How Internet of Things (IoT) Software is Used by Johnson Controls, The Hershey Company, Blyott, Cubo Ai, and the Town of Cary: Case Studies

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As we connect more devices to the Internet of Things (IoT), the extracted data grows daily, but the information alone has no value without integrated IoT software.

The following case studies describe how companies use cloud Internet of Things (IoT) software to improve their businesses:

5 IoT software case studies

1. Blyott

The founders of Blyott outlined a clear vision: enable health care providers in Belgium and The Netherlands to monitor their IoT assets, save costs, and improve patient outcomes. Their initial target was to improve the staff’s ability to find and use portable devices.

“It can be frustrating for hospital employees to regularly try to find beds or devices while they are used in another part of the hospital,” says Gery Pollet, founder and managing director of Blyott. “This can also create unnecessary costs, because many hospitals buy 10–20% more portable equipment than they need.”

Blylott uses various Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT platform modules to:

• Securely connect devices to the cloud
• Collect, process, and analyze video and data streams in real-time
• Run serverless code without backend requirements
• Organize, store, and run queries on data stored in databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or NoSQL)
• Comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

Industry: Health care

IoT software provider: AWS

Outcomes:

• 75% more affordable solution than other tracking solutions
• Reduces operational costs by $20,000 a month
• Tracks thousands of medical assets in real-time

Read the full case study on Blyott and AWS.

2. Cubo Ai

Cubo Ai, founded in Taiwan, manufactures smart baby monitors that use artificial intelligence (AI) to provide real-time alerts when babies get stuck rolling over or if their mouth and nose get covered during sleep. The startup developed its application to be cloud-native, so their services could easily scale, but they did not originally receive real-time feedback from their IoT.

“Our first-generation product … was challenging to troubleshoot remotely, because we could not get the complete information of device status,” says Steven Shen, CTO at Cubo Ai. “With the real-time device data transferred through IoT Core, our engineers can quickly understand and fix problems related to the product, which has greatly improved our customer support and work efficiency.”

Cubo Ai incorporates Google Cloud IoT Platform modules to:

• Utilize an array of GPUs for high-performance processing
• Deploy its applications in Kubernetes containers
• Securely connect, manage, and ingest data from its baby monitors
• Gather, store, and analyze IoT logs for the monitors
• Query, analyze, and store data in databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL)
• Flexibly scale cloud functions without servers
• Auto-scale and load balance resources
• Integration with Google AI platform

Industry: Manufacturing

IoT software provider: Google Cloud

Outcomes:

• Supports 10x user growth without increasing IT workforce
• Saves 20% of operational cost through optimized architectural design
• Transitioned to real-time support

Read the full case study on Cubo Ai and Google Cloud.

See more: Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) Use Cases

3. Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls provides solutions and services for HVAC, security, fire and safety, and building automation for office buildings worldwide. The company needed to take advantage of data collected from building systems to drive improvements, improve energy efficiencies, and win business.  

Johnson Controls chose not only to use Microsoft Azure for its IoT platform, but to also co-sell with Microsoft.

“Microsoft is a technology provider that not only effectively invented the IT department, but every day worked with partners to provide the framework infrastructure for solutions,” says Ben Brown, director of strategic partnerships at Johnson Controls.

Johnson Controls uses the Microsoft Azure platform features to:

• Securely connect, manage, and ingest data from a variety building systems
• Store, analyze, and query data in NoSQL databases
• Create digital twin models of buildings for simulations
• Visualize time series data on IoT systems
• Improve coordination and communication internally and with partners
  

Industry: Building

IoT software provider: Microsoft Azure IoT Hub

Outcomes:

• Grown joint pipeline to $1 billion and closed $100 million in projects
• Quickly launched back-to-work COVID-19 services to monitor social distancing, mask wearing, asset management, and disinfection needs
• Coordinates 100,000 innovators in 150 countries

Read the full case study on Johnson Controls and Microsoft Azure IoT.

4. The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company manufactures candy under many brands worldwide, including Brookside, Cadbury, Hershey, KitKat, and Twizzlers.  As the company enters its second century of business, it is looking for IoT to help drive improvements.

“We’re connecting people to people, people to information, and people to systems, and we’re improving the quality and speed of decision making,” says Carlos Amesquita, chief information officer of Hershey.

Hershey uses the Microsoft Azure platform features to:

• Securely connect, manage, and ingest data from factory line machines
• Rapidly build IoT solutions using templates
• Improve communication and collaboration

Industry: Food

IoT software provider: Microsoft Azure IoT Hub

Outcomes:

• Monitor line equipment in real-time
• Build predictive algorithms to improve efficiency
• Minimize the effect of time zones on geographically dispersed teams

Read the full case study on The Hershey Company and Microsoft Azure IoT.

5. The Town of Cary

After installing 60,000 wireless water meters to reduce the labor required for monthly meter readings, the Town of Cary, North Carolina realized the data from the meters could help reduce water waste if they switched to hourly readings.

“Monthly readings are like having a gallon of water’s worth of data,” says Karen Mills, finance director for the Town of Cary. “Hourly meter readings are more like an Olympic-size pool of data.”

The Town of Cary uses SAS Analytics for IoT to:

• Securely connect, manage, and ingest data hourly from meters
• Analyze half-a-billion data points to identify potential leaks
• Connect meter and billing databases
• Set and issue alerts and tracking reports 

Industry: Utility

IoT software provider: SAS

Outcomes:

• Identify potential leaks within days
• Notify customers within hours of a spike in water use
• Costs savings have exceeded the project cost by $10 million

Read the full case study on the Town of Cary and SAS.

See more: Best IoT Platforms & Software