![]() Industry 4.0 brings a new set of technologies to enable the Internet of Things (IoT) and more importantly the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) revolution. It can often feel like a daunting task to find a starting point to plan for IIoT implementations. Here at Webee, we focus inward on the customer and take a consultative approach to help our customers develop, deploy and scale their IoT initiatives. Mostly importantly, we provide real world solutions for our customer’s real world challenges. During the past LoRa Alliance Industry 4.0 webinar, Webee joined a panel of experts from; Chevron, Multi-Tech Systems Inc., Yokogawa, Aloxy, and Worldsensing to discuss the long-term implications of technology for cost efficiency through digitization. During the webinar, we explored several IIoT use cases that come into play in large, often hazardous, industrial environments, such as event monitoring, large construction monitoring, warehouse management, infrastructure, and asset tracking. Here are some highlights from the insightful conversation:
[WHITE PAPER]
LoRaWAN® A DIGITAL REVOLUTION FOR OIL & GAS FROM SCADA TO INDUSTRIAL IOT In this white paper learn about LoRaWAN® applications and deployments within the Oil & Gas (O&G) sector. Players around the world who are driving the long-term implications for O&G cost efficiency through digitization present examples of LoRaWAN deployments that have proven to be successful for day-to-day operations. They are Actility, Aloxy, Chevron, Lansitec Technology Co., Ltd., Multi-Tech Systems, Inc., OrbiWise, Pepperl+Fuchs Group, TEKTELIC, Webee, and Yokogawa. Download in the link below →→
1 Comment
![]() Webee Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of World Changing Ideas for 2021 IIoT Innovator Webee Recognized with an Honorable Mention in the General Excellence and Software Categories for Its No-code, End-to-end Toolset That Eliminates the Friction of IoT Implementations Business Wire MAY 4, 2021 – SUNNYVALE, CALIF. – Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and AI innovator Webee today announced it has been named to Fast Company’s 2021 annual list of World Changing Ideas. Webee received an honorable mention in the General Excellence and Software categories. Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards recognize the businesses, policies, projects and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice or economic inequality. “We’re thrilled to receive this prestigious recognition as it demonstrates Webee’s growing business traction and commitment to developing technology that directly reverses global food waste and positively impacts lives,” said Lucas Funes, Webee co-founder and CEO. “We put the power of simple connectivity, intuitive data processing and instant remote monitoring in end-users’ hands with Webee’s easy-to-use, non-technical platform. Webee makes efficient agriculture and manufacturing possible, without sacrificing sustainability.” Webee’s no-code, intuitive end-to-end toolset eliminates the friction of IoT implementations and identifies inefficiencies in food, beverage and agriculture and manufacturing processes in real time. The platform’s live metrics help farmers and manufacturers maximize the use of their data, making real-world, actionable insights possible. From intuitive onboarding of sensors and legacy devices, to building applications, users take full control and program the system and dashboards on a virtual drag-and-drop canvas that doesn't require any technical expertise. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. The 2021 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Brazil to Denmark to Vietnam. “There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.” See Fast Company Award list here About the World Changing Ideas Awards World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all. About Webee Webee develops IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and AI solutions that save enterprises millions of dollars and facilitate sustainable operations through actionable access to real-time data about complex business processes. The company's unique, no-code visual platform for building complex IoT applications for the industrial and commercial markets enables customers to immediately realize ROI from IoT technology without interrupting operations. Webee's patented toolset allows organizations worldwide to improve operational efficiency through easy-to-install sensors and intuitive software that allows the development and deployment of smart applications without coding. ![]() How organizations can ensure they choose the right industrial IoT solution so that their project succeeds. By CEO Lucas Funes at IT PRO PORTAL There is a growing need for IIoT technology that can streamline business operations and costs. A study from Juniper Research found that the global number of industrial IoT connections will increase from 17.7 billion in 2020 to 36.8 billion in 2025, representing an overall growth rate of 107 percent. At the same time, however, implementing successful IIoT projects is typically an arduous and expensive undertaking. A 2020 Beecham Research study found that 50 