IoT (Internet of Things): Bridging the gap between humanity and computing... at scale

Humanity has come a long way from the invention of the first monolithic computer, to 1.5 billion personal computing (PC) devices, to 8 billion smart phones (SP) in hands of 2.7 billion people, covering ~35% of world’s 7.7 billion population (source: SP, PC). Computing like any great invention (think wheel) has brought in the benefits of doing daily human tasks quickly, effortlessly and with consistent quality.

But have the benefits of computing, truly reached every human being? Surely a big NO in the developing world where penetration is still limited due to multiple reasons. But even in a developed nation, is it helping everyone across their everyday chores? Some would say yes, as we are able to get more stuff done – example - shopping, learning and communicating, in new ways which were impossible few years earlier. But, what if you didn’t know how to operate a smartphone or PC?, what if your work wasn’t amenable to use of smartphone (e.g. working with fast moving industrial machinery)?, or you simply couldn’t afford one of those smarter devices (yes, Japan has 51%, US/UK has 70% SP penetration - source)? For all of those people, computing will only increase the digital divide, unless the intelligence it provides gets embedded in the everyday things (e.g. watches, industrial machinery, even clothes) and those things are able to magically interact with them through more human ways i.e. speech, vision or hearing.

Things have slowly started to change primarily due to three reasons - a) exponentially decreasing cost of computing, especially w/ advent of Microcontroller units or MCU’s [in simple words they are low cost, low power computers integrated on a single chip that connect to network – go deeper here], b) combined with low cost sensors or actuators that can read the surrounding for situational awareness and c) more pervasive connectivity, which is going to get a further boost over the coming years, by 5G roll-out & standardization of Low power wide area network (LPWAN) protocols (IoT connectivity options).

These MCU’s are getting embedded into everyday products from speakers, to thermostats, to refrigerators, to vehicles, to industrial machinery, making those things more aware of surroundings, increasingly intelligent day-by-day, as well as ready to interact with humans in more natural ways of speaking, vision and hearing. That’s where computing has tried to take a giant leap and come meet humanity where it is every day through advent of IoT (Internet of Things). IoT at its fundamental level, has extended the paradigm of internet (restricted to humans via smart phones/PC’s) into everyday used things, creating a backend nervous system that extends the computing capability of these menial things (MCU based) multifold. When combined with other complementing technologies of edge & cloud computing as well as natural language processing, IoT has immense potential to bridge the gap between computing and humanity as we know it today. IoT is bringing computing to our services through everyday things, increasing their intelligence as well as situational awareness, at a fraction of the cost and ready to interact with us in more natural ways (speech, vision, gestures).

Here’s a telling stat – today in a developed household, for every PC or smartphone (CPU based), there are 9 MCU based things (source). Currently these things solve single hardcoded use-cases, aren’t situationally aware and can’t be controlled remotely or automated (eg: traditional refrigerator, drilling machine). But things can change dramatically with advent of IoT and complementing technologies. At individual level, fused intelligence in everyday things can enable the basic tenets of computing (quick, easy and high quality) in our everyday chores, as we have already started seeing through home automation systems, ultimately improving our standard of living, giving us more time to focus on what we like and economically extending the benefits to a larger strata of humanity. An example is health monitoring, security and tracking devices that can increase the quality of life for elderly living without personal care.

On the business side, these benefits are translating into higher operational efficiency, high quality output in lesser time, as well as new possible business models (e.g. as-a-service). Manufacturing (example), Retail, Agriculture (use-cases), Transportation and Government are just a few key industries that have started seeing the operational benefits of this technology, extending to everyday used things. Some commonly repeating use-cases include - real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance and business process automation. Examples of more disruptive changes include taxi-as-a-service & autonomous vehicles (transportation) and Amazon’s checkout-free stores (Retail).

But wait a minute… are we saying that we intend to connect every possible thing in this world to internet? While IoT (at least theoretically) does give us a technical capability to do so, I would say we don’t need to go that far. This is still one area open for interpretation. My personal stand – I don’t need connected devices in my home unless its advantages, far exceed the associated challenges/risks .. why? A home security camera is a good example, it can help monitor the home 24/7 and trigger notifications based on any suspicious activity. It’s very helpful provided it has all checks and balances in place, such that an intruder cannot hack into it and use it against the purpose it was installed in the first place, thus turning the security camera as a security hazard.

