IoT Security
Article | July 17, 2023
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly crucial in IoT applications and deployments. Over the past two years, investments and acquisitions in firms that combine AI and IoT have increased. IoT platform software from top suppliers now includes integrated AI features, including machine learning-based analytics.
When artificial intelligence is linked with the internet of things, we get Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). The prime motive for combining AI and IoT is that, while IoT devices are used to gather data and send it to a cloud or other location where it can be stored using the internet, AI, which is regarded as the brain of AIoT, is what actually aids in decision-making and simulates how machines would act or react.
Other artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as speech recognition and computer vision, can assist reveal patterns in data that previously needed human evaluation.
AI applications for IoT-enabled companies help them avoid several issues:
Preventing expensive unplanned downtime
Predictive maintenance can lessen the adverse economic effects of unplanned downtime by employing analytics to anticipate equipment failure and arrange orderly maintenance processes. In order to predict equipment failure, machine learning enables the discovery of patterns in the continuous streams of data produced by today's technology.
Operational efficiency advancement
IoT with AI capabilities can also increase operational effectiveness. By processing continuous data streams to find patterns invisible to the human eye and not visible on simple gauges, machine learning can predict operating conditions and identify parameters that need to be adjusted immediately to maintain ideal results, just as it can predict equipment failure.
Improved risk management
IoT and AI-powered applications enable businesses to automate for quick reaction, better analyze and predict a range of hazards, and control worker safety, financial loss, and cyber threats.
Finding an IoT system that does not incorporate AI could soon be uncommon. With the help of AI, organizations can truly enhance the potential IoT and effectively put it into use for improving the overall functioning.
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IoT Security
Article | June 27, 2023
If you’re struggling with creating a value proposition in volatile markets, you’re not alone. According to Neil Patel, 40% of marketers struggle to acquire leads by traditional marketing methods. As competition grows in each industry, even fairly monopolistic markets like tech are seeing rising competition in all areas.
To combat market uncertainty, as well as stand out amongst your competitors, you need a market strategy that not only offers a direction but actively targets your goals. A market strategy is your go-to plan when things get rough and it is a map for when the waters are calm. Moreover, marketers with a documented strategy are 313% more likely to report success.
We’re sure you already have a market strategy that is just right for you. But have you considered if it can be refined further? Thanks to emerging technologies like IoT, we now have access to the most mundane customer decisions that are taken on a day-to-day basis. This data is your ticket to a better market strategy without having to spend a bomb.
This is how you can refine your market strategy with the help of IoT.
Data-driven Decisions
The Internet of Things has offered us insurmountable amounts of consumer data. A caffeine brand can now access information such as what time consumers have coffee, whether it is at home or office, what flavors they prefer, how much they’re willing to spend on coffee, and what other alternatives they consume. This kind of data, collected on an IoT device such as a coffee machine, is instrumental in making marketing decisions. If you know that your consumer prefers to have coffee at work in peace rather than in a rush at home, you can target offices in the area with your product rather than targeting individual consumers.
IoT offers you the right information to make the right decisions. But you can also leverage this data to drive your market strategy. In the above example, the marketing team can account for campaigns geared towards workplaces based on the available data in the budget. Data-driven strategies prove to be more effective than otherwise, and as marketers, you must absolutely leverage any IoT data that may be relevant.
Respect your Customers
While IoT offers marketers a truly astounding amount of data, not all users are aware of what data is being tracked. This raises concerns for privacy and security among the users. Even though most of the users waive their rights to withhold the information when signing into an app or wearables software, they are not always comfortable sharing certain data.
As marketers, it is important to keep your practices ethical and legal. Using consumer data may be completely legal, but it is best not to offend your customers by overt use of data that they aren’t comfortable sharing. Make sure that the usage of data in marketing campaigns and strategy is limited to what data has been consciously shared by your consumers. This will bolster your goodwill, as well as make your customers trust your brand.
Offer Valuable Solutions
With the advent of Big Data and AI technologies, the internet of things is turning over a new leaf. As there is a vast amount of data that can be processed fast with AI, marketers can now target individuals rather than households or groups. With precise data available over consumer decisions and actions, it is possible to know if there are any unlikely customers that you have been ignoring so far.
