2013 European Internet of Things (IOT) Connecting Platform New Product Innovation Award 2013 Frost & Sullivan 1 We Accelerate Growth
New Product Innovation, Internet of Things (IOT) Connecting Platform, Europe, 2013 Frost & Sullivan s Global Research Platform Frost & Sullivan is in its 50th year in business with a global research organization of 1,800 analysts and consultants who monitor more than 300 industries and 250,000 companies. The company s research philosophy originates with the CEO s 360 Degree Perspective, which serves as the foundation of its TEAM Research methodology. This unique approach enables us to determine how best-in-class companies worldwide manage growth, innovation and leadership. Based on the findings of this Best Practices research, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2013 European New Product Innovation Award in Internet of Things (IOT) connecting platform to EVRYTHNG. Significance of the New Product Innovation Award Key Industry Challenges Addressed by EVRYTHNG s Internet of Things connecting platform The Internet of Things (IoT) leverages web technologies and can expand the boundaries of the internet to include real physical objects. It can help people manage, identify and understand everything around them, at any point in time, and from anywhere. Few companies with connecting platforms for IoT have emerged to make this concept a reality, because several challenges exist which need to be addressed for wide scale adoption. Flexibility Seamless interaction through object identification is one of the major challenges for any IoT platform developer. Identification of physical objects and connecting with them requires flexible methods and technology support from the software platform. Cost Cost of deployment is another issue that hinders IoT adoption. Hardware implementation with in-house software support for the management of objects could significantly increase the cost of deployment. Finding an efficient business model to reducing this cost for end users is critical. Security Due to the openness of IoT, there are significant issues of privacy and security in data sharing. Since all objects are connected in real-time with open access control and traceable sensors, advanced technologies are needed to ensure that information 2013 Frost & Sullivan 2 We Accelerate Growth
sharing is restricted, and that the sharing of information occurs between known contacts. Key Benchmarking Criteria for New Product Innovation Award For the New Product Innovation Award, the following criteria were used to benchmark EVRYTHNG s performance against key competitors: Innovative Element of the Product Leverage Leading Edge Technologies in Product Value Added Features/Benefits Increased Customer ROI Customer Acquisition/Penetration Potential Decision Support Matrix and Measurement Criteria To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Matrix (DSM). The DSM is an analytical tool that compares companies performance relative to each other with an integration of quantitative and qualitative metrics. The DSM features criteria unique to each Award category and ranks importance by assigning weights to each criterion. The relative weighting reflects current market conditions and illustrates the associated importance of each criterion according to Frost & Sullivan. Fundamentally, each DSM is distinct for each market and Award category. The DSM allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze each company's performance on each criterion relative to its top competitors and assign performance ratings on that basis. The DSM follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation; ratings guidelines are shown in Chart 2. Chart 2: Performance-Based Ratings for Decision Support Matrix 2013 Frost & Sullivan 3 We Accelerate Growth
This exercise encompasses all criteria, leading to a weighted average ranking of each company. Researchers can then easily identify the company with the highest ranking. As a final step, the research team confirms the veracity of the model by ensuring that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies. Chart 3: Frost & Sullivan s 10-Step Process for Identifying Award Recipients Best Practice Award Analysis for EVRYTHNG The Decision Support Matrix, shown in Chart 4, illustrates the relative importance of each criterion for the New Product Innovation Award and the ratings for each company under evaluation. To remain unbiased while also protecting the interests of the other organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players as Competitor 1 and Competitor 2. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 4 We Accelerate Growth
Chart 4: Decision Support Matrix for New Product Innovation Award Measurement of 1 10 (1 = lowest; 10 = highest) Award Criteria Innovative Element of the Product Leverage Leading Edge Technologies in Product Value Added Features/Benefits Increased Customer ROI Customer Acquisition/Penetration Potential Weighted Rating Relative Weight (%) 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 100% EVRYTHNG 9.4 9.2 9 9.2 9.5 9.2 Competitor 1 7.5 8.25 8 7.9 8.3 7.9 Competitor 2 7 7.2 7 7.2 7.25 7.1 Criterion 1: Innovative Element of the Product EVRYTHNG with its innovative web service technique can make every physical thing part of the internet and enables sharing of object information with the network. In addition, the loosely coupled system developed by the company enables interaction between every object in the network, even if one or more object nodes cannot connect with the web. Criterion 2: Leverage Leading Edge Product Technologies The Active Digital Identity creates a profile or URL for any objects giving them a unique digital presence on the web which helps them to communicate with applications and services developed by third parties. Leveraging a wide range of connectivity interfaces such as Near Field Communication (NFC), Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), embedded system communication, Quick Response (QR) and many more provided by EVRYTHNG, application developers could connect seamlessly with the web objects of physical things on the internet. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 5 We Accelerate Growth
