This talk show is about the next big thing in value creation. It is for fund managers and corporate leadership investigating digital transformation for their companies, and for service providers, subject matter experts and vendors wanting to broaden their digital skills. Although the show’s focused on value creation in the context of private equity, it’s sector agnostic and can get pretty geeky, digging into IoT, data science (analytics & AI) and other high technology. At a high level, the show is about how to frame the digital investment thesis and how to execute it. Your host, Bruce Sinclair, is an ex-PE operating partner who has written the best-selling books, The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner and IoT Inc, and has certified thousands of professionals with his ICIP program and LinkedIn Learning courses. Season 1 of this show was called, The IoT Inc Business Show.
Listeners of The Private Equity Digital Transformation Show that love the show mention: bruce does a great job, bruce's, technologies, early days, inc, applications, retail, overview, breadth, trends, technical, excellent job, subscriber, technology, complex, leading, leaders, business, experienced, internet.
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how smart digital can enable predictive maintenance for margin improvement and data-driven business models to increase the exit multiple. In businesses where maintenance has a meaningful impact on margins, we can use artificial intelligence to predict when assets will fail in advance of any noticeable signs of a problem. By using smart digital to prevent unplanned downtimes, we increase the company's operational efficiency to improves its margins, for a relatively low investment in tech. Collecting proprietary monetization data enables the development of novel business models that until recently, were impossible to deploy. Moving from one-and-done product sales to sales that recur to continuously generating revenue are rewarded by the next buyer paying a higher EBITDA multiple. In this episode, Bruce discusses: How margins are improved indirectly and directly. Using smart-tech-driven operational efficiency to improve margins. How to deploy predictive maintenance to minimize unplanned down times. The three different ways smart digital can increase the EBITDA multiple. The concept of data-driven business models and how they are created. The example of the power-by-the-hour business model developed by jet engine maker Bristol Siddeley and deployed by GE and others. Related links you may find useful: Article 1: Margin Improvement with Predictive Maintenance Article 2: Deploying Data-Driven Business Models for Multiple Expansion LinkedIn newsletter containing these and other articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how smart digital can algorithmically cross sell products for customer expansion and use AI to identify new markets to enter for market expansion. Smart digital improves existing customer expansion strategies and enables new ones for physical products, services and environments, that until now were only available to software companies. Automatic consumable cross selling can be emulated in the industrial sector and any other sector where one product depends on another product to operate. Using AI and data mining to discover market adjacency insights can augment or replace the traditional market expansion playbooks used today. The candidate list of market adjacencies is derived from primary data and only gets deeper and wider with time. Deciding on which market to expand into becomes a repeatable analytical exercise based on real customer data. And unlike traditional techniques, smart digital market expansion also determines the best product configuration and target persona for each potential new market. In this episode, Bruce discusses: Customer expansion by upselling like a software company for non-software products. Other types of customer expansion strategies supported by smart digital. Case study of HP's smart printers. Using proprietary data from a smart product to identify market adjacencies with artificial intelligence. How smart digital can help us identify the proper product configuration to enter a new market. In this episode, Bruce discusses: Customer expansion by upselling like a software company for non-software products. Other types of customer expansion strategies supported by smart digital. Case study of HP's smart printers. Using proprietary data from a smart product to identify market adjacencies with artificial intelligence. How smart digital can help us identify the proper product configuration to enter a new market. Related links you may find useful: Article 1: Smart Tech Customer Expansion Enabling Automatic Cross Selling Article 2: Data-Driven Market Expansion Identified by Artificial Intelligence LinkedIn newsletter containing these and other articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing data-driven value creation for tech & software companies and data-driven product expansion with fintech for traditional companies. Product expansion driven by proprietary primary customer data excerpt: When architected correctly, smart products yield proprietary primary customer data that can be used to drive low-risk product expansion. Like Tesla, your company can also offer insurance and other high-margin, competitively priced products that precisely fit each customer's needs. Smart digital value creation for tech and software companies excerpt: Smart digital transformation can be applied to any company, but the type of company determines the specific tools needed for implementation. In this episode, Bruce discusses: Using smart digital to understand who your customers are and what they need. How to use proprietary primary customer data to underwrite fintech products like insurance. Case study of Tesla Insurance. How smart digital transformation is applied differently to traditional companies, tech companies