IoT allows you to not only target these customers but also solve their problems. If we continue the caffeine example, the connected coffee machine can tell you when the coffee is about to be over, this can send you reminders to buy coffee, or in case of further automation, place an order on Amazon on your behalf. These solutions can be now hyper-personalized to suit individual needs through IoT.
IoT Based Campaigns
Your market strategy will have to account for campaigns throughout the year, but if you’ve noticed closely, the only marketing campaigns that gain significant traction are the ones that have a ‘wow factor’. A lot of marketers mistake the wow factor to be a subjective preference that customers have but it couldn’t be further from the truth. The wow factor is simply the effect produced when a business goes above and beyond to meet customer needs. IoT offers us the resources required to manufacture the wow factor in every single campaign.
A great example of this phenomenon is beacon marketing. Beacon marketing is considerably new in the marketing industry and uses Bluetooth technology to transmit information to nearby mobile devices. It is heavily used in retail across the globe and giants like Target and Walmart are already using the technology to market its services. Walmart places beacons in its lights across its stores and sends offers to its customers based on their location. It not only personalizes the shopping experience, but also saves a large amount of electricity bill for its stores.
Target Existing Customers
Many times, in a bid to appease new customers, marketers often forget about their existing customers. Your existing customers already know you, have tried your product or service, and are clearly interested in the product. A good product or service is often enough to keep the customers returning, but with the current levels of competition, customers often find themselves wondering if they should try new things. As a marketer, all you need to do is deter your existing customers from straying. You can do this by either providing an unparalleled service, which is quite unlikely in today’s market, or you give them a reason to stay.
Thankfully, targeting existing customers is much easier than targeting new ones. You already have their data over their preferences and habits. If you know that a certain firm updates their applications every second quarter, you can send them offers just before the second quarter starts and remain fresh in their memories when they decide to make the decision.
Allergy medication Zyrtec leveraged IoT when targeting their existing customers with a voice-enable application. Its users could just ask the application about the daily allergens and pollutants in their area so they could prepare ahead. The app offered a powerful solution to its users while making great use of its brand image and retaining almost all of their existing customers.
Leverage New Technologies
We have already discussed several complementary technologies to IoT that can help you make the most out of your market strategy. AI and Big Data are some of the strongest allies for IoT that can help change the norms across industries. But even limited technologies like voice-enabled applications, QR scanners, beacons and so can open up a lot of opportunities for marketers.
Consider adopting some of these technologies such as geofencing which are inexpensive and effective at the same time. Burger King is a great example of using geofencing for marketing. Geofencing is a technology wherein you can transmit messages or information to mobile devices within a certain area. Burger King set up their geofences across all McDonalds in the UK and as soon as anyone entered within a 500 m radius of a McDonald’s outlet, they received Burger King coupons and directions to the nearest store.
Case Studies
There are a lot of examples of IoT being used to enhance strategies or campaigns. Some of these examples are given below.
Diageo, a whisky brand in Brazil innovatively used IoT to run a father’s day campaign. They encouraged men to buy whisky for their fathers and placed a QR code on their bottles. Once the bottle was received, the fathers could scan the code which would play a personalized father’s day message by their sons. This concept was so loved by people in Brazil that Diageo saw a 72% sales uplift in the two weeks leading up to Father’s Day.
South East Water, CRM leveraged IoT by building an end-to-end IoT ecosystem powered by IBM’s Maximo. This helped them roll out an app that offered near real-time insights into customer requirements for over 80 engineering teams. This alone helped them ensure higher customer satisfaction and accelerated access to critical reports by 99 percent!
Uber and Spotify rolled out an IoT campaign together wherein you could access your Spotify playlists through the Uber app and once you were in an Uber, you could play whatever you liked through the app and it would play on the car’s speakers. This increased customer satisfaction for both Uber and Spotify users.
There are several examples of using IoT in marketing campaigns, and there is never a dearth of ideas. However, in order to appeal to your unique customer base, you need to innovate your product with IoT.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IoT strategy?
IoT Strategy refers to an organization’s strategy to inculcate IoT in their business, whether as a marketing tool or as an integral part of the process.
How does IoT affect the marketing industry?
IoT offers a lot of insights and resources to marketers which helps them target their customers better and optimizes any marketing efforts, thereby effectively obliterating traditional marketing practices.
