14 In the spotlight Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Audi

The flexibility Challenge

Audi needed a connected solution to help drive
safer production processes in their factories.

to adapt and Solution

Ericsson collaborated with Audi and sensor

automate
manufacturer SICK to connect one of Audi’s
German factories with 5G technology, creating
seamless robot collaborations, greater efficiency,
and enhanced productivity and safety.

Outcome
5G brought flexibility improvements, enhanced
connectivity, and a complete reimagining of what
safe human-robot collaboration can look like.
All on the same network.
“Working alongside SICK and Audi, we can address
complex use cases that could never be solved
5G brought flexibility before, making human-robot collaboration possible.”,
said Andreas Thuelig, 5G for Europe – Program
improvements, enhanced Manager, at Ericsson.

connectivity, and a complete

reimagining of what safe
human-robot collaboration
can look like. All on the
same network.
15 In the spotlight Connected Enterprises | May 2021

IntraGrain

The intelligence Challenge

With more than half of cereal grain lost to poor
storage conditions, IntraGrain needed a connected

to create new
solution that could reduce this high spoilage level,
maximize revenues by ensuring more of their
product reaches buyers, and provide customers
with 24/7 access to their stored grain data.

efficiencies Solution
IntraGrain’s cellular-powered solution monitors
grain storage conditions and reduces spoilage.
Ericsson and SaskTel partnered with IntraGrain
to create an IoT Accelerator-based solution that
enables farmers to closely monitor the conditions in
their grain silos, like temperature and humidity, with
data from sensors collected by BIN-SENSE®. They
also provided farmers with access to a simple web-
based user interface and mobile application.

Outcome
Monitoring grain in near real-time can reduce
spoilage rates to as low as 2% down from an
average of 60%.
Monitoring grain in near “Our monitoring system allows the producers
real-time can reduce to sleep well at night and know their grain
is safe in their bins. It gives them the insight
spoilage rates to as low into the structures that they store massive
amounts of commodity in.” – Tanner
as 2% down from an Folk, CEO of IntraGrain Technologies.

average of 60%.
16 In the spotlight Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Grundfos

The insights Challenge

Gathering intelligence from pumps can predict
when they need maintenance, so Grundfos wanted

to transform
a cellular-powered solution that offered a robust
and agile IoT ecosystem, global coverage across 55
countries, and security of all connected assets.

Solution
products to By intuitively regulating water flow via data
feedback from temperature sensors, the world’s
largest pump manufacturer used cellular technology

services to optimize energy consumption and sell maintenance

as a service. Grundfos partnered with Telenor
Connexion and Ericsson IoT Accelerator to track
and control assets at local, regional, and global
levels through a single, unified, and intuitive device
connection platform.

Outcome
Making pumps intelligent has resulted in a 60%
increase in energy efficiency.
“Today 10% of all electricity used in the world goes
to pumps – and if we swapped all of those pumps
to the latest technology, that percentage would be
Making pumps 4%. That is quite a big saving in energy consumption
by making all pumps intelligent.” – Fredrik Östbye,
intelligent has resulted Head of FutureLab at Grundfos.

in a 60% increase in
energy efficiency.
17 In the spotlight Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Globe Tracker + Hapag-Lloyd

The visibility Challenge

To track their refrigerated shipping containers,
Globe Tracker needed a global connectivity

to protect
solution for their GT Sense platform that tracks
and monitors containers, no matter where they
were globally, and ascertain if they will arrive
on-time and in good condition.

cargo globally Solution

With the global coverage of cellular technology,
a complex ecosystem of sensor-equipped
containers can be reliably tracked and monitored
at every stage of their journey, ensuring they arrive
both on time and in good condition. To deploy the
GT Sense platform, Globe Tracker partnered with
IoT experts including T-Mobile Austria part of
Deutsche Telekom Group and Ericsson to serve
Hapag-Lloyd with an IoT Accelerator-based solution.

