(synth music) >> Announcer: Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's the Cube. Covering IFS World Conference 2018, brought to you by IFS. >> Welcome back to the Cube's live coverage of IFS World here at Georgia World Conference here in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm you host Rebecca Knight, along with my cohost Jeff Frick. We're joined by Tobias Persson. He is the IoT Services lead here at IFS. Thanks so much for joining us, Tobias. >> Thank you, it feels really nice to be here. >> So, I want to start out by having you explain to our viewers what you do at IFS as an Innovation Service Lead. >> Yes, I'm heading up the IFS Innovation Services Team that came to official existence in May last year. It's there because of the fact if we want to get the IoT message out there, we want to be out there to mission about IoT. Actually helping our sales and presales to do the business discussions with people, with our customers, that is. As well as actually implementing solutions, rolling them out. So, we're kind of like from idea, talk to the customer, to real roll out, that's what my team does. >> So, you said you want to get the IoT message out there. >> Yeah. >> And what is the IoT message, from the IFS vantage point? >> Well, coming from a tech background myself, I've been involved in IoT space for quite some years, and the biggest challenge or difference between normal IoT and IFS IoT is the fact that you can actually do something with the data itself. Typically, when you're talking about IoT historically, it's driven by R and D. It's not a strategic effort at all. It's mainly done to figure it out. And IoT has taken some steps since then. And we're providing a way to actually short cut your IoT data directly into your most business critical system. And doing something with it, providing huge efforts and benefits off the bat. >> And you guys are really integrating IoT into the existing applications, existing workflow, so trying to grab that value, not as a stand alone science project, or something that's on the side-- >> Tobias: Yeah. >> But really integrating it into your existing applications and the existing work-- >> Tobias: Correct. >> That those existing applications are managing. >> Tobias: Yeah, that's true. >> What are some of the impacts that you've seen? Or, I guess, some of the customer impacts that they've seen? >> Well, it's all about automate step, in a sense. At least, that's the first step. I mean, we have seen customers just taking the data out and getting the running rs out, for example. That has huge implications on the amount of time you spend entering stuff, as well as having the data with quality so you can do something with it. But the biggest thing is, really, to automate stuff. Like send out a work order, for example, automate that. Or send out the replenishment for some consumable or whatever it is. So, anything you can run or post or trigger in IFS applications, field service management is actually triggerable by IFT observation. >> So, can you describe to our viewers how the process works. I mean, I know that IFS really prides itself on being so customer centric. >> Tobias: Yeah. >> So, how do you work closely with customers, from the very beginning, from the idea to the actual product and implementation. >> Well, taking it from the start and from the top, we obviously have a full set of IoT industry directors that are really skilled and seeing what's next for the market, being out there to communicate the message. Serve the station is obviously one. Digitalization is another one. So, we're talking about this in all kinds of places, right? My team comes in, kind of like the second stage, where the sales and presales have done a demo with the generic tools that we're providing them with and taking the discussion from there. And we're usually building something that is quite specific for the customer, using their data, really any kind of data to prove the point. Some kind of power BI dashboard, some kind of of actual IT observation going out. And the thing is, when we do that, they tend to really get it when they see things coming in from the physical world into their, this will be your FSM or applications environment. And they see an observation comes in and suddenly, boom, that's an action going on. So, that's what we're trying to do. And we're involving ourselves quite heavily in how to define what's your IT use cases, running workshops with customers, and pinning it down. It's not rocket science or anything, but it's kind of our own methodology to pin down what's your first step? What's your IoT use case that you aim for? And how do you plan to get there? That's what we're trying to achieve with our team. >> Has it been an integration challenge to go to devices and sensors and kind of the IoT world and to plug that back into the application? >> Well, that depends a bit. I mean, our application, our solution is really dependent that it's getting sent the data. Or actually picking up the data from a API or a database. We haven't seen a project yet where we're actually picking up stuff directly from the assets. >> Jeff: Okay. >> What we usually see, though, is that the customer has taken that step already, so they're getting data into some kind of... It could be a printer management system, it could be a whatever management system, and we're getting it from there. We are talking to partners that would allow us to get the data strictly from an industrial context, and industrial