As is very well known that a good technology is identical to magic, but it’s equally well-known that every technology has the other side, the darker side, which can turn its potential on its head, as we saw in the security camera example above. The world today is thronged with stories of compromised cameras and even something as innocuous looking as fish tank thermostats causing havoc, for humans and by humans with wrong intentions. So, If the thought of getting everything IoT-ed around makes you feel creepy, join the gang 😊. Hence, we need to approach this with extra caution and security, collectively as device creators, software developers, connectivity providers, lawmakers and customers. I will go deeper on the topic separately (stay tuned..), but for now let’s be aware of the yin-yang that comes with every technology, so that we approach it with a balance of caution and zeal.

In summary, IoT has provided a framework to extend the benefits of technology to ultimate scale, in an economically viable manner through use of remote computing power (still lying underutilized in many cases) and sharing of intelligence with other smart things in the network creating an intelligent network inclusive of things & humans. This has accelerated the process of bridging the gap between computing and humanity at the final frontier and making computing truly ubiquitous.

Originally published on my LinkedIn blogs: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-internet-things-bridging-gap-between-humanity-computing-bawa/

Get me the money = Marketing + Sales + Business Development

My (curious) wife casually asked the other day “Honey, I am trying to setup the selling organization for my new company, can you help me understand the nuances between, marketing and sales. Also, not to forget business development, so I can decide which ones I need and when”. As I opened my mouth to answer the question (which isn’t the easiest in front of an inquisitive wife 😉) I wondered if I had a clear cut, simplistic answer and I saw myself struggling a bit.

Just in case you are wondering that this was a naïve entrepreneur questioning the obvious, think again! All through my career, I have come across senior leaders who tend to use terms like Marketing, Sales and Business Development interchangeably; sometimes correctly (more by luck) but most times incorrectly, not knowing the nuances that set them apart. This gets even worse when some of them go hiring for those roles – God help the aspirants!

Those questions got me thinking for a more simplistic answer to compare & contrast the three and create a ready-to-use visual framework for it. So the writeup below might interest you if you fall into one of the categories: a) Sales(S), Marketing(M) or Business Development (BD) professionals (or someone aspiring to go there) trying to understand the nuances, b) an Entrepreneur looking to setup a structure for your selling organization – irrespective of stage. Just a word of caution though – presented below are not pedagogical definitions (even though I reference some), but a practitioner’s view on the functions. Also note, while the concepts outlined below apply to most industries, the writeup is mostly focused on the ever-burgeoning software industry where I have practiced these over the last two decades.

Now let’s jump-in with a brief refresher of what these terms mean before we go to nuances. Marketing to me simply put “Is the science and art of making your product known to intended audience, via laser-sharp messaging, at a compelling price-point, via appropriate channels, leading to awareness of the product and a pipeline of interested customers”. While you could see the most popular definitions here, one above enlists all key aspects of the role and most importantly it’s the intended outcome in practice. Obviously the actual world isn’t as simple, especially in large organizations (think Microsoft, Amazon, Google) where increasing scale begets marketing function to be further subdivided into Product Marketing, Field Marketing and Integrated/Corporate Marketing roles. Nonetheless, it’s important to call out that the role requires a good mix of strategic insight (especially Product Marketing) as well as marketing program execution capabilities to land messaging through digital channels, events, etc. (especially Field Marketing), in order to deliver its promise. See table M below for more details.

Table M:

Moving on, while marketing is all about spreading the right message to right audience and creating traction, Sales is all about “searching-for and qualifying interested customers in a given geography or industry, convincing them to sign the dotted line, getting the product delivered & utilized for them and being an ongoing trusted advisor for evolving needs, all with the outcome of getting the money home”. So, net-net, sales takes what marketing has initiated to the finishing line (ideally in alignment with each other). Once again, depending on the scale of organization and complexity of the underlying product, Sales roles can be further subdivided into Relationship/Account Sales, Territory Sales, Channel Sales, Solution Sales and Technical Sales roles (table S below for details). Sales requires primarily a deep knowledge of customers, business & players (especially Relationship & Account Sales), industry use-case understanding (primarily Solution, Territory and Channel Sales) and deep knowledge of the product being sold (primarily Technical Sales). While strategic insight is an important trait for a seller, the people and relationship aspects trump it single-handedly.