and software companies. The importance of value sims and how they are used. Related links you may find useful: Article 1: Smart Digital Value Creation for Tech and Software Companies Article 2: Product Expansion Driven by Proprietary Primary Customer Data LinkedIn newsletter containing these and future articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how to smart digital value creation can augment and improve these traditional value drivers. On boosting buy & build performance excerpt: Smart digital is a new lens from which to spot add-on companies and a new way to integrate their products with the platform. Unlike consolidating IT systems, orchestrating multiple products to work together produces not only a more innovative solution, but a less expensive one too. On market share expansion excerpt: This pricing optimization approach is based on pure customer data – clean and unbiased. By using APIs or sensors to understand how customers make money with their software or physical products, pricing becomes an analytical exercise that can stand up to the scrutiny of any skeptical CFO. This is true value pricing. In this episode, Bruce discusses: How to make your buy-and-build strategy more profitable than your competitors'. Using outcomes to source add-ons and integrate their products with the platform's. Case study of outcome thinking. The two roles smart tech can play in market share expansion. Example of using AI to increase the competitiveness of a medical device. Related links you may find useful: Article 1: Boosting Buy & Build Performance with Smart Digital Outcomes Article 2: Market Share Expansion Through Product Innovation with AI LinkedIn newsletter containing these and future articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Our guest Prabhu Soundarrajan is President Elect of the International Society of Automation where he is responsible for strategy to create a better world through automation. He has over 20 years experience as tech executive in Fortune 100 and VC/PE-backed companies with various roles including business transformation. In this episode Prabhu and Bruce discuss: The concept of the digital dress up. The different value drivers used. Profile of digital dress up candidate companies. Case study where multiple was expanded from 10x to 15x. Related links you may find useful: Prabhu's personal page Safety and profitability article Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how to improve pricing optimization and customer retention by gathering primary customer data with smart tech. On pricing optimization: Some companies use cost-plus pricing and others use competitive-based pricing, but the gold standard is value-based pricing. Since price is exchanged for value, to get the price right we need to understand how much value the product produces… which is easier said than done. Until recently, understanding what exactly the customer values and how much they value it is a qualitative research project at best. But now we have virtual products – native and virtualized. Software and tech products that can use APIs to gather the primary data needed to calculate produced value and smart products that can use sensors to gather the primary data needed to calculate produced value… On customer retention: As we all know, it's far more profitable to keep a customer than to acquire a new one, whether that's to sell them more of the same or new products or services. The absence of a direct relationship results in a loss of customer control and potentially a loss of customer without ever knowing why. Today selling a physical product doesn't have to mean the end of the customer relationship. Smart products are connected to the internet and just like software, they are forever connected to the customer… In this episode, Bruce discusses: Why using secondary data for pricing optimization is risky and a qualitative research project at best. How smart apps and products can capture primary data for pricing optimization. Example sims and what they are. The limitations of customer visits for fetching primary customer data. The OEM business killer of not having direct customer contact. The competitive advantage Netflix, Autodesk and Amazon have that can now be applied to virtual and physical products. Related links you may find useful: Article 1: Pricing Optimization with Primary Data Article 2: Customer Retention by Staying Connected to the Customer LinkedIn newsletter containing these and future articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing the competitive advantage smart digital diligence provides the sponsor upfront in the deal cycle during the auction. At the heart of all post-acquisition value levers is understanding the company's customers. The higher fidelity you have on who the customer is and what the customer does, the closer you'll hit the mark with all you value levers, including revenue growth, pricing optimization, multiple expansion, debt paydown and informing your priorities on margin expansion and follow-on acquisitions. This is the purpose of smart tech, to gather and transform proprietary data on customers who make physical things, operate physical things or service physical things, by adding sensors in all the places you want to create value. In this episode, Bruce discusses: Smart products and what is smart digital value creation. The high technologies used in smart digital and how they differ from IT and automation. Capturing proprietary data, its significance and how it's used for value creation. How smart digital improves an investment. Performing smart digital diligence. Connecting the dots between physical world data and virtual value models. Related links you may find useful: The article, The Competitive Advantage of Incorporating Smart Digital into Diligence. Season 1: Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Our guests are André Quina, sales director with 4Industry, an experienced control and automation engineer and Greg McKenzie, a commercial lead with 4industry with 22 years of manufacturing operational experience in food, automotive, and plastics. André, Greg and Bruce discuss: How to leverage manufacturing operators to improve efficiency and safety. How WAZE-like tagging works, why it's important and its results. The different benefits of a connected worker platform versus a connected machine platform. How a worker-centric maintenance solution is different from an AI maintenance solution. The importance of capturing tribal knowledge. Applicable use cases. A brewery case study including the quantified value produced. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Our guest Michel Morvan is cofounder of Cosmo Tech, a scientist, academic, entrepreneur and AI expert. Michel and Bruce discuss: Complexity defined by systems and systems of systems The importance of knowing how things work for simulation Why using deep neural networks is lazy, when they make sense to use and when they don't Data-based AI vs knowledge-based AI The proper definition of the digital twin… for value creation Different types of digital twins The power of simulating simulations Finding hidden value resulting from the Butterfly Effect Case study quantifying the technology ROI of the simulation-based digital twin Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Our guest Taha Memon is the founder and CEO of Dunia and CloudiTwins. He has over 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur, speaker and as a business development consultant to startups in Pakistan and the US. In this episode, Taha and Bruce discuss: The tech behind smart contracts. How to create a smart contract and if this means lawyers will soon be made obsolete. The role of platforms (middleware) to deploy smart contracts. The Golden Triangle: the valuable connection between smart products – smart business models – smart contracts. A few interesting use cases for smart contracts. The benefits, risks and minefields of smart contract deployment. A real estate case study that quantifies the value and cost of smart contracts. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Our guest Daniel Young is Senior Manager of Product Standards at Toshiba America and is part of Toshiba's global Digital Innovation Team that is focused on accelerating the growth of Industrial IoT systems and developing best practices using industry standards. In this episode, Daniel and Bruce discuss: The benefits of eliminating (subjective) human judgement. The unexpected but important HR benefits from improving defect inspection efficiency. Applicable use cases and industries for this type of AI inspection. The cost and time to implement an AI/machine learning inspection system. Different tech architecture options to implement machine learning inspection within the manufacturing facility. The role of inspection and AI standards. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing the first step in smart digital diligence that's used as a quick triage step before getting company specific to determine if a company is a good fit for smart digital transformation. Sector, business type, maturity level and market dynamics all play into this step. Once the theory is known, the Smart Tech Value Creation Quiz on the homepage of digitaloperatingpartners.com can be used to give any company a smart grade. In this episode, Bruce discusses: What is digital and what is smart? What is a smart company and how do you create a smart company? Why make a company smart in the first place? Which sectors are best? Which types of revenue generating businesses are best? How old should a company be? How dynamic should the company's market be? Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how to unlock value and potentially disrupt industries with the five core data-driven business models within the Smart Business Model Continuum. Data-driven business models are created by transforming legacy business models with smart tech such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence. In this episode, Bruce discusses: The Product data-driven business model. The Product-Service data-driven business model. The Service data-driven business model. The Service-Outcome data-driven business model. The Outcome data-driven business model. The data-driven business model as a feature. Related links you may find useful: Season 2/3: Episodes and show notes Season 2/3 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing data-driven business model development and its fundamental importance in smart digital transformation. Bruce will discuss how the business models on the Smart Business Model Continuum reduce monetization friction and produce a proprietary competitive advantage. In this episode, Bruce discusses: Why business model innovation is as important or more important than product or service innovation. The difference between B2C and B2B smart business models. Monetization friction. The Smart Business Model Continuum. Related links you may find useful: Season 2/3: Episodes and show notes Season 2/3 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing the confusion around what the term digital transformation. Bruce will dissect the term into its tech layers and relate each to the company stage where it creates the most value. In this episode, Bruce discusses: The true meaning of digital transformation. The three tech layers of digital transformation and what they are. The biggest money-maker: smart digital transformation. The difference between smart digital transformation and digital transformation. The smart digital transformation stack. The tech layer with the most impact at the three maturity stages of a company. Related links you may find useful: Season 2/3: Episodes and show notes Season 2/3 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest Manny Bernabe is the founder and CEO of bigplasma ai – which specializes in AI for Industry 4.0 applications and connected products. Manny has had roles ranging from