With the global coverage Outcome

Using GT Sense-powered technology on refrigerated
of cellular technology, a containers can cut food spoilage by up to 30%.

complex ecosystem of “What T-Mobile Austria and Ericsson brings us is a

lot of credibility. We put a lot of heart and soul and
sensor-equipped containers effort into our solution and the fact that they now
back us with it has allowed us to attract a lot of
can be reliably tracked global customers and partners around the world.”
– Don Miller, chief sales and marketing officer
and monitored at every for Globe Tracker.

stage of their journey.

18 In the spotlight Connected Enterprises | May 2021

GrandPad

The simplicity Challenge

Seniors are often technologically challenged with
limited connectivity. So GrandPad set out to create

to keep
a solution that simplified the technology, let seniors
easily connect anywhere, at any time, and supplied
enough connectivity for high-quality video calls.

Solution
the elderly With Orange Belgium providing a secure IoT
network, and managed by Ericsson IoT Accelerator,
a purpose-built tablet was created that is enabled

connected by cellular for fast, and low cost connectivity, and

is pre-configured and automatically connects to
the cloud with built in 4G LTE service. Ericsson’s IoT
Accelerator provides a simplified user experience.

Outcome
One million users in 110 countries enjoying reliable
and secure GrandPad tablet experiences.
“Every GrandPad connected tablet comes with
built-in LTE service, which removes a common
technology barrier because seniors often don’t
have in-home WiFi. Being able to stay connected
and engaged, especially during these challenging
One million users in 110 times of the pandemic, is essential for reducing
depression and improving the quality of life for
countries enjoying reliable seniors as well as family members.” – Scott Lien,
co-founder and CEO of GrandPad.
and secure GrandPad
tablet experiences.
19 In the spotlight Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Atlas Copco

Building a Challenge
Compressor manufacturer Atlas Copco Airpower
wanted to improve remote management and

streamlined,
manufacturing productivity without a cable in sight.
The company wanted to do away with traditional
cables and create a more autonomous, automated,
and intelligent manufacturing facility that is flexible,

connected
efficient, wireless, and future-proof with a clear
path to 5G.

Solution

factory floor Cellular technology was chosen to realize Atlas Copco

Airpower’s digital transformation ambitions. Ericsson
and Orange Belgium built the network in the 20,000
square meter facility. Ericsson Dedicated Networks is
providing Atlas Copco Airpower with the underlying
solution for a secure and agile private network.

Outcome
A secure, fully connected, and wireless factory floor,
allowing for 24/7 control and system availability.
“This technology gives us the possibility to connect
our machines wirelessly instead of the traditional
way with cables. The really exciting use cases will
A secure, fully connected come when we can make use of low latency”, says
Wouter Ceulemans, President of the Airtec division
and wireless factory floor, at Atlas Copco Airpower. The case that wraps it all
together for us is, of course, security. We can all do
allowing for 24/7 control this in a secure environment. I think that the factory
of the future will be a lot more autonomous,
and system availability. automated and intelligent”, he adds.
20 Golden rules Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Section 3

