Tapping The Future Trillion Dollar IoT Opportunity

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Piers Hogarth-Scott. You should not act on these views or opinions without undertaking your own due diligence as to the voracity and accuracy of his views and opinions. These views and opinions may be wrong or misleading.

KPMG National Internet of Things Practice Leader Piers Hogarth-Scott outlines how to capture the Internet of Things (IoT) opportunity, how Melbourne and Sydney are leading the pack and how the technology is expected to evolve.

Lelde Smits: Hello I’m Lelde Smits for The Capital Network and joining me at KPMG in Sydney in its Innovation Lab at Barangaroo is its National Internet of Things Practice (IoT) Leader Piers Hogarth-Scott. Piers, welcome.

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Hello.

Lelde Smits: The Internet of Things is a booming industry. Even in Australia it is expected that an annual economic uplift of $120 billion will be contributing to the economy by 2025. Which industries do you believe will be benefiting the most?

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Where we see the greatest activity today in the Australian marketplace, and it will differ from region to region, is particularly around Smart Cities and connected infrastructure and transport.

Lelde Smits: Can you give us examples of how IoT is transforming the parking and the driving industries in Australia?

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Already at the most basic level what we are seeing from a parking level, or smart parking, is the ability for you and I as citizens to know when a parking area is already full, so we’re not wasting our time locating a parking spot because there are sensors underneath all of the cars that provide that data to a dashboard that we can access.

So, in doing so that is making us more efficient and productive. It means we are not driving around and around town polluting fumes and wasting our time in the process. At the most basic level that is an example of smart parking.

Lelde Smits: Which Australian cities are leading in implementing the Internet of Things?

Piers Hogarth-Scott: The City of Melbourne was globally recognised last year as one of the smartest cities in the world. And they have a very sizeable team that is in the process of deploying broad smart city strategies, which are really designed to make the city more operationally effective. Most importantly, enhance the citizen experience of engaging with that city.

Lelde Smits: How may citizens realise that as they are going about their daily business, going up and down trams on Collins Street, how may they notice the Internet of Things coming into their everyday life?

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Jumping on a tram on Collins Street, you already notice it, because what happens of course when you are standing on that tram stop it tells you how many minutes away the next tram is. If you also bring up the transport app it also shows you how many people are on that tram. Those are two very real examples of how IoT is transforming the citizen or the customer experience in the city right now, today.

Lelde Smits: Here in Sydney could you give me an example where you recently noted IoT was coming into your life that you hadn’t noted before?

Piers Hogarth-Scott: One of the projects we are working on is down at the Sydney Fish Markets, which is one of the top ten tourist destinations in Sydney. And if you have ever been there, and had lunch on the boardwalk, you will know that they have...

Lelde Smits: Excellent fish and chips...

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Excellent fish and chips but they also have a challenge with seagulls...

Lelde Smits: Yes, crazy seagulls, I have been there.

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Who are always eating the fish and chips.

Lelde Smits: Absolutely.

Piers Hogarth-Scott: So, we’re working with the Fish Markets to use IoT and the Laura Wang Gateway that I’m talking about to transform the customer experience through waste management.

So, the current waste management process is that the waste people collect the rubbish on a periodical basis. But, by putting in sensors in all of the rubbish bins you can alert when these bins are getting nearly full and they can be collected on demand. So subsequently there is no food wastage lying around the place, attracting the birds, less birds, you and I are happier eating out fish and chips.

Lelde Smits: Looking into the future what personally excites you most about the opportunity IoT presents to citizens around the world?

Piers Hogarth-Scott: It is the economic opportunity. We started our discussion today about the tremendous multi-billion dollar, multi-trillion dollar on a global basis, opportunity that IoT presents. And really, from an Australian perspective, and from a nation’s perspective, I guess what we are most interested in is how we can unlock that opportunity for our clients.

Lelde Smits: Thank you Piers for your insights today.

Piers Hogarth-Scott: Thank you.