19th International Cloud EXPO exhibited at Silicon Valley November 1-3, 2016. Thanks Professor Catherine Fang for providing me with VIP Gold pass (which costs unbelievable $2,095) to join this event. Here are the notes of the speeches I joined.

Personalization in the Age of IOT

Speaker

Kevin Lindsay, Director of Product Marketing in Adobe [Blog] [LinkedIn Posts]

Talk Introduction

More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables—activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more that track seemingly endless datapoints. However, most consumers have no idea what “IoT” means. Creating more wearables that track data shouldn't be the aim of brands; delivering meaningful, tangible relevance to their users should be.

We're in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward "smart for smart's sake," and many brands remain in that corner. But many brands are also gradually opting for more strategic approaches. They're taking a breath and stepping back to examine both existing and potential IoT experiences, asking themselves whether their products lend real value. Once we reach this goal, the implications for personalization are staggering. Consumers will expect devices they use and items they wear to be connected and add value to their lives. We'll expect scales to weigh us, assess our body fat, and sync with our mobile device for personalized recommendations. Connected devices will be just another touchpoint in our increasingly digital lives. As a result, we'll have the data, personalized touchpoints, and context to achieve great success with spot-on relevance that continues to evolve.

In this talk, we will look at the building blocks of IoT personalization (from leveraging data insights, to deliver consistency across channels), the current pain points and provide some example use cases of what personalization in the age of IoT will look like.

Speech Notes

• Two things to consider when personalize IoT

  • IoT Interactions give us great amount of data, how to make use of it?
    • An inspiring point: 90% consumers share their information IF it can bring value to their lives.
  • IoT is all about connecting things to Internet, but where and how will IoT experience really take place?

• Personalization in IoT

  • Using the right data & the right touchpoints to connect people to what matters to them.

• Some examples of Personalization in products

  • Dash Button (by Amazon)
    • Connection for convenient (& conersions)
    • The interesting part of Dash Button is: It is designed exactly for ONE purpose, so you can buy over 500 kinds of these buttons for different use. (use subdivided products to get the right touchpoint and personalization)
  • Connection for personal gain & loss
    • weight
    • power usage
  • Connection for surprise & delight
    • Petcam
      • Talk with pets, take photo of pets when working, share pictures / videos of pets
      • More than 7 million people like to spy on their pets
      • (LOL) The speaker's dog learnt to push Dash Button to get food and was seen by the speaker via petcam.

• IoT Personalization takeaways

  • Data: Harness data to create relevent experience
  • Experience: Deliver experiences through the right touchpoints
  • Value: Optimize the value for the consumer & the business

Big Data MBA: How to Monetize Your Data

Speaker

William Schmarzo, CTO for the Big Data Practice in Dell EMC [PPT] [Blog]

Talk Introduction

Data is an unusual currency; it is not restricted by the same transactional limitations as money or people. In fact, the more that you leverage your data across multiple business use cases, the more valuable it becomes to the organization. And the same can be said about the organization’s analytics.

This session will introduce a methodology for capturing, enriching and sharing data (and analytics) across the organization in a “as-a-service” cloud model, and discuss the role that the data lake plays in monetizing the organization’s growing wealth of data.

Speech Notes

• Data is generated as the result of business activities.
• Architecture and technology do not (and will not) become the core of making profits.

• In the model of making profits:
  • The "DECISIONS" part generates profits;
  • The "TECHNOLOGIES" are used for boosting ROI by helping make better "DECISIONS", and "TECHNOLOGIES" themselves do not generate profits.
  • Economic characteristics of data: "Data is the new oil" …then "Analytics is the new fuel"

• What can Oil do to economy if it can be used among several users without depletion?
• (One interesting question) Oil never disappears over time, but Data gets useless over time.
  • First, It is true that data changes, but if the business runs properly, the data should be getting more than more.
  • Second, how to run business properly? Data should be used for making good DECISIONS. For each user case, mass data is generated. So we take user case as basic unit and construct metrics based on data to assess the decisions made (and data used in the process, btw) in each unit.
• (Another interesting question) Share data v.s. Data privacy
  • The best practice is "access control": Not all users can access all the data. We can control who will see the Data to make data privacy control.

From Car to Hub: Driving IoT Innovation with the Connected Vehicle

Speaker

Sanjay Khatri, Head of Platform Product Marketing in Cisco Jasper

Talk Introduction

IoT is fundamentally transforming the auto industry, turning the vehicle into a hub for connected services, including safety, infotainment and usage-based insurance. Auto manufacturers – and businesses across all verticals – have built an entire ecosystem around the Connected Car, creating new customer touch points and revenue streams. Macario Namie will share real-world examples of how IoT transforms the car from a static product into a dynamic hub, drawing from experience at Cisco Jasper working with the world’s top 23 automakers. He will discuss how enterprises can leverage IoT to cultivate meaningful customer relationships and lucrative business opportunities.

Speech Notes

• Internet Business Models are needed on Car as Hub.
  • So how the Internet on car will be like?
  • Some solutions:
    • Audible
    • Spotify
    • OCTC: in car insurance based on driving data
    • Cisco Jasper's solition: making control layer between signal provider (like AT&T) and backend platforms from other companies (like AppStore, Spotify, etc.)
• (One interesting question) Many car makers (like Ford) are trying to make their own APP stores, so why not directly use Apple / Google Store?
  • One reason is business model: to make money
  • Another reason is make full control, e.g.: driver should never watch movie when driving a car.

Mapping the IoT Journey

Speaker

Dave McCarthy, Director of Products in Bsquare Corporation

Talk Introduction

Extracting business value from Internet of Things (IoT) data doesn’t happen overnight. There are several requirements that must be satisfied, including IoT device enablement, data analysis, real-time detection of complex events and automated orchestration of actions. Unfortunately, too many companies fall short in achieving their business goals by implementing incomplete solutions or not focusing on tangible use cases. This session will step through an integrated approach to the IoT journey, highlighting common pitfalls and successful strategies using real-world examples from the field.

Speech Slides