percent of companies across industries failed to take IoT initiatives past proof of concept (POC) because of the sheer complexity of implementing IoT solution components. And in Microsoft’s 2020 IoT Signals report, 28 percent of organizations polled cited budget as a barrier to further IoT adoption. IIoT is complex by nature – but that doesn’t mean it has to be too complex and costly to implement. Choosing a platform that makes things more simple is critical. This is the first step on the path towards bringing projects to fruition and empowering end users so they can effortlessly interact with IIoT technology and utilize the data generated in a way that improves day-to-day operational efficiencies and delivers ROI. How can enterprises ensure they are choosing the right IIoT solution to bring their projects from POC to production faster and with a higher success rate? With a dizzying array of options on the table, organizations need to ensure they are selecting a fully featured yet uncomplicated solution that is customizable to best fit their unique needs. Here are some of the selection criteria buyers should consider when looking for the right IIoT solution. Reduce implementation friction and complexity An ideal IIoT project starts with a platform that is easy to deploy, scalable and flexible. It’s important to choose one that can integrate successfully with existing infrastructure. It should be seamless to connect heterogeneous sensors, devices, machines and data streams to eliminate possible sources of friction. Future-proofing must be a key consideration so that users can always access the full potential of the data they already own. Moreover, some companies have already embarked on large investments in production management systems but they aren’t able to act on the data that’s being collected and need a way to gain actionable insights across disparate systems. The chosen solution should be able to normalize data across diverse data sets, accommodate heterogeneous technology and future innovation to prevent data fragmentation and siloes that result in added complexity. Avoid hidden costs Implementing and scaling IIoT solutions shouldn’t require exorbitant investment. Some solutions seem very low cost to start with, but then they hide costs in the long term. Many platform vendors charge hidden fees that can stack up, so be extra sure to read the fine print about what is included and which fees are incremental. Additional costs can be hidden when scaling to larger volumes of data, increasing the quantity of data points, or adding more sophisticated functionality such as alerting or reporting. IIoT solutions also commonly require advanced technical skills which means outside hiring is needed to get projects off the ground. This can inflate the total cost of ownership even more. Choose a platform that will dramatically simplify IoT implementation and utilization costs as well as time. The ideal platform ensures easy adoption of comprehensive IoT and AI solutions through a no-code toolset that can be deployed without technical expertise. Solutions that natively integrate with and call third-party APIs and work with various cloud infrastructures are able to automate onboarding of sensors, eliminating the costs and complexities of solutions that need manual configuration. It is important to consider platforms that are compatible with communications protocols that are robust enough to connect in places with scarce connectivity or require long range connectivity, without adding infrastructure costs. Organizations that need long range connectivity, for example, should consider selecting a platform that works with LoRa (long range, low power) sensors. These battery-powered sensors send data through the cloud public or private networks, can connect over distances of up to 15 km and last up to 10 years. LoRaWAN networking provides greater range than cellular networks and is compatible with existing infrastructure, making it a reliable and low cost alternative for organizations that traditionally had to rely on spotty WiFi networks. Choose customizability and ease of use by anyone In evaluating IIoT platforms, businesses should look for customizability and flexibility in how users visualize and access insights and information through dashboards and alerts. You should also be able to create custom applications to meet your specific needs for monitoring operations. This shouldn’t require coding or technical expertise; rather, users with little to no prior experience should be able to take full control of and program their IoT system and dashboards in a simple visual programming interface. It should be straightforward and easy to set up alerts and monitoring of operations via the information collected from sensors. An ideal solution has intuitive tooling that allows users to concentrate on the configuration of their information systems – not backend programming – and make changes and updates on the fly. This streamlines the continuous improvement process and helps drive adoption of the IoT platform among users. A robust platform will be able to aggregate and normalize real-time data from multiple sources and provide end-to-end visibility