protocol, a specific machine, whatever it is. But as of now, we are reliant on the fact that somebody is sending stuff to the IoT hub-- >> Jeff: Right. >> Which is the official usher component. >> So, you're just really taking advantage of that data flow that's already there and really adding an extra layer of value-- >> Tobias: Yeah. >> That they can extract by pumping that into your application. >> Operation allows the whole thing, yes. >> But that is really the key-- >> Yeah. >> The differentiation, is that you're not just seeing the data, you're now saying, okay, what is this data telling us and now what do we do next? What do we do with it? >> Tobias: Yeah. >> So, can you give us a real specific example with Anticimex, and what-- And this is the rodent control, pest control company. And how this company is using your product. >> Yeah, I mean. >> Rebecca: And seeing a real return. >> Yeah, from what I know, Anticimex Finland has deployed this, they have about 3,300 traps in effect out there, at the moment. And they're using this for, well, the traps are connected, obviously, so they send the data, for shots fired, how full it is, battery levels, stuff like that, to do the IoT solution. >> Rebecca: Shots fired, I love it. >> Shots fired, yes. (laughs) So, it's not like a single off, you have to empty it directly, it's kind of a pressurized air container, doing all kinds of killings in a row, if you will. And you need to know how are my traps doing? >> So, it's really, again, just a another layer of efficiency improvement-- >> Yeah. >> By, not just setting and coming back after so much time, but actually having the data for the activity in those traps. >> Yeah, no, they are really, in a sense, they have opened their eyes. They know how their assets are doing. They know when they're full, they know when to pick it up and even if they don't have to go there today. That's also good information for which they need. >> Jeff: Right, right. >> So, they're doing this to optimize their service visits and doing like a full automated work order flow. I think the statements from Jussi Ylinen, the managing director of Anticimex Finland that will be here as well later on, they have been doing something like 6,000 automated work orders in the last six months. Which is a huge productivity advantage. >> Jeff: 6,000 automated ones. >> Yes. >> So these are ones coming directly out of the system, based on the feedback from the IoT. >> Tobias: Yeah, not passing any employee at all. >> Wow, that's a huge number. >> How revelatory is that, for a company to have all of the service visits be automated? How much of a change is that? >> I think it's huge, actually. I think it's quite easy to imagine that would be a good idea. However, until now, it's been kind of a hassle to get there. I personally do think that there our solution provides that gap and services as a short cut, as I mentioned before, to get there. >> But I'd imagine, too, it's a process flow on the customer's side, too. Because they got to, now, accept the fact that they don't know exactly what the schedules are going to be for the next several weeks or for those days because they have to allocate some portion to the automated process, or they're feeding that in at some level, upstream, to make sure that gets integrated into all the rest of the activity. >> Well, you could have, if you wanted to, manual intervention in all stages, if you want to. You need to, probably, if you need, if you're on an oil rig or something, that you have a critical part, automated order coming in, that should be accepted by someone along the way, that's perfectly fine, as well. So, it doesn't have to be fully automated if you don't want to. >> Jeff: Right, right. >> But it can be. >> So, I know that you're not only an IoT evangelist within IFS, you're an IoT evangelist in general and in your professional life. >> Yeah I hope so. (all laughing) >> So, can you talk to us, big picture, big strategy, where you see IoT going in the world but then also as it relates to IFS? What does the future hold? >> Well, the easy answer is, you may have seen the old commercial where they state, well, we need to be on the web. Why? It doesn't say. Well, that kind of, you know that you need to consider this. But you don't really know how to get there. That kind of approach is somewhere along the line where we are right now with IoT. I mean, we used to be something like a buzz word. People tried to figure it out. Nowadays, it's more like people have taken steps, they have the data somewhere. It's usually stored somewhere in some database or some system or whatever. But it's the actionable part that's missing. I don't think people actually tend to look for the actionable part in a ERP company. But that's actually what we're providing. So, I think in a few years to come, it will be seen as suspicious not to have your stuff connected, not to have your open data. Instead of being the other way around. I think this will be a very natural part of not being blind to how your assets are doing. >> Jeff: Right. >> Why would you like that? That's the old fashioned style. So, I think this will be a very natural step in any kind of of product development of all service centric company in years to come. >> And do you think it's indicative of people accepting a lot more data sources into their decision making processing? >> Yeah. >> And adding that layer of automation? 