Learning about the Internet of Things from Maciej Kranz
- Rick Huijbregts
- Jun 1, 2017
- 2 min read
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Not long ago, Maciej Kranz and I had the opportunity to sit down - as part of our "Meet the Expert" series in the Cisco Toronto Innovation Centre - and have an in-depth conversation about the Internet of Things, and in particular his newly published book on how to build it ("Building the Internet of Things").
Maciej probably has the coolest job at Cisco. He is Vice President of Strategic Innovation in Cisco's Corporate Strategic Innovation Group. In addition to his role as global leader for Cisco's nine innovation centres, he is also the one looking at next generation technologies such as Blockchain, drones, and Artificial Intelligence, that likely will have a profound impact on Cisco's business and that of our customers.
For more than 25 years, Maciej had been involved in connecting 'everything to everything', including the last 10 years with Cisco's Internet of Things practice. With over $1.46 trillion projected to be spent on the Internet of Things (IoT) in year 2020, no other technology trend will more dramatically impact the near future.
Maciej's global experience gives him first-row seating witnessing the industry sectors that will get the highest returns on IoT investments, and the initiatives that will bring companies the fastest and biggest paybacks. During his travels, he was able to work closely with Rockwell Automation, Harley-Davidson, Ford Motor Company, PepsiCo and with many more large and small organizations in agriculture, city planning, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, sports and entertainment.
All these organizations share their lessons-learned as they embrace the IoT to improve their bottom line; transform customer experiences; improve workforce productivity; and grow and create competitive business opportunities. In his book, Maciej wraps these valuable experiences around a set of well-defined business principles, adoption strategies, cost justifications, payback models, and security challenges.
Maciej also nicely explores the impact the IoT will have on jobs. It confirms the urgent need for academic institutions to update and upgrade their curricula to deliver the skills industries need in today's (and tomorrow's) connected and digital world. It also will make it clear why the education sector itself needs to embrace the IoT to start or accelerate their own transformation journey.
I have to confess that I am not a big reader. However, I found Maciej's book to be a page-turner (and I'm not the only one, as it has been ranked among bestsellers' lists for many months). If you are somewhat engaged with the IoT and are looking to learn how it will impact your business while benefiting from others' experiences, successes, and mistakes - then I highly recommend you read the book.
I would love to hear from you what you will take away from reading "Building the Internet of Things: implement New Business Models, Disrupt Competitors, Transform your Industry".
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