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Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how smart digital can enable predictive maintenance for margin improvement and data-driven business models to increase the exit multiple.
In businesses where maintenance has a meaningful impact on margins, we can use artificial intelligence to predict when assets will fail in advance of any noticeable signs of a problem. By using smart digital to prevent unplanned downtimes, we increase the company’s operational efficiency to improves its margins, for a relatively low investment in tech.
Collecting proprietary monetization data enables the development of novel business models that until recently, were impossible to deploy. Moving from one-and-done product sales to sales that recur to continuously generating revenue are rewarded by the next buyer paying a higher EBITDA multiple.
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
How margins are improved indirectly and directly. Using smart-tech-driven operational efficiency to improve margins. How to deploy predictive maintenance to minimize unplanned down times. The three different ways smart digital can increase the EBITDA multiple. The concept of data-driven business models and how they are created. The example of the power-by-the-hour business model developed by jet engine maker Bristol Siddeley and deployed by GE and others.Related links you may find useful:
Article 1: Margin Improvement with Predictive Maintenance Article 2: Deploying Data-Driven Business Models for Multiple Expansion LinkedIn newsletter containing these and other articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how smart digital can algorithmically cross sell products for customer expansion and use AI to identify new markets to enter for market expansion.
Smart digital improves existing customer expansion strategies and enables new ones for physical products, services and environments, that until now were only available to software companies. Automatic consumable cross selling can be emulated in the industrial sector and any other sector where one product depends on another product to operate.
Using AI and data mining to discover market adjacency insights can augment or replace the traditional market expansion playbooks used today. The candidate list of market adjacencies is derived from primary data and only gets deeper and wider with time. Deciding on which market to expand into becomes a repeatable analytical exercise based on real customer data. And unlike traditional techniques, smart digital market expansion also determines the best product configuration and target persona for each potential new market.
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
Customer expansion by upselling like a software company for non-software products.
Other types of customer expansion strategies supported by smart digital.
Case study of HP’s smart printers.
Using proprietary data from a smart product to identify market adjacencies with artificial intelligence.
How smart digital can help us identify the proper product configuration to enter a new market.
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
Customer expansion by upselling like a software company for non-software products. Other types of customer expansion strategies supported by smart digital. Case study of HP’s smart printers. Using proprietary data from a smart product to identify market adjacencies with artificial intelligence. How smart digital can help us identify the proper product configuration to enter a new market.Related links you may find useful:
Article 1: Smart Tech Customer Expansion Enabling Automatic Cross Selling Article 2: Data-Driven Market Expansion Identified by Artificial Intelligence LinkedIn newsletter containing these and other articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
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Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing data-driven value creation for tech & software companies and data-driven product expansion with fintech for traditional companies.
Product expansion driven by proprietary primary customer data excerpt: When architected correctly, smart products yield proprietary primary customer data that can be used to drive low-risk product expansion. Like Tesla, your company can also offer insurance and other high-margin, competitively priced products that precisely fit each customer’s needs.
Smart digital value creation for tech and software companies excerpt: Smart digital transformation can be applied to any company, but the type of company determines the specific tools needed for implementation.
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
Using smart digital to understand who your customers are and what they need. How to use proprietary primary customer data to underwrite fintech products like insurance. Case study of Tesla Insurance. How smart digital transformation is applied differently to traditional companies, tech companies and software companies. The importance of value sims and how they are used.Related links you may find useful:
Article 1: Smart Digital Value Creation for Tech and Software Companies Article 2: Product Expansion Driven by Proprietary Primary Customer Data LinkedIn newsletter containing these and future articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how to smart digital value creation can augment and improve these traditional value drivers.
On boosting buy & build performance excerpt: Smart digital is a new lens from which to spot add-on companies and a new way to integrate their products with the platform. Unlike consolidating IT systems, orchestrating multiple products to work together produces not only a more innovative solution, but a less expensive one too.
On market share expansion excerpt: This pricing optimization approach is based on pure customer data – clean and unbiased. By using APIs or sensors to understand how customers make money with their software or physical products, pricing becomes an analytical exercise that can stand up to the scrutiny of any skeptical CFO. This is true value pricing.
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
How to make your buy-and-build strategy more profitable than your competitors’. Using outcomes to source add-ons and integrate their products with the platform’s. Case study of outcome thinking. The two roles smart tech can play in market share expansion. Example of using AI to increase the competitiveness of a medical device.Related links you may find useful:
Article 1: Boosting Buy & Build Performance with Smart Digital Outcomes Article 2: Market Share Expansion Through Product Innovation with AI LinkedIn newsletter containing these and future articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Prabhu Soundarrajan is President Elect of the International Society of Automation where he is responsible for strategy to create a better world through automation. He has over 20 years experience as tech executive in Fortune 100 and VC/PE-backed companies with various roles including business transformation.