'Cause a piece you didn't talk about, that's obviously part of that, is AI in some point in time, right? >> Yeah. >> 'Cause now, you got the automation, you got all this stuff coming in, you can't send the entire fleet out tomorrow if you only have x number of vans and you got x number, 6,000 service requests. So, then you add that AI component, the machine learning component, the prioritization component in, again, moving more of this manual scheduling process or routine, scheduled maintenance-- >> Yeah. >> Into a much smarter way to execute the details. >> Yeah, it's all in the step of going from data collection, data acquisition, figuring out the technical stuff behind connectivity, getting the data out. And now with the next step when the revolution comes. How do we approach that? With AI, with machine learning, with actionable insights, whatever. And to be quite frank, I don't think people necessarily don't want to see that. They want to see what comes out of it, but they don't want to see behind the curtains on that. >> Jeff: Right, right. >> So maybe, just maybe, in the near future, people will need to bring in someone that knows machine learning from A to Z in the companies. Or at least use someone that does their insights for them. >> Jeff: Right. >> So, how will IFS expand it's IoT offering, at the next World Congress next year? >> Well, as you know, we have had a few early adopters adopt the program for IoT, yeah. And they seem excellent and they're actually being the first ones out, they're live right now. They have a really good story to tell. So, that's good. In a sense, we are taking it from the heavy asset centric, from our rig, that's one part. We have taken some steps. Service is the next one, being Anticimex in Kucera. We believe that connected field service is the main thing to go for. The real good IoT use cases is for connected field service with assets, or sending data throughout. And, to me, the next strategic step, since we are having a whole lot of revenue coming from manufacturing, is actually connected manufacturing, or connected manufacturing lines. Industry four point zero, whatever you like to call it. That's our next strategic move with IoT, as I see it. >> The lines have been connected for giving data, but not necessarily for actionable data back into the lines, right? That's where the really big change is. >> Yeah. >> For the automation, automation back into it. >> Yeah. Automation, you have the full scale automation, pyramid where you have the POC that runs the low level control system. Then you have the scale down, the many systems as well. The thing with IoT is not only do you get the data for specific assets, you also get the full picture of like, how are my factories doing? On this level to this level? So, we come small, like a less operator, more kind of strategic view on the whole thing. >> Jeff: Right, right. >> But you need to be able to get the data out from different levels. And actually access it and make sense of it. >> Jeff: Right. >> Which factory is doing best? For example. >> Jeff: Right, and what are you managing, too? You're managing to the device you're managing to the whole output. >> Yeah. >> So, maybe based on economic factors, you want to run things hard, which is maybe not optimal for maintenance but because of the economic situation-- >> Yeah. >> You're going to press it. So it's really, that variable management opportunity-- >> Absolutely. >> Is a very different way of kind of looking at your output. >> And one way, one view really-- >> Jeff: Right. >> A scalable view, really. There is a stand just behind us, where we'll show a an industrial demo, together with Accenture, which will actually trigger a service request from a physical device, an engine, in this case. That goes into the system, the IFS system, that is actually scheduled, sent the repair guy that comes out, wearing a whole lens and fix the issue. >> Jeff: Right. >> So, that's an end to end thing. It's actually manageable and doable with our solution. >> Jeff: Great. >> And that was one of the things that the CEO talked about during the keynote too, is that it is automating certain tasks, but then really leaving the more unique tasks up to the human and the human connecting. With machines and also with other humans. >> Tobias: Hmm. >> So, tell me a little bit about differences that you've seen in the market. So, IFS, based in Sweden, many of its senior leaders in London, but of course, you have places all over the world. Do you see any differences, in terms of the customers in Europe versus the US? And how you're thinking about maybe making a bigger push into the US? >> That's a really good question. I'll have to think about that for a while. (All three laugh) I think what we are seeing in my team, at least, that's kind of on our horizon, is that Germany in general are heading toward industry four point zero, that's kind of a really hard driving fact. That's stated even by the government. So, we need to get into that, as well as pushing for field service management as a solution. US, I think, we should be doing more in. Let's put it that way. >> Great, great. Well, we look forward to hearing more about what you are doing in the US. (All three laugh) >> Jeff: More. >> Exactly. >> Jeff: That's a good thing. >> Tobias, thank you so much for coming on the Cube. We've had a great time with you. >> Thanks for having me. >> Jeff: Thank you. >> It was a pleasure. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Jeff Frick. We will have more from IFS World here in Atlanta, Georgia just after this. (low energy techno)