EMAIL INTERVIEW  Glen Allmendinger & Ken Sinclair

Glen Allmendinger, President of Harbor Research, Inc.

M2M@BuilConn

The move to M2M is happening, and the pace of adoption is accelerating. It is not only possible, it is here.

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Sinclair:  M2M seems to be noticeably gaining momentum in many business circles, how far along are we and where are things heading from here?

Allmendinger:  The move to M2M is happening, and the pace of adoption is accelerating. It is not only possible, it is here. The first movers in vehicle telematics, industrial gases, and medical imaging systems have not only brought their connected offerings to market, but may already have locked down lasting dominant positions in their respective industries. Thinking about the business opportunity associated with a connected product is a highly creative process. Often there are no cut-and-dried markets to identify and size. Rather, there are whole new markets that might develop as networked products are brought to market. The trick is in knowing how to think about how those markets might develop. The easiest place to start is with the customer.

Sinclair:  How would you characterize the interest and adoption rate of M2M solutions?

Allmendinger:  Not surprisingly, potential adopters concerns are more complex than simply technological worries.  In the existing culture of most enterprises, competitive advantage is usually perceived—to one degree or another—to lie in ownership, secrecy, and sometimes adversarial relationships with suppliers. It goes without saying that such a culture does not blend well with the notion of “openness.” Some of the largest obstacles to implementing M2M solutions come from within. The business development function is key. Personnel will be specialized in finding and evaluating potential partners and cultivating them into actual ecosystem participants.

Sinclair:  Many entities focus on only one or several elements of M2M, many of which are compelling stories. Yet, isn’t it the whole M2M story woven together that is of real importance?

Allmendinger:  In business, the companies that survive and prosper in the era of “smart things” are those that embrace the disruption and respond to it with genuinely new thinking about alliances and value-creation in a world of nearly “perfect information.” Companies need to abandon command-and-control thinking and embrace new, fluid business ecosystems. Cooperation is a minimum requirement for success. Well-constructed alliances can provide the opportunity to cross-breed capabilities, particularly across disparate markets and geographies.

Sinclair:  Describe the relationship between BuilConn and the M2M Expo? 

Allmendinger:  Co-locating BuilConn with the M2M Expo and Conference gives BuilConn attendees the opportunity to evaluate a broader array of technologies which are highly relevant to the networked buildings systems industry. As primary adopters of M2M solutions, buildings industry professionals are eager to better understand the value of mining data from smart devices to increase the value of their customer’s investment. Attendees of both conferences network with M2M industry leaders including technology suppliers, adopters, OEMs, integrators and investors.

Interested in learning more about this track at BuilConn?  Click here.

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