What is the best internet of things marketing strategy?
There is no one IoT marketing strategy that fits all businesses. Each business needs to identify its customer requirements and strategize accordingly.
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Security, IoT Security
Article | July 13, 2023
Find out the upcoming and established companies providing IoT security for businesses. These allow adopting best practices & make informed technology investment decisions, for secure performance.
IoT security helps implement strong authentication, encryption, and access controls for IoT devices, while regularly updating firmware and monitoring for threats, to ensure the security of interconnected systems and protect sensitive data in a business environment.
Here is a carefully curated list of 15 Top IoT security companies, providing security to IoT devices, thereby ensuring their privacy and integration.
1. Ordr Inc.
Ordr is a leading provider of connected device security solutions deployed in numerous organizations worldwide across industries like healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, retail, and government. Its platform addresses vital use cases such as healthcare and medical device security, real-time asset visibility, compliance, threat detection and response, IoT and OT security, Zero Trust segmentation, and NAC acceleration. Ordr has earned industry recognition as the KLAS Healthcare IoT Leader for three consecutive years and is featured in Gartner Market Guides for OT Security and Medical Device Security Solutions. Prominent investors, including Battery Ventures, Mayo Clinic Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, back Ordr. The SOC2-certified platform demonstrates its commitment to customer privacy and data security. Its comprehensive approach ensures organizations can protect patient care, maintain real-time asset inventory, detect threats, implement zero trust segmentation, accelerate NAC, and secure IT/OT environments.
2. Medigate by Claroty
Medigate is a solution that comprehensively addresses healthcare organizations' unique challenges. The need for a coordinated security strategy becomes paramount as the convergence of IT, OT, IoT, and physical systems continues in the clinical environment. Medigate provides the confidence to secure, manage, and gain insights from all devices connected to the network, including a wide range of medical devices with proprietary protocols and operational parameters. Protecting the network can be overwhelming, with thousands of devices from different manufacturers. Medigate's specialized approach ensures that security measures do not compromise device usability, eliminating the need for compromise between security and functionality. In terms of investors, Medigate has received backing from prominent organizations such as Siemens, BMWiVentures, and SoftBank. These partnerships reinforce Medigate's commitment to delivering innovative solutions that enhance cybersecurity and enable organizations to connect confidently.
3. Aryballe
One of the top IoT security companies, Aryballe combines biochemical sensors, advanced optics, and machine learning to create a unique digital olfaction solution. By mimicking the human sense of smell, Aryballe's objective is to collect, display, and analyze odor data, empowering companies to make more informed decisions. Aryballe's software suite complements this hardware, which offers user-friendly protocol and analysis tools. These tools enable R&D, quality, and manufacturing professionals to integrate digital odor data into their decision-making processes seamlessly. Aryballe's software and data solutions are particularly valuable to the automotive, food & beverage, consumer appliances, and flavor & fragrance industries. The odor displays and analysis provided by Aryballe's technology empower leaders in these sectors to make smarter business decisions. Additionally, Aryballe's digital olfaction solutions have applications for enhancing user experiences within the automotive and consumer appliance markets.
4. Timesys Corporation
Timesys is a leader and pioneer in the embedded software market, offering open-source software security, development tools, and engineering services. With a comprehensive end-to-end device security solution, it enables developers to implement strong security measures early in the design phase. It has extensive embedded development experience and serves a diverse customer base, including Global 500 companies in the medical, industrial, networking, aerospace, and consumer sectors. The company's global partner ecosystem comprises leading semiconductor manufacturers, board vendors, and distributors. Its security services include VigiShield Secure by Design, which focuses on integrating core security features into device designs, and Vigiles, a tool for monitoring and remediating vulnerabilities. Furthermore, it offers an embedded board farm for test automation and remote access infrastructure, facilitating collaborative software development and debugging processes.
5. QA Mentor
QA mentor is a one-stop solution for application and mobile app testing. It is an award-winning software by QA company headquartered in New York. With multiple certifications and a CMMI Level 3 SVC + SSD v1.3 appraisals, the company offers comprehensive software testing services to clients globally. QA Mentor serves various industries, including startups and Fortune 500 companies. Their unique selling points include customizable testing processes, flexible on-demand services, and economical pricing. They specialize in various QA services, such as test design and execution, mobile/browser compatibility testing, QA audit and process improvement, automation testing, performance testing, security testing, regression testing, crowdsourcing testing, and QA e-learning. With a state-of-the-art test lab, unique methodologies, and expertise in automation tools, QA Mentor stands out in the industry.