Moreover, to increase simplicity in the connection process, the EVRYTHNG Engine also provides a rich set of standards-based RESTful APIs (Application Programming Interface) for Web services. These APIs enable the quick and easy creation of unique profiles for objects on the web, and the storage of real-time information tagged to those objects. The off-the-shelf information platform helps third party developers to quickly develop applications leveraging the power of the EVRYTHNG Engine to integrate data and to communicate with objects in real-time. Criterion 3: Value Added Features/Benefits In addition to the innovative elements and advanced technologies offered by EVRYTHNG, security control of the transmitted data is another value added feature from the company to address challenges for IoT adoption. Due to the openness of data in the IoT space, objects shared over the web face security threats from hackers and intruders. In order to manage security for every single object in the EVRYTHNG Engine, the company has introduced Fine Grained management control functionality for the users who can now define read/write privileges for every single object shared over the web. Moreover, the company also offers secure connectivity during the transaction of data. It incorporates advanced security protocols such as HTTPS and crypto-secure API keys. This value added feature helps the company to deliver high availability of services with support by industrial grade Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for its clients. Criterion 4: Increased Customer ROI EVRYTHNG improves customers return on investment in several ways with the flexibility of its business model and the simplicity of its technology. The major advantage (in terms of cost) of incorporating EVRYTHNG s solution by the customers is its flexible pricing model. The Cloud based Software-as-a- Service (SaaS) business model from EVRYTHNG enables its customers to use their service ondemand which reduces the cost of implementation considerably. The company also offers a subscription based plan for the varied usage patterns of Active Digital Identity (ADI) applications by the users. Based on the number of ADIs used, customers can choose between the different subscription plans offered by the company. EVRYTHNG s SaaS based approach and the flexibility to choose different subscription plans helps improve the return on investment significantly, especially for small and medium-sized organizations who cannot afford to deploy their own large-scale IoT systems. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 6 We Accelerate Growth
Another notable advantage for the users of the EVRYTHNG Engine is its Web-based dashboards. The dashboards provide a complete view of the configuration tools, fine grained access and permission controls which helps users seamlessly manage all object metadata in one place, without worrying about the connection techniques used at the backend. Criterion 5: Customer Acquisition/Penetration Potential Application developers from different industries could leverage the benefits of this IoT connecting platforms. However, at present the primary applications being implemented are in the Retail, Logistics, Healthcare and Social Networking space. In order to penetrate into these markets, EVRYTHNG has already developed applications such as YourThng for product personalization in Healthcare and other industries, RewardThng for retail, SocialThng for sharing social events and TrackThng for logistics. Applications developed by the company leverage the EVRYTHNG Engine with the proprietary Active Digital Identity technology. In addition to application development, EVRYTHNG has great potential to forge partnerships with several application developers in the IoT space. Third party applications are increasing at a rapid pace which could prove to be the major market for the company. Conclusion Frost & Sullivan presents the 2013 European New Product Innovation Award to EVRYTHNG for its EVRYTHNG Engine, an effective platform for connecting every physical object to the web using the concept of Internet of Things. The proprietary Active Digital Identity technology along with data receiving sensors such as RFID and NFC incorporated within the EVRYTHNG Engine, helps in unique identification of any physical objects in the environment and thereby enables customers to securely connect, manage and control everything from anywhere effortlessly. The innovative elements and great feature sets of The EVRYTHNG Engine could prove to be very effective tools in handling issues with connectivity and management of physical objects over the web. Apart from forging partnerships with third party application developers, the company is also focused on the development of applications for specific markets such as Brand Manufacturers, Retail, Logistics and Healthcare. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 7 We Accelerate Growth
The CEO 360 Degree Perspective TM - Visionary Platform for Growth Strategies The CEO 360 Degree Perspective model provides a clear illustration of the complex business universe in which CEOs and their management teams live today. It represents the foundation of Frost & Sullivan's global research organization and provides the basis on which companies can gain a visionary and strategic understanding of the market. The CEO 360 Degree Perspective is also a must-have requirement for the identification and analysis of best-practice performance by industry leaders. The CEO 360 Degree Perspective model enables our clients to gain a comprehensive, action-oriented understanding of market evolution and its implications for their companies growth strategies. As illustrated in Chart 5 below, the following six-step process outlines how our researchers and consultants embed the CEO 360 Degree Perspective into their analyses and recommendations. Chart 5: How the CEO's 360 Degree Perspective Model Directs Our Research 2013 Frost & Sullivan 8 We Accelerate Growth
Critical Importance of TEAM Research Frost & Sullivan s TEAM Research methodology represents the analytical rigor of our research process. It offers a 360 degree view of industry challenges, trends, and issues by integrating all seven of Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies. Our experience has shown over the years that companies too often make important growth decisions based on a narrow understanding of their environment, leading to errors of both omission and commission. Frost & Sullivan contends that successful growth strategies are founded on a thorough understanding of market, technical, economic, financial, customer, best practices, and demographic analyses. In that vein, the letters T, E, A and M reflect our core technical, economic, applied (financial and best practices) and market analyses. The integration of these research disciplines into the TEAM Research methodology provides an evaluation platform for benchmarking industry players and for creating high-potential growth strategies for our clients. Chart 6: Benchmarking Performance with TEAM Research About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com. 2013 Frost & Sullivan 9 We Accelerate Growth