Have you ever wondered how it’s possible to see your $20 Uber’s location in real-time but you can’t see the IoT data of high-valued assets such as MRI machines, industrial CNC machines, power generators, and countless other pieces of sophisticated equipment? You know, the ones that cost thousands of dollars an hour?
You’ve dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” in connecting your physical assets to the digital world yet the live data feed a service engineer can view remotely remains a mystery.
Sure, collecting IoT data in a cloud to report on metrics and automate actions is important. But, having the ability to see live data is a critical component that should be available in an IoT app, much like we see when tracking the whereabouts of your Uber driver.
Why is Real-Time IoT Data Streaming Important?
We’re living in a time where speed reigns supreme. When we want something, we want it immediately. And, unmet expectations lead to frustration which makes real-time feedback seemingly invaluable.
Think about it.
When your family volunteers you to pick Aunt Carol up from the airport, you want to make sure you time it so you’re pulling up to arrivals as she’s walking out the door. To get the timing right, you go online and check the flight’s status and plan accordingly.
In the same vein, when getting ready to head out the door to work, you take a look at real-time traffic feeds to know if your commute will be a breeze or if you have to channel your inner Lewis and Clark and explore alternate routes to avoid traffic.
Similarly, service engineers and central command support centers find it valuable to view live-streamed data of an airplane engine to ensure its performance and maintenance upon landing which requires additional evaluations.
This information helps engineers monitor scenarios under specific conditions such as peak intensity of stress that’s difficult to diagnose and simulate in a test or lab-controlled environment.
At Bolt Data, we understand the customer experience shapes the overall perception of a brand and the next generation of service engineers expect solutions where IoT data can be viewed in real-time. That’s why we work to transform the world of service through the intelligent deployment of technology that provides smarter service to all.
Streamlining Live Streaming
Today, the mix of systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), quality control, customer relationship management (CRM), service, and dispatching are all siloed in their respective clouds.
This makes answering the question of where real-time streaming lives difficult. Some environments are flexible while others are rigid, costly, and hard to scale.
So, how does a company gain a deeper understanding of the inner workings of these systems to properly leverage them? Here are a few questions to ask:
- Which system plays quarterback to a large portion of the processes?
- Where does IoT data provide the most benefit?
- Which system behaves as a central hub that drives transactions to other systems?
The answers to these questions and more can provide clarity that will guide companies to a decision of whether to seek a Software Vendor solution or build one in-house.
For example, Salesforce has a growing Service and Industrial solution that manufacturing companies leverage to track work and parts orders, pricing, install base service contracts, maintenance plans, and more.
Access to a real-time stream of IoT data within this architecture makes sense since the data can drive follow-up actions in other systems like an ERP for invoicing.
Having this capability within the service and support teams has immediate benefits including extending awareness and putting controlled decision-making into the hands of the engineers.
Uber and the Future of IoT Data Streaming
Just as tracking the location of your Uber is valuable, so too is collecting IoT data from your assets and putting them into the hands of your service and support team in real-time.
Live streaming this data is a valuable resource that can modernize a service organization and empower a service team to make critical decisions that prevent problems and boost effectiveness.
The IoT Data Streaming Solution: Bolt Data Connect
The Bolt Data Connect solution comes with ready-to-use Live Streaming of IoT data that requires no customization or code!
As a result, all of your assets will provide real-time data streams to your mission-critical processes in Salesforce.
Live streaming IoT data directly to Salesforce gives organizations the ability to extract immediate and ongoing value from their IoT systems. Instantaneous context is delivered right to the teams who need to evaluate an asset’s performance to provide better customer experiences, services, and trust.
Reach out to the Bolt Data team to learn more about our Real-Time Streaming solution!