6. Mocana
Mocana is a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions for IoT, operational technology, and critical infrastructure. Their on-device cybersecurity software and lifecycle management platform enable manufacturers and industrial companies to build tamper-resistant self-defending systems. Mocana's integrated solutions help minimize the risk of cyber breaches, ensure compliance with industry standards, and protect intellectual property throughout the device lifecycle. Unlike traditional IT network security approaches, Mocana empowers devices to protect themselves and prevent malware installation. Their platform facilitates application development and updates, ensures device protection and hardening in the field, supports interoperability between legacy and new devices, and offers automated operations with centralized control.
7. Verimatrix
Verimatrix, one of the many IoT security companies, is a leading provider of people-centered security solutions that power the modern connected world. Their intuitive and frictionless security offerings protect digital content, applications, and devices across various industries. Major brands rely on Verimatrix to secure premium movies, live-streaming sports, sensitive financial and healthcare data, and mission-critical mobile applications. Verimatrix helps its customers deliver compelling content and experiences to millions of consumers worldwide by enabling trusted connections. Their solutions provide robust security and help partners accelerate market time, quickly scale their operations, safeguard valuable revenue streams, and attract new business opportunities. With a focus on plugging security holes, thwarting pirate and cyberattacks, and preserving revenue, Verimatrix plays a crucial role in protecting the digital ecosystem and ensuring the delivery of exceptional experiences in an unprotected digital world.
8. Keyfactor
Keyfactor is a trusted provider of identity-first security solutions that bring digital trust to the hyper-connected world. With a focus on machine and human identities, Keyfactor simplifies PKI, automates certificate lifecycle management, and secures every device, workload, and thing. By enabling organizations to establish and maintain digital trust at scale, Keyfactor helps them move quickly in a zero-trust environment. In the face of increasing cyber threats, Keyfactor addresses the challenges of securing 5G networks and communications, meeting evolving standards and scalability, and adapting to changing architectures. Keyfactor's flexible solutions can be deployed in various environments, including data centers, cloud, SaaS, or hybrid architectures. With a comprehensive PKI management platform, Keyfactor enables organizations to protect their networks and manage certificates efficiently.
9. Vdoo
Vdoo is a global leader in the product security space, offering a comprehensive platform for identifying and mitigating security issues. It is the only automated platform that provides end-to-end product security, helping organizations streamline their development and security processes while ensuring optimal product security. With Vdoo, development and security teams can efficiently address a wide range of security risks, including supply chain threats, configuration risks, standard compliance, and zero-day vulnerabilities. Vdoo's platform enables organizations to integrate security seamlessly into their DevOps workflows, automate compliance assurance, and fortify security across the software supply chain. By offering intelligent and automated security solutions from code to container to device, Vdoo empowers organizations to safeguard their software's integrity and protect against malicious activity.
10. CyberMDX
CyberMDX, a Forescout company is a leading provider of IoT security solutions focused on safeguarding healthcare delivery worldwide. Its cloud-based cybersecurity solutions support the advancement of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) by protecting connected medical devices. The CyberMDX solution offers comprehensive endpoint identification, vulnerability assessment, incident detection, response, and prevention capabilities. Deployed globally, CyberMDX seamlessly integrates with customers' existing environments through its scalable and agentless solution. It provides continuous, real-time discovery and visibility of all medical devices connected to clinical networks. Recognized as a representative vendor in the Gartner Market Guide for Medical Device Security Solutions, Forescout delivers robust cybersecurity capabilities for healthcare organizations. With its automated and customizable approach, Forescout ensures the security and integrity of medical devices and IoMT ecosystems.