In this episode Prabhu and Bruce discuss:
The concept of the digital dress up. The different value drivers used. Profile of digital dress up candidate companies. Case study where multiple was expanded from 10x to 15x.Related links you may find useful:
Prabhu's personal page Safety and profitability article Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how to improve pricing optimization and customer retention by gathering primary customer data with smart tech.
On pricing optimization: Some companies use cost-plus pricing and others use competitive-based pricing, but the gold standard is value-based pricing. Since price is exchanged for value, to get the price right we need to understand how much value the product produces… which is easier said than done. Until recently, understanding what exactly the customer values and how much they value it is a qualitative research project at best. But now we have virtual products – native and virtualized. Software and tech products that can use APIs to gather the primary data needed to calculate produced value and smart products that can use sensors to gather the primary data needed to calculate produced value…
On customer retention: As we all know, it’s far more profitable to keep a customer than to acquire a new one, whether that’s to sell them more of the same or new products or services. The absence of a direct relationship results in a loss of customer control and potentially a loss of customer without ever knowing why. Today selling a physical product doesn’t have to mean the end of the customer relationship. Smart products are connected to the internet and just like software, they are forever connected to the customer…
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
Why using secondary data for pricing optimization is risky and a qualitative research project at best. How smart apps and products can capture primary data for pricing optimization. Example sims and what they are. The limitations of customer visits for fetching primary customer data. The OEM business killer of not having direct customer contact. The competitive advantage Netflix, Autodesk and Amazon have that can now be applied to virtual and physical products.Related links you may find useful:
Article 1: Pricing Optimization with Primary Data Article 2: Customer Retention by Staying Connected to the Customer LinkedIn newsletter containing these and future articles Season 1:Related episodes Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing the competitive advantage smart digital diligence provides the sponsor upfront in the deal cycle during the auction.
At the heart of all post-acquisition value levers is understanding the company’s customers. The higher fidelity you have on who the customer is and what the customer does, the closer you’ll hit the mark with all you value levers, including revenue growth, pricing optimization, multiple expansion, debt paydown and informing your priorities on margin expansion and follow-on acquisitions.
This is the purpose of smart tech, to gather and transform proprietary customer data, proprietary operational data and proprietary monetization data on your customers whether they use your product in the physical or virtual world.
In this episode, Bruce discusses:
Smart products and what is smart digital value creation. The high technologies used in smart digital and how they differ from IT and automation. Capturing proprietary data, its significance and how it’s used for value creation. How smart digital improves an investment. Performing smart digital diligence. Connecting the dots between physical world data and virtual value models.Related links you may find useful:
The article, The Competitive Advantage of Incorporating Smart Digital into Diligence. Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Related episodes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guests are André Quina, sales director with Plat4mation, an experienced control and automation engineer and Greg McKenzie, a commercial lead with Plat4mation with 22 years of manufacturing operational experience in food, automotive, and plastics. André, Greg and Bruce discuss:
How to leverage manufacturing operators to improve efficiency and safety. How WAZE-like tagging works, why it’s important and its results. The different benefits of a connected worker platform versus a connected machine platform. How a worker-centric maintenance solution is different from an AI maintenance solution. The importance of capturing tribal knowledge. Applicable use cases. A brewery case study including the quantified value produced.Related links you may find useful:
Plat4mation website 4industry – Plat4mation’s connected worker platform for manufacturing Plat4mation’s Youtube channel Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Michel Morvan is cofounder of Cosmo Tech, a scientist, academic, entrepreneur and AI expert. Michel and Bruce discuss:
Complexity defined by systems and systems of systems The importance of knowing how things work for simulation Why using deep neural networks is lazy, when they make sense to use and when they don’t Data-based AI vs knowledge-based AI The proper definition of the digital twin… for value creation Different types of digital twins The power of simulating simulations Finding hidden value resulting from the Butterfly Effect Case study quantifying the technology ROI of the simulation-based digital twinRelated links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Taha Memon is the founder and CEO of Dunia and CloudiTwins. He has over 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur, speaker and as a business development consultant to startups in Pakistan and the US. In this episode, Taha and Bruce discuss:
The tech behind smart contracts. How to create a smart contract and if this means lawyers will soon be made obsolete. The role of platforms (middleware) to deploy smart contracts. The Golden Triangle: the valuable connection between smart products – smart business models – smart contracts. A few interesting use cases for smart contracts. The benefits, risks and minefields of smart contract deployment. A real estate case study that quantifies the value and cost of smart contracts.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Daniel Young is Senior Manager of Product Standards at Toshiba America and is part of Toshiba’s global Digital Innovation Team that is focused on accelerating the growth of Industrial IoT systems and developing best practices using industry standards. In this episode, Daniel and Bruce discuss:
The benefits of eliminating (subjective) human judgement. The unexpected but important HR benefits from improving defect inspection efficiency. Applicable use cases and industries for this type of AI inspection. The cost and time to implement an AI/machine learning inspection system. Different tech architecture options to implement machine learning inspection within the manufacturing facility. The role of inspection and AI standards.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing the first step in smart digital diligence that’s used as a quick triage step before getting company specific to determine if a company is a good fit for smart digital transformation. Sector, business type, maturity level and market dynamics all play into this step. Once the theory is known, the Smart Tech Value Creation Quiz on the homepage of digitaloperatingpartners.com can be used to give any company a smart grade. In this episode, Bruce discusses:
What is digital and what is smart? What is a smart company and how do you create a smart company? Why make a company smart in the first place? Which sectors are best? Which types of revenue generating businesses are best? How old should a company be? How dynamic should the company’s market be?Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing how to unlock value and potentially disrupt industries with the five core data-driven business models within the Smart Business Model Continuum. Data-driven business models are created by transforming legacy business models with smart tech such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence. In this episode, Bruce discusses:
The Product data-driven business model. The Product-Service data-driven business model. The Service data-driven business model. The Service-Outcome data-driven business model. The Outcome data-driven business model. The data-driven business model as a feature.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing data-driven business model development and its fundamental importance in smart digital transformation. Bruce will discuss how the business models on the Smart Business Model Continuum reduce monetization friction and produce a proprietary competitive advantage. In this episode, Bruce discusses:
Why business model innovation is as important or more important than product or service innovation. The difference between B2C and B2B smart business models. Monetization friction. The Smart Business Model Continuum.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Solo episode with Bruce Sinclair, the host of the show, discussing the confusion around what the term digital transformation means. Bruce will dissect the term into its three tech layers and relate each to the company stage where it creates the most value. In this episode, Bruce discusses:
The true meaning of digital transformation. The three tech layers of digital transformation and what they are. The biggest money-maker: smart digital transformation. The difference between smart digital transformation and digital transformation. The smart digital transformation stack. The tech layer with the most impact at the three maturity stages of a company.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Manny Bernabe is the founder and CEO of bigplasma ai – which specializes in AI for Industry 4.0 applications and connected products. Manny has had roles ranging from data scientist at an AI unicorn start-up to investment analyst at a global financial services firm. In this episode, Manny and Bruce discuss:
Various AI and stats techniques. Different AI techniques to make predictions. Picking the right AI models and why simple is often more important than complex. The importance of “data” in data science, especially for commercialization. The three steps to implementing AI within your smart product or process (Industrie 4.0) A medical device case study. The time and cost to deploy AI within your smart product or process.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Bob Sharon is the Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Blue IoT. He is an entrepreneur with over 30 years experience in technology, sustainability and data centres, and is a subject matter expert in IoT and smart buildings. In this episode, Bob and Bruce discuss:
Tech required to reduce building (HVAC) energy consumption. Rational for using LoRaWAN and cellular for data transmission in infrastructure environments. Implications on carbon emissions and possible carbon credits. Differences between a building management system (BMS) and a smart energy solution. Use cases and types of buildings that would most benefit from smart energy management. Cost per square foot of implementing such a solution. Return on technology investment and payback period.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest David Westrom is responsible for global business development at MachineMetrics and has led business development organizations and driven strategy at three IIoT start-ups that experienced successful exits, including most recently ThingWorx, that was acquired by PTC.
In this episode, Dave and Bruce discuss:
Digitally transforming discreet manufacturing operations to start a continuous improvement program. Digital improvements for high volume/low mix versus low volume/high mix manufacturing. Expanding data collection from machines to machines, people and business systems. How the scope of data collection is related to the overall value generated.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Scott Cunningham is a blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast who explores the ways these technologies are used and shares his thoughts with his audience across many platforms.
In this episode, Scott and Bruce discuss:
The different cryptocurrencies and how to live the “crypto life”. How consensus models are changing to enable more efficiency in blockchain. The shift from a proof of work to a proof of stake consensus model. Enterprise use cases for blockchain. What smart contracts are and some of the ways to use them in business. Identity management with NFTs for humans and inorganic objects. NFTs and the framework for thinking about using them in the physical world.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification -
Our guest Vipul Parekh is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal Digital and Technology Services where he advises clients about investing in new and emerging technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, Robotic Process Automation, and Machine Learning.
In this episode, Vipul and Bruce discuss:
Evaluating the risk profile of emerging technology by considering scaling and integration needs. Using data to drive technology, people and processes. Data ownership and accountability best practices. The digital twin and data governance systems. The digital twin and master data management systems. Data architecture and management differences for IoT-based data.Related links you may find useful:
Season 2: Episodes and show notes Season 2 book: The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner Season 1: Episodes and show notes Season 1 book: IoT Inc Training: Smart digital transformation certification - Se mer