How
to
stay
ahead
Three key watch-outs on
your journey towards a
more connected business
21 Golden rules
Rule 4
Embrace new ways of
working to stay ahead
Switch it up to scale up
Old ways of doing business are rapidly
being thrown out. To adapt to a
changing world, industries such as
manufacturing, ports, mining, and
automotive are having to embrace
digital disruption.
Enterprises need to adopt the mindset
that every business is now in the
business of change. Digital transformation
leaders must understand that new ways
of doing things will be the only path
forward, and that being static means
being left behind.
As Tanner Folk, CEO for IntraGrain
Technologies told us, “People who are
afraid of any type of change – that’s
definitely going to be something that
prevents some of the scalability or
some of the forward momentum.”
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
Agility gets you places “It’s often that
When organizations and teams are set
up to be flexible, companies are able we can’t get our
to move quicker when trying to acquire
new capabilities and set up new head around the
business models.
technology, rather
This agility will help companies to be
the ones doing the disrupting rather than than the technology
being disrupted by others. It will allow
them to innovate, to transition to new isn’t there.”
business models, and to deliver new
customer experiences. Pippa Malmgren,
Co-founder,
An important part of this is understanding
H Robotics
the context of the technology and how it
can be leveraged. As Pippa Malmgren,
author, former presidential advisor and
co-founder of H Robotics has shared,
“It’s often that we can’t get our head
around the technology, rather than the
technology isn’t there. It’s there, but
people need to comprehend in a context,
and I find a lot of my work is about
helping people understand the context
so that they can adopt and adapt
more quickly.”
22 Golden rules
Rule 5
Don’t do
it alone
Innovation through
teamwork
To successfully innovate, companies
need to spend time building a strong
network of alliances and partners, and
become part of a digital ecosystem.
Grundfos’s Fredrik Östbye explains the
importance of tapping into the right
talent: “As a company you shouldn’t
spend your energy on building the
enablers. They are already there. You
should spend your energy on creating
value for your customers…we bring on
board other companies…start-up
companies to speed up our innovation
and to increase the innovation height.”
An ecosystem is the only
system
To enable innovation to fit a business
model, a good product company needs
to partner with a good digital ecosystem.
For a manufacturer who may try to plug
into the ecosystem by itself, there lies
ahead a complex and arduous journey.
Depending on where the device is
expected to operate, the manufacturer
will need to take out a contract with an
operator in each locality. Not a good idea.
This results in multiple contracts, each
outlining different SLAs (service-level
agreements), and KPIs (key performance
indicators). When something goes wrong,
that means having to track down a lot of
responsible parties.
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
Kent Eriksson believes it’s all about the Be open for business
ecosystem: “One of the inhibitors of
digital transformation today is the Creating open ecosystems and open
inability to manage the ecosystem and standards will allow you to grow your
the many decisions and risks involved industry and differentiate your
there for the end customers”, commented product within it.
the former PTC advisor, adding “We
Gerhard Loots of Telstra – Australia’s
tried to remove that by partnering on
largest telecom operator – believes
the ecosystem in a very structured way.
open standards are vital to industry
At the end of the day, it’s not company-
growth. “Nobody wants to be locked into
to-company competition. It’s an
one vendor, especially not when you’re
ecosystem-to-ecosystem competition.”
sitting with situations where business
cases play over 10 to 15-year periods”,
Partnerships keep you says the global IoT solutions executive.
connected “So, we’ve sought to address that by
being very open with our standards.
Ecosystem partnerships provide benefits We’re really encouraging the competition
to all sides. Telecom operators can because it’s good for the industry
expand their portfolios and coverage as a starting point and it serves the
areas, leading to more revenue customer need.”
opportunities. Meanwhile, enterprises
can gain easier access to the global
IoT network, with just a single
contract and set of SLAs.
Companies can avoid the need to
roam by deploying international eSIM
technology and collaborating with
“At the end of the day,
a telecom operator who will have an it’s not company-to-
extensive reseller network of partners.
With this approach, a connected device
company competition.
will be able to remain in contact as it It’s an ecosystem-to-
passes through all the stages of the
global supply chain – from the factory,
ecosystem competition.”
to the port, to the end user. Regardless
Kent Eriksson,
of where the device is in its journey,
former PTC advisor
it will automatically connect to the
provider in the region and benefit from
localized, high performance connectivity.
23 Golden rules
Rule 6
Don’t compromise
on security
Built in, not bolt on
IoT security cannot be an afterthought
or an add-on. Organizations must be
proactive with security, and build it into
the hardware from the outset. The cyber
security landscape is constantly changing
but if you do things right, you can put
together a very secure system.
The security risks need to be addressed
with eyes wide open. “When building
new technology, like IoT or AI, companies
should try to act like a startup and adopt
a fail-fast approach,” said Kristofer
Ågren, Head of Data Insights for Division
X of Telia, the biggest telecom operator
in the Nordics.
“Tech is built up quickly so that data can
be collected immediately, and companies
can test if it flies. However, this approach
comes with a lot of data risks. Safeguards
need to be put in place to secure the
network end-to-end, even if the
technology is only being tested”,
added Ågren.
Connected Enterprises | May 2021
Listen to the experts AT&T Business’s Mo Katibeh, believes
in the security of cellular. “One of the
If security knowledge is not your core conversations we have a lot with
strength, use trusted security providers. businesses is how cellular connections
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, or are inherently more secure as they’re
become an expert. Leverage the encrypted end-to-end. 5G is being built
strengths of the right partners in your to take into account all of the learnings
digital ecosystem. It’s of great benefit to from a security perspective of every
have a partner who can help shape the other G and with security built in from
security landscape so you can envision the ground up”.
new possibilities with confidence.
Those who pursue cellular connectivity
are already a step ahead as it is inherently “5G is being built to take into
secure across platforms and geographies, account all of the learnings
without building in passwords or security
measures as add-ons. from a security perspective
“I see perceptions that wireless is not as of every other G.”
secure as cable-based communication,
which is not true. If you do this right you Mo Katibeh,
can have a very secure system,” said EVP Chief Product and Platform Officer,
HMS’s Dahlström. AT&T Business
Cellular has it covered
Cellular technology provides a coordinated
approach to security. This includes
product security, deployment, operations
and management, incident-handling
capabilities through strong security
algorithms, traffic encryption, and
protection of signalling and interfaces.
An end-to-end secure system with
global identity management, cellular
technology interacts securely with other
network technologies.
 24 Conclusion Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Conclusion