data scientist at an AI unicorn start-up to investment analyst at a global financial services firm. In this episode, Manny and Bruce discuss: Various AI and stats techniques. Different AI techniques to make predictions. Picking the right AI models and why simple is often more important than complex. The importance of “data” in data science, especially for commercialization. The three steps to implementing AI within your smart product or process (Industrie 4.0) A medical device case study. The time and cost to deploy AI within your smart product or process. Related links you may find useful: Season 2/3: Episodes and show notes Season 2/3 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest Bob Sharon is the Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Blue IoT. He is an entrepreneur with over 30 years experience in technology, sustainability and data centres, and is a subject matter expert in IoT and smart buildings. In this episode, Bob and Bruce discuss: Tech required to reduce building (HVAC) energy consumption. Rational for using LoRaWAN and cellular for data transmission in infrastructure environments. Implications on carbon emissions and possible carbon credits. Differences between a building management system (BMS) and a smart energy solution. Use cases and types of buildings that would most benefit from smart energy management. Cost per square foot of implementing such a solution. Return on technology investment and payback period. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest David Westrom is responsible for global business development at MachineMetrics and has led business development organizations and driven strategy at three IIoT start-ups that experienced successful exits, including most recently ThingWorx, that was acquired by PTC. In this episode, Dave and Bruce discuss: Digitally transforming discreet manufacturing operations to start a continuous improvement program. Digital improvements for high volume/low mix versus low volume/high mix manufacturing. Expanding data collection from machines to machines, people and business systems. How the scope of data collection is related to the overall value generated. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest Scott Cunningham is a blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast who explores the ways these technologies are used and shares his thoughts with his audience across many platforms. In this episode, Scott and Bruce discuss: The different cryptocurrencies and how to live the “crypto life”. How consensus models are changing to enable more efficiency in blockchain. The shift from a proof of work to a proof of stake consensus model. Enterprise use cases for blockchain. What smart contracts are and some of the ways to use them in business. Identity management with NFTs for humans and inorganic objects. NFTs and the framework for thinking about using them in the physical world. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest Vipul Parekh is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal Digital and Technology Services where he advises clients about investing in new and emerging technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, Robotic Process Automation, and Machine Learning. In this episode, Vipul and Bruce discuss: Evaluating the risk profile of emerging technology by considering scaling and integration needs. Using data to drive technology, people and processes. Data ownership and accountability best practices. The digital twin and data governance systems. The digital twin and master data management systems. Data architecture and management differences for IoT-based data. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guests Rolland Donin and Hendrik Nieweg partner on digital transformation projects. Roland is the founder of IHRS-Training, a consultancy for agile methods and digital transformation, and Hendrik is VP of Solutions at the German IoT specialist, Device Insight, which helps companies with the development of complex IoT-based digital transformation projects. In this episode, Rolland, Hendrik and Bruce discuss: The definition of Industrie 4.0 vs IoT vs digital transformation. The difference between IIoT and smart product development. The relationship between IoT and digital transformation and why Bruce changed the name of his podcast. The “Three As” that must be present at the beginning of every digital transformation. Not falling into the gold plating trap. Using the edge for data culling. The two steps that precede machine learning. Quantifying the value created and costs incurred in case studies about smart coffee vending machines and smart electronic components. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest Dr. Michael Roshak works as an Enterprise Architect for Bankers Healthcare Group - a fintech company that helped hospitals and doctors with financial services during the pandemic. And as part of the Microsoft AI & IoT Insider Lab, Mike ran code-a-thons for Microsoft developers and from which recently wrote the book, Artificial Intelligence for IoT Cookbook. In this episode, Mike and Bruce discuss: Voice activation and privacy concerns. The air gap DMZ zone used in AI security. The primary importance of upfront business planning for AI success. The balance of edge and cloud computing for IoT AI. The concept of duty cycles and why they're important to use as a precursor to anomaly detection and predictive maintenance. Not reinventing the wheel and getting help from your cloud and silicon providers. The minimum data science team required for AI success. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
The difference between crypto and blockchain. The technical and business benefits associated with blockchain's decentralized structure. The important difference between security and trust. The function of bitcoin miners. The differences between private and public blockchains. Why data stored in a blockchain has the power of immutability.