11. Sepio
Among the many best IoT security companies, Sepio is a leading asset risk management platform that prioritizes asset existence over activity. Through its physical layer asset DNA profiling, Sepio offers customers actionable visibility, policy enforcement, and mitigation capabilities, empowering them to gain better control over all assets at scale. Regardless of whether the infrastructure is connected to IT, OT, or IoT, Sepio's trafficless monitoring ensures an asset-agnostic solution. Sepio's platform caters to various industries, including financial institutions, healthcare institutions, and critical infrastructures globally. The platform allows the discovery of both known and shadow assets, mitigates risks associated with uncontrolled assets, reduces hardware clutter, enforces asset policies, meets regulatory compliance, and seamlessly integrates with existing security tools. Sepio's asset risk management benefits extend to uncovering hidden asset risks, providing organizations with the necessary insights and tools to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses.
12. Nexusguard
Nexusguard, a provider of simplified DDoS protection solutions for both service providers and enterprises, provides a range of offerings, including cloud services, managed DDoS protection platforms, and professional training courses. It empowers organizations to effectively safeguard their networks and applications against DDoS attacks. For communications service providers (CSPs), Nexusguard offers managed cloud-based DDoS protection solutions that cover various aspects such as application protection, origin protection, edge protection, and DNS protection. These solutions ensure the secure operation of internet-facing websites, shield networks and systems from threats, scale up protection for internet uplinks and infrastructure, and keep DNS services up and running. Nexusguard's offerings also include the Nexusguard Bastions server, a purpose-built on premise solution for CSPs that seamlessly integrates the company's proprietary technologies and global cloud scrubbing capabilities into the CSP's environment.
13. IoTium
IoTium is a provider of secure, managed software-defined network infrastructure for industrial IoT applications. Its solution enables the secure connection of both legacy and greenfield mission-critical on-site machinery and automation systems to applications residing in data centers or the cloud. By offering zero-touch provisioning and eliminating complexities in scalable mass deployments, IoTium ensures seamless and secure connectivity at scale. IoTium's View Smart Building Cloud addresses these security risks by implementing a Zero-trust Network Architecture (ZTNA). This includes secure tunnels with end-to-end encryption, certificate-based device authentication, and secure remote access with multi-factor authentication. It offers centralized management and visibility of building networks and OT devices, along with the ability to deploy edge applications for real-time processing and optimizations.
14. SCADAfence
SCADAfence, one of the top IoT security solution companies is a global technology leader specializing in OT and IoT cybersecurity. It offers a comprehensive suite of industrial cybersecurity products designed to provide robust protection for large-scale networks. Its portfolio includes top-notch network monitoring, asset discovery, governance, remote access, and IoT device security solutions. By leveraging SCADAfence's solutions, organizations operating in critical infrastructure, manufacturing, and building management industries can ensure secure, reliable, and efficient operations. SCADAfence's solutions cater to various industries, such as manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and building management. With a commitment to providing valuable resources and insights, it maintains an informative blog and offers opportunities for customers to request a live demonstration of its solutions
15. Xage Security
Xage is a global leader in real-world security, offering zero-trust solutions for industrial cybersecurity. Its flagship product, the Xage Fabric, simplifies and accelerates digital operations across OT, IT, and cloud environments. By adopting a unified approach based on zero-trust principles, Xage enables secure remote access and identity-driven access management for operational assets. Its solution eliminates the vulnerabilities associated with traditional remote access methods and provides granular access control down to individual assets, reducing the attack surface area. With Xage, organizations benefit from simplified and friction-free remote access, strengthened cybersecurity with advanced controls like multi-factor authentication, and full visibility and control of remote sessions. Its solutions also enable secure session collaboration, protect file transfers, and mitigate malware and anomalous behaviors. With Xage, organizations can fortify their cybersecurity infrastructure, enhance productivity, and meet evolving security challenges.
Conclusion
To stay ahead in IoT security market ,it is important to keep an eye on prominent companies leading the way in this field. These companies offer innovative solutions and expertise to address the evolving challenges of IoT security. By following their advancements and leveraging their technologies, businesses can enhance their defenses and mitigate risks in the ever-expanding IoT landscape.
Follow the list of top 15 companies,provided above to strengthen cybersecurity with advanced controls, end-to-end encryption, certificate-based device authentication, secure remote access with multi-factor authentication, among others.They empower organizations to safeguard their software's integrity and protect against malicious activity. The companies play a crucial role in protecting the digital ecosystem and ensuring the delivery of exceptional experiences,analysing the IoT statistics, in an unprotected digital world.
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