Business Development, unlike the two above, is less pedagogically harmonized and has a cloud of haziness depending on who you are speaking to. Business development as a Software practitioner “is an art (part science) that could include “defining the organization or product goals, business models, Go-to-Market (GTM) plans, growth strategies (organic vs. mergers & acquisitions), partnership & alliances with intended outcome of generating revenue and/or profit growth in an accelerated manner”. As you observe, BD is pretty broad, not only having a good overlap with marketing and/or sales roles, but also with roles like Product Management, Corporate Strategy, Partnership Management, as well as others (finance, legal, HR) that are strategic to the intended outcome mentioned above - of generating revenue and/or profit growth in an accelerated manner. At the same time there are two very clear points of distinction from sales and marketing: a) BD is much more strategic in nature and needs a much more broader canvas of understanding from Organization-to-Product-to-Partner-to-Customer & b) many organizations utilize BD roles at incubation stage for undefined programs, until they see light of the day and then transition them to more defined team like Marketing, Sales or Product Management. Due to the breadth of these roles, they are generally suited for people with an ability to look strategically at the big picture, ability to learn new things quickly, and heightened capability to understand the motivations of and collaborate across functional boundaries. Common roles in software industry under this umbrella include: Channel Alliance BD, New Market-entry BD, Product Incubation BD, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) BD and many more custom created by enterprises (see table BD for definitions below). 

Table BD:

Here are some key observations from the notes above:
- M & S are more defined organizations/roles while BD organizations/roles are relatively more custom defined per the company under purview
- M & S have less overlap among each-other, unlike BD which has multiple overlaps with M & S, as well as many other roles in the company
- As we subdivide the functions/roles to say for example – Field Marketing (in case you read the table M above) you see overlaps happening there as well. Many companies have field marketing as part of the sales organization for better alignment to intended goals.

Now how these three come together can be summarized in the two visuals below. Y.1 is representation in a traditional license based businesses shown as a linear flow from company-to-customer (holds true also for FMCG and many B2C businesses), while Y.2 is a more appropriate representation of contemporary as-as-Service (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, as well as other variants) businesses taking a product from the company-to-customer in a closed-loop, constantly-on process.

Visual Y.1:

Visual Y.2:

About the KEY DIFFERENCES and why they shouldn’t be seen under the same light, refer to the table below which differentiates the three on basis of 5 defining aspects i.e. Nature of work, Customer partner interaction, Primary functional goals, top skills and basis of compensation.

It’s important to note here that the defining aspects above also vary quite a bit within the role category. For example, by nature of work, an integrated marketing role is more execution based than product marketing as showcased in aspect #1 above.

Finally, a plotting of the roles on the basis of Customer, Partner, Industry empathy on X-axis vs. Organization, Product comprehension on Y-axis.

Now on the topic of – if/when those roles are needed. Most organization start with a marketing professional (or agency) that helps gets the word out in the market about the company and its product, to start lining up customers. In a business-to-business (B2B) setup, almost at the same time, you need to standup a sales organization which for business-to-consumer (B2C) could be delayed further out (depending on exact nature of business & GTM plan). As revenue grows, Sales teams grow faster than marketing which are generally more centralized and work at a much broader scale comparatively. BD on the other hand remains with a handful of people mostly directly in touch with the top leadership, working to impact strategic growth levers (examples: partnerships, inorganic growth opportunities) that have much higher impact on growth metrics and help break the Sales headcount-to-Revenue relationship in scalable manner. To a point where large companies MSFT, AMZN, GOOG have very well-oiled sales and marketing organizations, while BD roles/functions are part of a separate organization or in some cases span across departments (varying by company). As an example – MSFT didn’t have any BD org until Satya came on board (but had the function split into Product Marketing and Product Management), while GTM functions lying within Sales and Marketing. In case you are interested here is a good read on why the change was good (and correlate with what you have seen with MSFT in market in the last 3-5 years)

As I mentioned at the start, this is a not a pedagogical study of respective sciences but a practitioner’s view of the selling functions and roles within the context of primarily burgeoning software Industry (as well the allied professional services). Hope this helps create a simplified framework to plot these functions and their roles within the selling organization and why you would need the same.