How wearables, beacons and geofencing work and how they have transformed safety at the Volpatt worksites. How Volpatt is “eating their own dogfood' by using solutions by ShareinTech and how that forms a virtuous cycle. How the tech was adopted by their construction workforce and lessons learned. How an increase safety measures reduces the cost of labor by improving a firm's EMR (Experience Modification Rating) which in turn reduces worker's compensation premiums. Quantifying the value created and costs incurred to implement a smart safety solution.
Our guest Joseph Aamidor is an experienced product leader and expert in smart buildings, real estate technology and facility operations. His company provides guidance to building owners, operators, and management firms. Before Aamidor Consulting, Joe worked for the Lucid Design Group and Johnson Controls. In this episode, Joe and Bruce discuss: How a smart building differs from building automation. Why make a building smart and the value levers involved. Identifying which buildings are best suited to be digitally transformed. Why energy savings is the lowest hanging fruit. Different ways to make a building smart. A case study including the costs and the value created enabling us to calculate the return on technology investment Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest David Wentzloff co-founded Everactive in 2012 and is currently its co-CTO. He is also a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Faculty Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan. In this episode, David and Bruce discuss: The numbers around university intellectual property transfer. How to harvest enough energy through heat or light to eliminate batteries. The opportunity to further improve on steam as an efficient method of energy transfer. Use cases for steam (heat) powered sensors and the industries they operate in. Case study that quantifies the cost and value created by monitoring steam traps which then enables us to compute a return on technology investment and the payback period. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Rohit Chauhan is the Founder & CEO at Topmist, a cloud-native real-time streaming data analytics firm. He has over 25 years of experience as a technology executive, data scientist, and business consultant with deep knowledge of industry processes and value drivers. In this episode, Rohit and Bruce discuss: The tech architecture of a runtime streaming data pipeline. What it really means to do analytics in “real time”. The differences between doing analytics on data collected in the past versus doing analytics on data being collected in the present. Use cases that are a great fit for streaming analytics. Case study on Coca Cola that quantifies the value they created from using streaming analytics to make faster marketing decisions. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Steve Shwartz began his career as a postdoctoral researcher in AI at Yale University in 1979. He has since been a founder or co-founder of many companies and an investor in many others. Today he's the author of a new book on AI called, Evil Robots, Killer Computers, and Other Myths. In this episode, Steve and Bruce discuss: What is AI… really? What are the differences between AI vs AGI, AI vs ML and ML vs analytics? The importance of the kingpin of statistics. Is there really such thing as black box AI? Will AI take over the world? Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Ravi Venkatraman is the CEO and President of Hamiltonian Systems. A technologist and entrepreneur with 30 years of experience, Ravi's latest focus has been solving complex business problems in data management and MRO supply chains using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. In this episode, Ravi and Bruce discuss: What MRO is, its five main cost centers and why it's important. Why MRO inventory management is often overlooked and the value that can be discovered there. Predictive maintenance in the context of the “M” in MRO. How long it takes to typically develop a useful predictive maintenance model and how considering all of MRO can improve the quality of predictive maintenance models. A case study quantifying the early value of MRO inventory control can have on working capital. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, John Burton is CEO and co-founder of UrsaLeo, a company focused on bringing modern UI to the industrial world. Previously John had a 30-year career in semiconductors and founded multiple companies. In this episode, John and Bruce discuss: The process and technology involved in creating a 3D digital twin. Different use cases for 3D visualization of IoT data. The advantages 3D and 4D visualization of industrial data has over the more common 2D visualization of today. Selling the 3D digital twin to the OEM versus the end customer. The Flogistix case study, where the value, costs and time are quantified. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guests, Robert Falzon, a financier, and Massimo Cesaro, a technologist, are two of the co-founders of Inkwell Data. They joined forces to bring to market their Altior IoT operating system which Massimo designed and developed. In this episode, Robert, Massimo and Bruce discuss: What the digital twin is, both conceptually and physically. The stages of developing Inkwell Data's Altior digital twin: connecting data sources to data structures (wiring it), describing it with a language so processes can be visualized and preparing the data to apply external analytics and AI on it. An example of a smart building digital twin. A comparison of the costs of using an IoT managed cloud services versus using a virtual private server for storing, integrating and updating a digital twin. Methodologies for securing digital twins. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Steve Latham is the founder and chief executive officer at Banyan Hills Technologies, a software company specializing in remote management and monitoring. Steve has been in tech for over 20 years and has extensive experience in cloud-based software and the Internet of Things. In this episode, Steve and Bruce discuss: What an IoT platform is and the tech used to move data from the edge (device) to the cloud. The hardest tech and the behind-the-curtain-tech that needs to work well to achieve scale and device manageability. Use cases for a remote monitoring and management system and examples of when Banyan's products and services led to unexpected value discoveries – including new business models and surprising quick wins. Case studies of how a remote monitoring and management system were used, the investment required, and the types of value created. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Scott Giordano, serves as Senior Counsel for Privacy & Compliance at Spirion, an advisor in rapid identification and protection of sensitive data - focused on multinational data protection and its intersection with technology. In this episode, Scott and Bruce discuss: Privacy and security, which are often mistakenly conflated. Why you need to bring your lawyer in well before the data collection “cake is baked”. The liability differences between a data collecting consumer product and a data collecting business product. How to think through the data sharing contract for your newly digitally transformed product or service. Privacy laws you should be concerned with if you gather consumer data. Why you need to develop a data sharing contract your customer signs before using your digital product or service. Why caps and indemnifications are your data sharing contract's best friends. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Peter Orban, is the founder of XR Solutions, a producer of immersive and wearable computing. Originally a Mad Man he traded his advertising career for another creative profession a decade ago – to be a startup founder and business developer. In this episode, Peter and Bruce discuss: The definition of extended reality (XR), which includes sensory tech along the continuum of, assisted reality, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR). The breakdown of the three main tech components of XR and how they work. Use cases of how extended reality creates value. The cost and time needed to implement an XR solution. Case studies to tie everything together and to quantify the value generated. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Paulo Lopes, is an experienced business development executive in the IoT industry and is currently a senior marketing manager at Haltian. Haltian is a Gartner Cool Vendor that provides global IoT solutions focused on smart offices specializing in the employee experience. In this episode Paulo and Bruce discuss: Although most/all workspace optimization efforts to date have been made in production/manufacturing workspaces, there is a large opportunity in improving white-color workspaces – especially in the era of Covid. How to digitally transform the white-collar workspace to improve employee efficiency and efficacy. The technology used to transform an office into a smart office. The digital transformation cost items associated with making an office smart and the value created. A case study quantifying the costs and value of the Smart office. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Jurgo Praden, is CEO of Thinnect, and has two decades of experience as an IoT researcher, a CTO and now as a CEO. His previous company, Defendec, produced a wireless border patrol product that's currently protecting over 30 countries. In this episode, Jurgo and Bruce discuss: The meaning of, and the growing importance of, mist computing – a term coined by Jurgo. The tech of mist computing - part of the distributed compute surface that includes the fog (gateways and other devices in the OT network) and the cloud. The commercial importance, of ease of installation and scalability, and the tech behind it. Thinnect's Temp-Sense overlay sensing network service for food safety, the price and value created, and revenue model deployed. Restaurant and supermarket case studies to tie tech and value creation together. Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Loren Shade, is Vice President of Marketing at Allegro Software where he directs their IoT product and business strategy, backed by his 30+ years of experience working with embedded systems in the defense, medical, industrial and consumer sectors. In this episode Loren and Bruce discuss: The tech of embedded systems and some best practices associated with implementing cybersecurity in digital transformation. The IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act 2020 and why compliance is important to any company going through a digital transformation, not only those selling to the US government. How the risk and liability associated with non-compliance and not incorporating, “security by design” can lower enterprise value. This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Our guest, Tim Raven, is Managing Director and leads Worximity's US practice. He is an operations, finance, and digital manufacturing expert with over 25 years of experience working with privately held and sponsor-owned mid-market consumer and industrial product manufacturers. In this episode Tim and Bruce discuss the first phase of transforming a factory into a smart factory: applying a sensor overlay network to pull data off brownfield machines and equipment. We then outline how to quantify the value created by relating the KPI of OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) to EBITDA, along with it's associated costs to come up with the ROTI (return on technology investment) – core to the investment thesis. Then we tie it together with a smart food packaging plant case study. This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Digital transformation certification
Listen to this trailer/overview with Bruce Sinclair to learn about the upcoming season of the podcast, now named, The Private Equity Digital Transformation Show. New episodes starting February 26. This talk show is about the next big thing in value creation. It is for fund managers and corporate leadership investigating digital transformation for their companies, and for service providers, subject matter experts and vendors wanting to broaden their digital skills. Although the show's focused on value creation in the context of private equity, it's sector agnostic and can get pretty geeky, digging into IoT, data science (analytics & AI) and other high technology. At a high level, the show is about how to frame the digital investment thesis and how to execute it. Season 1 of this show was produced for corporate leadership and more generally covered the tech, business and strategy of digital transformation through the lens of IoT – the foundation of all high-tech digital transformations. Season 2 of this show expands its audience to include private capital investors and considers digital transformation from a more disciplined value creation and investment perspective. Season 2 can be considered as an application of season 1 for private equity, while continuing to be useful to corporate leadership. This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1; Episodes and show notes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
The “IoT Platform” is such an overloaded term that its meaning has been lost. Chipset manufacturers, sensor manufacturers, software vendors, consortia and system integrators all have their own definitions. But if you come at it from enough angles eventually a form takes shape and you realize it means what you want it to mean and what is important is not its definition but the context in which it's used. In this episode of the IoT Business Show, Dr. Sean Lorenz and I go through the elusive IoT platform and why the business problem is always the place to start. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/amorphous-iot-platform-definition-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
After going through each of the major consortia, we are heading back to tech, but not as deep a dive as usual. Having left the edge behind, we are now moving on to the network fabric that holds everything together. In this episode of the IoT Business Show, we talk about some of the most important issues surrounding IoT Platforms today. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/iot-platform-security-sensors-analytics-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
How much IoT data should you keep? It's not clear. The more data you keep, the more data transmission and storage costs you'll incur. However thinning out your data store means throwing away potential future insights, potential answers to future questions and potential new information products to expand your business – all value generators unique to IoT products. In this episode of the IoT Business Show, I speak with Steve Stover about balancing the costs and the technology approaches to maximize your Internet of Things data value. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/iot-big-data-management-storage-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
The technology of the software-defined product, containing the digital twin, is the most important technology in IoT – the most important because it's directly related to creating value. Sometimes it can get a bit confusing so in this episode of the IoT Business Show, I share with you three lessons from the ICIP Technology course. The first, a simple example to demonstrate the software-defined product and digital twin. Then, an overview lesson on standards and protocols, and finally an overview lesson on IoT analytics and big data. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: http://bit.ly/IoTPodcast97notes Listen to this trailer with Bruce Sinclair to learn about the upcoming season of the podcast, now named, The Private Equity Digital Transformation Show. New episodes starting February 26. This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
