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The Internet of Things (IoT) has often been referred to as the third wave of connectivity and with today’s technology constantly morphing into smaller, cheaper and more insidious devices, it begs the question, where is this web of smart, connected products and services taking us?

In his opening address, Jobson’s Marc Ferrara likened IoT to “a new playbook for businesses going forward, creating a brand new game” with lots of positives and of course, some scary negatives. He said Uber was a good example of IoT since the car service model was creating value for consumers but was causing disruption for other suppliers in the value chain.





In her opening remarks, Vision Monday’s Marge Axelrad declared, “We think the future is now.” Changes that will be taking place in 2020 are already in play and the biggest challenge will be the decisions that companies must make to stay current with those changes, she said. This third wave of technology is affecting “how we buy, sell, market and manufacture products, not just for the vision care industry but for everyone,” Axelrad predicted.

Jobson’s Marc Ferrara likened IoT to a new playbook for businesses going forward.
Jobson’s Marge Axelrad said, “changes that will be taking place in 2020 are already in play.”
Intel’s Michael Bell and his new devices team are tasked with figuring out what future tech trends are on the horizon.
Kicking off the Summit, the first session of the day focused on The Internet of Things: Understanding the Next Wave of Connectivity, and featured several experts from outside the optical industry.

Michael Bell, VP and GM for Intel’s new devices group said that in today’s IoT landscape everything is connected and eventually all devices will interact with each other. “Every two years, the size of the devices goes down while the performance goes up.” He believes the “advances in technology are beginning to outstrip our ability to know what to do with it.”

As head of the new devices group, Bell’s team is tasked with figuring out what future tech trends are on the horizon. Today, his group is taking advances in technology and putting them into personal and IoT spaces. For example, Intel’s Curie Module is providing a whole new platform for wearables that are “much smaller, stream data and connect sensors, all so small you can put them in your shoe or on your bicycle,” he said.

Bell predicted that by 2020 some 200 billion users would be connected via devices. Everything is connected—your phone your car, the stadiums you visit—and eventually these device will interact with each other. The implications for the retail sector include smart signage and shelving as well as facial recognition. All this contact with customers will allow retailers to know what they want to buy as soon as they walk into a store, he said.

In the health care sector, advances are being made monitoring patients via remote medicine and developing prosthetic limbs using 3D printing. “Eyewear is the next big wearable platform and Intel is working closely with Luxottica. Headworn technology is not just a gimmick and we are investing heavily in that area,” he said. But he warned that wearable technology has to look as good as it functions.

The next IoT speaker, Brian Markwalter, senior VP of research and standards for the Consumer Electronics Association, took attendees through a brief history of technological advances beginning with the first computer in 1942 to the iPhone in 2007.

He said the adoption of digital technologies and the new age of data is transforming the way we work, live and communicate, something he referred to as Digital Destiny (DD). “We are constantly digitizing our space, from baby monitors that measure an infant’s heart rate and breathing to watches that transmit data and cars that self park.”

Brian Markwalter of the Consumer Electronics Association is a big believer in Digital Destiny.
Andrew Ranson, strategist for Future Point of View, spoke to how big business embraces technology.
Markwalter outlined the five pillars of DD as ubiquitous computing; cheap digital storage; connectivity; digital devices; and centralization. “We know we can put the Internet on our wrists but what do we do with it? In the end, the question is not what to digitize next but what is the best use scenario for all these possibilities,” he concluded.

Andrew Ranson, international business and technology strategist for Future Point of View (FPOV) looked at how big business has traditionally embraced technology. Using concrete historical examples, he compared Sears and L.L.Bean, two companies that started out selling their wares through catalogues. Anticipating the power of the Internet, in 2009 L.L.Bean invested in the web and online business systems transitioning nearly a third of their business to the online sphere, eventually recording record sales in 2013. Conversely, Sears was late to the Internet party, constantly playing “catch up” in order to stay relevant, and notched a $1 billion loss in 2013.

Ranson pointed out this wrong or late approach to technology “can take down big companies,” a trend he referred to as “Digital Darwinism.” He went on to give concrete examples of how companies should prepare people for technological change, assess the risks and study how it will ultimately impact profits.

In order to achieve this, his “Tech Mastery Prescription” included the following key points: educate leaders so they gain knowledge of advanced technology; employ new digital marketing systems with the customer in mind; improve the use of data as an asset; automate processes; shift IT resources to development; and finally use technology to gain a competitive advantage.

Essentially, companies need to learn how to blend the human with the technology in order to get to the next frontier, he said.

mkane@jobson.com