while consistently updating with the most accurate and up-to-date information in real time. Prioritize search-driven AI and natural language querying capability Gaining actionable insights from IoT-generated data has historically been challenging. A solution that offers AI-driven analytics puts you one step closer to driving more value from IoT deployments. Seek out platforms that offer innovative technologies that work in concert with AI analytics to make the diagnostics process more specific and actionable. For example, NLP-powered search functions make it possible to easily ask for insights about or to identify problems with business operations being monitored, in natural language. Responses should pull from all relevant data, dynamically surfacing insights tailored to the user asking the question. Choose a partner not just a vendor A final consideration as you evaluate IIoT vendors: pick one that is collaborative, flexible and transparent. The implementation process will only work if both parties acknowledge the value of partnership. Don’t make IIoT projects more complex than they already are – select a vendor who understands that strong communication is crucial. All communication should be seamless with the common goal of customer satisfaction. This makes the process of deploying and managing IoT in your environment a less painful process at every stage. Webee co-founder Cecilia Flores is continuing to share her expert insights on IoT and tech industry panels. In March she spoke with Protocol about low-code and no-code developer tools. This month, she appeared on Constellation Research’s DisrupTV program to discuss the combined power of AI with industrial IoT.
Hosted by Constellation founder and chairman R “Ray” Wang and Salesforce chief digital evangelist Vala Afshar, Ceciia was also joined on the panel by Snehal Antani, co-founder and CEO of Horizon3.ai (discussing cybersecurity, AI, automated hacking) and Michael Saylor, chairman at MicroStrategy (discussing bitcoin). The panelists are each focused on their common goal of reducing the friction of digital transformation and making life easier for their customers through innovative products and business strategies. Reducing Friction Through Efficient, Intuitive Out-of-the-Box Solutions Cecilia kicked off her part of the conversation by noting commonalities with the other panelists: Webee reduces friction for users by providing tools they can immediately use to access real-time information. This avoids the need to spend months on implementations and millions of dollars on software that generates information no one can act upon. Webee’s bottoms-up approach helps customers adopt new technologies that allow for more organic digital transformation within their organizations. She described how it took the onset of the pandemic for customers to really come to terms with the value of combining AI and IoT, since both technologies enable remote work and remote control of operations. IoT, explained Cecilia, is about much more than connecting sensors and extracting data. It’s also aggregating data from different sources and adding AI so customers can derive real-time insights and position machines to make decisions on their behalf. Cecilia also noted that friction is reduced through the use of Webee’s no-code toolset, which negates the need for engineers and can be set up quickly. The toolset’s rapid deployment capabilities give customers flexibility to play around with its interface and customize dashboards, instead of confronting technological glitches and then wasting time worrying about troubleshooting. Reducing Friction Through Digital Transformation In sharing his perspective on bitcoin, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor honed in on why he considers bitcoin such a smart and strong investment for companies with excess cash on their balance sheets. He conceptualizes bitcoin as a digital savings account, but notes it is unique from a savings account in that it rapidly appreciates in value. This in turn leads to higher profitability, which has positively impacted MicroStrategy’s ability to invest in both its product line and its employees. He then segued into an overview of MicroStrategy’s latest business objectives, which include an acceleration towards complete digital relationships with clients and an acceleration towards cloud-based technologies. The general theme, said Michael, “is to take the friction out of the value proposition.” In a nutshell, this means reducing all the touchpoints typically required of potential customers who are interested in deploying a new product. Reducing Friction Through Disruptive Technologies Horizon3.ai’s Snehal Antani believes the cybersecurity environment is broken. Modern-day vulnerability scanning tools can identify hundreds of problems, but of those problems only a couple are worth patching. On the cybersecurity penetration testing side, he has noticed vendors are only able to assess a small chunk of their customers’ environments. Leveraging AI-driven technology, he’s focused on creating tools that assess threats not just once a week or every couple weeks, but in a continuous manner. He’s also prioritized