OK, I admit it, this is going to be a bit of a geekfest but application protocols are an important topic to understand if you want to understand how IoT works. Protocols are the lifeblood of an IoT system and as we are about to find out, there are a few different types to choose from – each with their own characteristics and infrastructure requirements. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/top-5-internet-of-things-application-protocols-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
Meet IoT's three layers of protocols… the media layer, otherwise known as the physical layer or radio, the network layer and the application layer. Important because they make up the network stack that transports data from the sensor to the cloud. Important because they are standardized. In this episode of the IoT Business show, Michael Richardson delivers a masterclass on everything you need to know about IoT's three networking layers. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/internet-of-things-protocols-like-lego-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
There's no denying it, robots are cool, even more cool when you call them cyber-physical systems, which is what they are, but they're also IoT systems. And applying the thinking of IoT to robots makes them even cooler and more valuable because instead of being discrete systems, they can be integrated as a component of an IoT environment, working together with other components, to deliver outcomes. In this episode of the IoT Business Show, I speak with Chris Jones of iRobot about the Roomba and its place in the IoT world. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: http://bit.ly/IoTPodcast81notes This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
Bruce Sinclair narrates the introduction chapter of his book, IoT Inc: How Your Company Can Use the Internet of Things to Win in the Outcome Economy. The book has 16 chapters plus a preface, the introduction chapter I read here and a conclusion chapter. If you want an overview of the 16 chapters, listen to the bonus episode two podcast episodes back. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: http://bit.ly/IoTPodcast83notes This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
In broad strokes, the software required for an IoT deployment can be grouped into four classes: embedded software for sensors and gateways, networking or the IoT platform (communication, rules and sometimes interpretation) data management & analytics and of course the IoT application. In this episode of the IoT Inc Business Show, I discuss the first class, embedded software for sensors, or more specifically, sensor operating systems, with Zach Shelby and the inevitable evolution of these disparate classes into an IoT software ecosystem. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/iot-embedded-systems-to-software-ecosystems-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
In part 1 we discussed the sensor selection process and the costs involved. If you haven't listened to the last episode, you should but it's not a prerequisite. In part 2 of my interview with Scott Nelson, we finish talking sensor costs and move into sensor security, the untold risks when incorporating sensors and the expected evolutionary path sensor tech will take. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/internet-of-things-sensors-inside-out-part-2-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
No matter how we define sensor, we are a long way from a plug and play world. Except for the most rudimentary forms of sensing, you must be prepared to go custom-built. And if that's the case you must have an understanding of the connected sensor and the build-buy decision. These two paths are different business journeys with different costs to consider. In this episode of the IoT Inc Business Show, I discuss this with Scott Nelson who takes us on a deep dive into the connected sensor to understand the economics involved and the questions to ask during the sensor definition stage. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/internet-of-things-sensors-inside-out-part-1-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
Sensors from the M2M world are evolving into connected sensors for IoT. Same sensor tech but now the sensor needs to communicate outside of a local and often proprietary network. Goodbye, 35-year-old Modbus, used in SCADA of yesteryear and hello layered communication, needed in the Internet of Things to onboard billions of sensors. In this episode of the IoT Inc Business Show, Mike Fahrion explains not only the anatomy of today's connected sensor but also why we're moving to a layered communication stack. Read the rest of the show analysis notes including the transcripts at: https://www.iot-inc.com/scaling-connected-sensor-solutions-iot-podcast/ This show is brought to you by DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS Related links you may find useful: Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Training: Digital transformation certification
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