Surely made my wife happy (that’s an unending illusion), who liked it, but also suggested I write smaller articles which are easier to consume. My response, “Yes Boss .... On the job now!”

Earlier published on LinkedIn page blogs:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/get-me-money-marketing-sales-business-development-rajat-bawa/

Neer - My Son My Teacher

My Son (Neer means water in Hindi - 'the essence of  life') .. has been more than that for me. He is not just a source of pristine love but also a source of life's greatest learning for me. Here are just the top 3 gifts I got from my little one.

'Trust - an unwavering one' is a catalyst for Everlasting & Pristine Love':

If you have ever seen a toddler who has a developed sense of height & fear of falling .. but is ready to jump out of the table by the mere sight of your arms showing up as-if ready to catch him .. you have experienced unwavering Trust. By comparison can you jump off the first floor to the open arms of your spouse down below .. who is (supposedly) your love of life .. probably not. Believe me a toddler would (please don't test it).

Now it can be argued that a toddler doesn't have the maturity or practicality to think about consequences if things go wrong, but think about it from another perspective .. that babies have a firm belief (or Trust) in their parent which is unwavering and strong enough to overpower the law of gravity. That trust tested positively over time leads to pristine love, difficult to form between to practical or mature individuals, though not impossible. Look closely for the grownups who have this child still alive in them and you might be lucky to experience existence of this pristine love.

Multitasking is a skill, you just cannot Succeed or Grow without: 

Its known for centuries - 'success comes to those who focus on their goals in laser sharp manner and keep working hard to achieve the same'. No doubt, its true, but what if  'success' itself is multidimensional? In the world we live in today that's more true than ever (for sure true for me). Success is not just being a top performer professionally but also a multitude of other equally critical things - being a good and caring father, a true friend to my spouse and a loving parent to my grown-up parents, hey by-the-way I have a hobby of writing and knack for playing TT which I want to hone to perfection and not to forget my love of travelling to new places. Agree not everything is needed at same level of competence (read 'overachievement') but if you wish to grow in life (I do!) sooner or later you will add more dimensions to your definition of success, which ultimately means balancing more balls with the same two hands & one little mind (untill the aliens arrive). No doubt, there will always be ONE thing that will overshadow other or be top on priority list for definition of success, which will need all the focus in the world much more than others, but others need their due attention nonetheless. So next time you see a new dad struggling at work, remind yourself multitasking is an invaluable arrow in your quiver of skills .. better get it before the little on arrives or you would be forced to do so anyways .. for good .. for Growth .. for successful life!   

Also the more closely I looked at it, found another interesting aspect which seems true atleast for an Indian social context (hope I am not seen sexist, but a neutral observer & a transparent writer) -- I strongly feel that most Indian women are adept at multitasking for a very early age (surely by their youth). Not sure what the reason is; maybe it because women are from Venus.. or maybe its the expectation from the society that defines their success as multidimensional from a very early stage - help mom in taking care of home, do well in studies, learn cooking to help with post married live chores . Soon this becomes - take care of your real kids, and of the grownup one (read spouse), cook good food, excel at work and yet leave energy to succeed in keeping your hobbies alive and kicking. Indian men on the other hand can get away with laser sharp focus on profession and their hobbies at least for good part of their early life. Thus have to develop this multitasking skill much later than their better halves.   

Never, ever Give up, keep trying and you will get it somehow, someday, soon..:

If you want to learn the power of trying without giving-up, watch a serial Olympian practice or a Tendulkar in nets or even easier look an average toddler grow .. trying to learn so many things at once - lets start with sitting, walking, running, talking - all basic to human existence, yet not something we know at birth but have to learn over years, but trying .. by failing & trying again .. untill we get it. Seriously, anyone who fears 'change' or learning anything 'new' should take a leaf out of a toddlers approach to life (something ingrained in all of them by nature) and most do well by the sheer power of perpetual curiosity, strong sense of observation and finally by trying without giving up (an occasional encouragement form parents or nap does help though!).

If only I can keep reminding myself that there is still a child in me .. who given any (meaning really anything) problem can solve it just by merely trying, failing, trying, progressing, trying even more and knowing its not a question of 'if' but 'when'. The solution is bound to somehow, someday, soon.. very soon..      

Kudos to my Kido .. for building this Knowledge Kingdom in my kHead (A silent 'k' this time ;))

Love the learnings !!