Its no secret that the Internet of Things and data-driven manufacturing are changing the landscape of industrial manufacturing as we know it. However, despite the many benefits of adopting IOT, there are still many challenges standing in the way of implementation. Each of these barriers is a legitimate concern for an OEM who is determined to take on IIoT purely as an in-house do it yourself project, however each of these barriers is easily overcome with RRAMAC’s cloud hosted EgdeScout solution. Below are the list of barriers with and how RRAMACs cloud based solution can help overcome each one.
Budgetary Constraints:
One of the benefits of a cloud hosted IIoT solution is that you can get started quickly with minimal up front investments. There is no need to buy servers or develop software. RRAMAC delivers a turnkey customized solution using our Tier Level 3 data center. Customers pay a configuration fee for initial setup and customization plus an annual fee for each remote asset. Each remote site will require some sort of security device or cell modem in the field. The overall cost is low enough that most customers classify it as an operating expense rather than a capital expense.
Security/Compliance Concerns:
People who use online banking are typically not security experts. OEMs leveraging the IIoT do not need to be security experts either. We are more than happy to sit down with you and explain the security aspects of our system and why most end user IT groups are willing to accept our solution, but you do not need to have in-house expertise to securely access valuable information from your remote equipment.
Unclear Financial Benefit/Difficulty Calculating ROI
The “unclear” part of the ROI calculation is typically the up-front costs. We can clearly define the initial cost and annual fees. We can also help you quantify the potential benefits. Even with very conservative forecasts of potential revenue or cost savings, the ROI becomes very attractive because the initial investment is clearly defined and relatively low.
Lack of Interest From Executives/Stakeholders
Once the ROI is clearly defined, the executives and stakeholders suddenly become very interested.
Lack of In-House Skills
Our turnkey solutions do not require in-house skills. If you do have in-house skills we can work with you to leverage your existing strengths, but this is not a requirement.
Organization Doesn’t Recognize Business Value
Once again, see ROI answer above.
Diversity of Niche Providers and Solutions
The diversity of suppliers focusing on niche areas of IIoT is admittedly confusing. Some suppliers focus purely on a cell modem or gateway for connectivity, with no reporting. Others have a configure it yourself dashboard that involves a learning curve and significant limits on functionality. Still others have solutions limited to a very specific application. RRAMAC provides turnkey solutions and our expertise includes device level connectivity at the site, secure connectivity to the cloud, and connectivity to other business level software packages. We provide custom reports, but we rely on the equipment manufacturer to tell us what content is required for their industry, so we are not limited to a specific industry or application.
Data Volume and Complexity
We store the data for you, and we help minimize data bandwidth by using report by exception techniques as much as possible. Having massive amounts of data at your fingertips has the potential to be overwhelming, but we will work with you to provide useful business information in the form of custom dashboards, drill down reports, and mobile apps.
Lack of Data Protocol Standards
This has been an issue in the automation industry for years. At the controller level you run into Modbus, Ethernet IP, Profinet, and numerous other serial and Ethernet protocols, and few if any were really designed for secure remote connectivity. OPC-UA may be an exception, but most OEMs have numerous installations in the field today that do not support OPC-UA. Our solution is to adapt to the local protocol on site with a device that can read and buffer the data, then send it to our servers using SSL/TLS security certificates and AES encryption. This is the same technology typically used by banks and credit card companies for sending secure data over the internet.