building out a team of employees that has a mix of offensive cyber expertise, machine learning and data science expertise and enterprise-grade SaaS expertise. In certain cases, Antani also believes humans are a bottleneck to patching cybersecurity vulnerabilities and can actually create greater friction for customers. One example he cited is an algorithm making 1,000 decisions per second about an attack entry point and a human defender making one decision per minute. Said Antani, “attackers have adapted to the point where humans are now the inefficiency on the defensive side.” In closing out the conversation, Vala said that speed, personalization and intelligence are what is most important to customers in order to reduce friction and give them power. Agree? Disagree? We’re interested in your take on the panel discussion. Tweet us @WebeeLife or visit us on LinkedIn. Deploys Quickly Without Coding Into Existing Environments for Complete Real-time Visibility into Growing and Processing Operations of Crops, Grains, Livestock, Poultry and Seafood ![]() APRIL 15, 2021 – SUNNYVALE, CALIF. – Webee SmartFarm™, a turnkey platform purpose-built for connected agriculture that deploys in minutes without technical know-how, was launched today by award-winning industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) innovator Webee. The no-code Webee SmartFarm platform cuts implementation time – even across large operations – from months to days. This enables producers of crops, grains, livestock, poultry and seafood to quickly increase production and reduce disease, for a rapid, measurable return on investment. Webee provides a much-needed alternative to advanced agricultural monitoring solutions that are too time-, engineering- and capital-intensive to justify despite benefits in operational efficiency and product quality. Compatible with existing infrastructure and data sources, Webee SmartFarm makes it easy and affordable to connect an infinite array of sensors for the industry’s most accurate real-time anomaly detection and visibility into any agricultural operation as it scales. Webee SmartFarm aggregates heterogeneous smart farming sensor data with third-party environmental and other contextual information to create a highly granular picture of the wellness and productivity of live plants and animals or the condition of stored agricultural products. With Webee’s NLP-powered analytics, users can make sense of sensor-generated data by asking questions and receiving answers about the state of their agricultural operations in natural language. In sharp contrast to solutions that require technical talent to code use-case specific applications and dashboards, Webee’s Visual Designer does not require coding or specialized expertise. “Webee combines the best aspects of data engineering and intelligence on top of time series data, putting actionable insight into the hands of users at the exact moment they need it,” said Mike Leone, senior analyst at ESG. “Their flexible platform allows customers to make changes and adjustments in real time across a multitude of use cases out of the box.” Smart Farming Made Simple and Cost Effective Agriculture operators often struggle with the overall complexity of their infrastructures as well as connectivity issues pertaining to geographically dispersed sensors. The inability to immediately correlate anomalies in environmental or disease conditions to harmful effects on plants, animals and stored products can lead to delayed problem detection, inefficiencies and millions of dollars in losses. Since margins are tight, producers also need to see ROI fast, which deters them from making investments in modern but complicated software and hardware technologies that would lead to more streamlined operations. Webee’s cost- and time-effective no-code solution deploys quickly, allows sensors to be connected in places with scarce connectivity without adding any significant additional costs and sends users real-time notifications about anomalies, so they can promptly make necessary changes to preserve and improve agricultural assets. By detecting diseases and other anomalies early, protocols to lower their impact can be activated before disaster strikes. “Webee drastically removes the technical barriers, time and cost for farmers and enterprises to obtain real-time information about their yields and agriculture operations. By supporting a full range of LoRa® devices connected through a LoRaWAN® network , monitoring items such as soil moisture, leaf wetness and among others, the growers can access real-time visibility to prevent diseases in the crops, evaluate the growing process and make decisions related to irrigation without the need for technical skills—improving the quality and efficiency of their production,” said Marc Pegulu, vice president of IoT for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. A renowned coffee company uses leaf wetness sensors to capture the temperature, humidity in the air and the luminosity of the coffee plants. This data is combined with other environmental information and then accessed, processed and analyzed in real time by Webee SmartFarm. This enables them to improve