The future is
yours to shape
IoT-enabled products and profitable,
innovative business models are no longer
far-off dreams – they’re happening
right now.
Businesses are now able to bring the future
into the present, while creating new business
models and opening up new revenue
opportunities.
Companies will have a huge advantage if
they adopt the right mindset, such as the value
of collaboration, and planning with people in
mind. They’ll be able to leverage the vast
ecosystem of partners to help overcome
challenges like scalability and security.
And those are the kind of enterprises that
will end up shaping the future.
Dr. Henning Löser, Senior Manager of the
Audi Production Lab, summed it up when
he said, “By doing this, all of us together,
right now, we are actually shaping the future.
We’re making things possible that were
impossible in the past.”

“By doing this, all of

us together, right
now, we are actually
shaping the future.”
Dr. Henning Löser,
Senior Manager,
Audi Production Lab
25 Final word Connected Enterprises | May 2021

Final word

People-powered
technology
True digital transformation
must be human-centric

No matter what technology is capable

of, there’s one thing it always must “At the heart of
do: make people want to use it. That’s
why innovators must see digital technology, there
transformation as human-centric.
are always humans.
They must be able to bridge the gap
between technology and people to And if we keep
create the advancements that will enrich
our daily lives. Technology can be the that as the focus of
enabler, but remember, it’s not about
removing humans from the process – it’s everything we do,
about letting humans live better lives.
As we’ve learned from the “Talking IoT exciting things will
with Ericsson” podcast, there’s always
a face behind a development. As Phil happen.”
McDermott, Chief Commercial Officer
for Arkessa says, “At the heart of Phil McDermott,
technology, there are always humans. Chief Commercial Officer,
And if we keep that as the focus of Arkessa
everything we do, exciting things
will happen.”
The possibilities IoT and 5G are creating
for enterprises are limitless, but most
importantly, the ability for people to
change our world for the better has
never been so promising.
26 Contact us Connected Enterprises | May 2021

At Ericsson,
we connect
businesses
Let’s talk about how
you can connect yours.
Read more on
www.ericsson.com/enterprise
Or get in touch at
iot@ericsson.com
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© Ericsson 2021