Service Leaders Have No Choice But to Prepare for IoT Disruption Today: Kevin Ashton

The Internet of Things presents a stark choice to field service organizations, says Kevin Ashton, author, visionary and IoT expert: Prepare today … or fail. “The first industry to be massively disrupted by IoT is the field service industry,” Ashton said at ServiceMax’s recent MaxLive Europe conference. “Field service is the killer app for IoT, and it’s coming whether you like it or not. This is not something that is maybe about to happen; it’s happening now.” If anyone is qualified to make such bold statements it’s Ashton. Dubbed the father of the Internet of Things, Ashton coined the phrase in 1999 to describe his idea for solving a perennial supply chain problem: Why do shops run out of products when there’s plenty of inventory gathering dust in warehouses? Ashton recognized the potential for attaching RFID chips to consumer goods, which could transmit data automatically and identify items that were selling quickly.