I won’t give you a definition of IoT or throw numbers in your face pulled from research organizations about how many connected devices will invade us by 2020. You’ve probably heard or seen those figures about 20 billion times.

What I want to do is introduce you to this event. The theme is very honest and straightforward: how do you monetize IoT? Is it an overhyped or truly disruptive technology? Because, to be honest, we’ve seen them come and (often) go, these “new, revolutionary” technologies. So, why are we still “only” talking about IoT in Board Meetings when addressing the next 5-year plan?

The potential benefits of developing smart connect products are plentiful. The opportunity to have products that send data back to the manufacturer – data that is in essence insight on how customers are using the products – is invaluable. This would give manufacturers a huge advantage to re-engineer their products for optimal use, and to redevelop their value propositions and service offerings. But, at the same time, there (in the data) lies the challenge as well.

Big Data has been a buzzword for a long time now, already. Many manufacturers are already bombarded with data, coming from everywhere. To truly benefit from smart connected products, manufacturers need to learn how to use the data they receive from their intelligent machines. The data in itself is not the value; what you do with it is.

The Conference of Things: Manufacturing is a unique event based on action. It will not be an exhibition of IoT technologies; rather, it will bring key stakeholders from the manufacturing industry to discuss and share knowledge and expertise on how their organizations can truly incorporate and monetize smart connected products so they can reap the full benefits.

More details about the event can be found at: http://www.conferenceofthings.com/