“Every company will become a software company”

The IoT is now here, but most businesse still don’t realise the the types of opportunities and the benefits made possible with this next phase of the Internet. In an interaction with CIOL,  William Wagner, President & Chief Operating Officer at LogMeIn spoke about the growing industry of Internet infrastructure and additional requirements to this space and how can India be future ready for ‘IOT’ and SaaS. Read on…

How is the industry of internet infrastructure moving forward? What are the requirements of the industry?

There’s been a lot of talk in the last couple of years around the Internet of Things. The IoT is now here, but most businesse still don’t realise the the types of opportunities and the benefits made possible with this next phase of the Internet. Most of these businesses have not built digital products in the past, nor had to offer their products as a service.

The reality is that the complexity of creating an IoT infrastructure need not prevent businesses from implementing connected devices and connected strategies. By utilising ready-built networks, offering fast, secure and scalable connections alongside a range of tools provided as a Platform as a Service (PaaS), businesses can concentrate their efforts on creating great new product experiences.

How can India be future ready for ‘IoT’ and SaaS? What could be the do’s and don’t’s?

This will come easier to some than others, but really, India’s business have to embrace the simple reality that over the next few years, virtually every industrial company in the world will become a software company.  There are huge new opportunities with that change, but there are also potential pitfalls and/or a steep learning curve.  Think about it as 3 key successive stages:

First, companies will need to bring new connected products to market and connect existing product lines. Like today’s software companies that leverage others hardware or cloud infrastructure, tomorrow’s connected businesses should look take a build vs buy approach, and focus on the strengths while partnering or outsourcing everything else as a means of getting to market faster and more profitably. It’s a build vs. buy mentality that is common place in today’s tech scene but might be foreign to other industries.

Second, companies should implement management systems that can collect and organise connected product and connected customer information to derive insights and drive actions. The biggest windfall for most companies is tremendous and previously impossible insight into how people are using their products and services. This will fundamentally change the way products are developed, marketed and supported. But it also means that security and privacy will have to be considered and addressed upfront. Those that master this will have a huge advantage. Those who struggle could face an uphill battle, or worse.

Finally, this new connectivity opens the doors to transforming their customer and partner engagement opportunities and by creating new types of durable relationships.The upside is you can get ready for this today by embracing new online, mobile, social and multichannel engagement tools. Because once your partners and customers are connected, you’ll be managing a direct line of communication. This can be used to your advantage – it will open new doors for retention, additional sales, feedback and support -- or you could suddenly become overwhelmed by the volume, if not prepared.

How big an opportunity is IoT for LogMeIn in India?

India is seen as a key emerging market for LogMeIn, and we believe the IoT represents a great opportunity to support Indian businesses by enhancing customer engagement, flexibility and connectivity via connected devices and customer engagement tools.  The IoT has attracted hundreds of Indian IT service providers and BPOs. LogMeIn’s investing further in areas well suited to help these businesses expand their total addressable market opportunity.

How is LogMeIn aligned with emerging IoT trends?

We have seen companies struggling to bring the IoT to life, either because they don’t fully understand how to quickly showcase the potential benefits to others in their business, or because they lack the required skills, resources, and infrastructure.Companies are looking for IoT solutions which enable an easy and rapid transition into a connected product business so that they can rapidly bring secure, internet connected products to the market.  Through our early IoT offerings, like Xively, we’ve not only provided companies with a reliable, secure and scalable backbone to connect their products, but the tools needed to help secure and manage their data, and the applications to help them engage with their new connected customers.

LogMeIn solutions also offer businesses real-time support options via remote assistance which allows employees or other field technicians to asses, resolve and tackle the issue as if the products were directly in front of them.Connected product companies should rely heavily on mobile device support tools to be fully productive and time efficient.

As a result, businesses embracing the IoT can securely connect and scale new or existing products, manage and act on new types of connected product data, and build deeper, more durable relationships with their customers and partners.