the accuracy of their coffee planting strategy and get ahead of potentially severe problems early on. “We democratize access to the most advanced smart farming technology available today. Many different kinds of agricultural producers approach us with specific indoor, outdoor and in-transit problems that can be addressed with connected solutions. Our customers experience around a 20% increase in operational efficiency or more,” said Webee founder and CEO Lucas Funes. “One such use case involved partnering with a systems integrator to boost egg hatchling results by improving egg hatchling birth rates for poultry producers. The sensors monitoring the industrial egg incubators capture real-time information about factors such as temperature, humidity and ventilation, which is then displayed on a scalable and secure dashboard that can be accessed anytime, from anywhere.” A vast range of agriculture use cases benefit from Webee SmartFarm, including:
Organizations interested in learning more about connected agriculture with the Webee SmartFarm platform can sign up for a live demo. About Webee Webee develops IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and AI solutions that save enterprises millions of dollars and facilitate sustainable operations through actionable access to real-time data about complex business processes. The company's unique, no-code visual platform for building complex IoT applications for the industrial and commercial markets enables customers to immediately realize ROI from IoT technology without interrupting operations. Webee's patented toolset allows organizations worldwide to improve operational efficiency through easy-to-install sensors and intuitive software that allows the development and deployment of smart applications without coding. Non-intrusive SmartFactory Platform Integrates Easily Into Existing Infrastructures, Gives Users Real-time, End-to-End Visibility into Operational Processes Using Search-driven AI Analytics ![]() APRIL 15, 2021 – SUNNYVALE, CALIF. – Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and AI innovator Webee today announced Webee SmartFactory™, its no-code, turnkey IIoT platform designed specifically for industrial manufacturing enterprises. It makes it possible to connect operations in minutes without the need for technical expertise and cuts industrial IoT deployment time from months to days. Coding-centric solutions for connected manufacturing on the market today create logistical barriers and technical talent gaps that impede manufacturers from moving IIoT projects from POC to production quickly enough to achieve success. Webee SmartFactory upends the status quo by allowing industrial manufacturing enterprises to do so 10 times faster and start realizing ROI right away. Its seamless integration with existing infrastructure and compatibility with heterogeneous data sources is especially beneficial in factory settings. Before Webee SmartFactory, launching workable IIoT projects was prohibitively time- and capital-intensive, making them challenging to justify despite obvious benefits in long-term operational efficiency and product quality. In sharp contrast to other IoT solutions, Webee’s Visual Designer does not require coding or technical expertise. It enables production line and business users to easily create customized dashboards and IoT applications to aggregate and process heterogeneous industrial sensor data and any relevant third-party data sources to surface actionable insights in real time. Most industrial manufacturing organizations invest millions of dollars in equipment and don’t have time or resources to modernize legacy systems or disrupt business operations. As Senior Analyst at ESG Paul Nashawaty explained, “The last thing customers want is someone interfering with their production lines, so having the ability to access real-time manufacturing data through Webee's non-intrusive approach is a big win. Gaining insights from IoT-created data should be as easy as typing a question into Google. Webee's AI analytics engine has the ability to empower its customers to do exactly that and has been shown to rapidly produce insights no matter the amount of data being processed.” Scalable, Flexible Solution Integrates Easily and Identifies Inefficiencies for Rapid Remediation Rather than making industrial manufacturing users comb through a complicated, disjointed UI, Webee SmartFactory enables users to observe all relevant information about manufacturing status and factory productivity on one screen and make necessary maintenance decisions based on real-time insights. The platform also includes various pre-built modules for connected manufacturing applications and measurements. The NLP-powered search function permits anyone to type in a question in natural language to ask for insights about or to identify problems with any manufacturing operations being monitored. They receive a response – in natural language – that pulls from all relevant data, dynamically surfacing insights tailored to the user asking the question. Data is aggregated from multiple sources in real time, so the user is able to obtain end-to-end visibility with a non-intrusive approach and take corrective action as needed. Webee founder and CEO Lucas Funes noted, “Webee SmartFactory eliminates the need for a costly hiring spree by providing an IoT solution that works out of the box, for a multitude of use cases. Our flexible platform also allows customers to make quick changes and adjustments on the go. It’s a necessary change from how things have been done until now.” Webee SmartFactory is broadly applicable, from standalone manufacturing operations to large multinationals at any scale. Prior to implementing Webee, a Fortune 50 multinational Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) leader relied on a manual, scattershot approach for pulling operational information related to their plants and laboratories. With Webee, they access multiple dashboards centrally and generate data visualizations that give them the insights they need about all elements of production and manufacturing cycles in real time. Leveraging battery powered, long-range LoRa® devices connected through a LoRaWAN® network they are able to gain visibility from non-connected machines to alert plant managers about production bottlenecks and machine maintenance needs. They now receive instant alerts that eliminate product losses and give them visibility. Webee has also made it easy for them to replicate processes and normalize monitoring across their factories around the world, which is particularly useful when they acquire new companies with different operations. End-to-end Industrial Manufacturing Solution Processes IoT Data Without Engineers Getting IoT projects off the ground the traditional way is especially challenging due to the intricacy, scale and high costs involved with most industrial manufacturing operations. Accessing information about factory status often requires manual programming, and with it, specialized engineering skills. Additionally, the repetitive and monotonous nature of this work can lead to errors and squander valuable time that would be better spent elsewhere. Implementing and scaling IIoT projects typically requires lengthy deployments and specialized resources. Retrofitting legacy systems so they’re compatible with newer equipment and connecting sensors is cost-prohibitive and can cause significant business disruption. Organizations must decide on their technology, hardware and sensors, then have engineers program workflows and create applications. A 2020 Beecham Research study found that 50% of companies across industries failed to take IoT initiatives past proof of concept because of the sheer complexity of implementing IoT solution components. And in Microsoft’s 2020 IoT Signals report, 28% of organizations polled cited budget as a barrier to further IoT adoption and 26% cited lack of technical knowledge. “The biggest problem with industrial manufacturing IoT implementations is that they’re too complex,” Funes continued. “You need engineers who understand how to extract data and put it into a database. You need data scientists skilled in processing data. You need programmers who can write code for APIs or to send SMS or emails to notify the business that the temperature of a given machine in a facility needs to be adjusted to avoid downtime and improve efficiency. Then you need to put all these pieces together. This is all expensive and takes too much time. There has to be a better way. This is why we purpose-built the Webee SmartFactory platform.” Patented Technology for Sophisticated Real-Time Industrial Manufacturing Diagnostics Webee’s patented smart object recognition and anomaly detection technologies work in concert with its search-driven AI analytics to drive granular diagnostics of complex industrial manufacturing systems in real time.
Industrial manufacturing enterprises interested in learning more about Webee can sign up for a live demo. About Webee Webee develops IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) and AI solutions that save enterprises millions of dollars and facilitate sustainable operations through actionable access to real-time data about complex business processes. The company's unique, no-code visual platform for building complex IoT applications for the industrial and commercial markets enables customers to immediately realize ROI from IoT technology without interrupting operations. Webee's patented toolset allows organizations worldwide to improve operational efficiency through easy-to-install sensors and intuitive software that allows the development and deployment of smart applications without coding. Our co-founder and CEO Lucas Funes recently joined Eric Kavanagh on his DM Radio show to share perspectives on IoT and why IoT is just getting started. DM Radio is the longest running broadcast show about data where industry experts come together to discuss hot topics in tech.
When asked about Webee customer deployments, Lucas detailed how end-users want actionable insights while accessing data in real time. Non-technical users are building and scaling solutions and connecting existing technologies within Webee’s easy-to-use low-code canvas, Lucas explained. This solves an overwhelming and prolific IoT industry challenge; the lack of highly skilled IoT talent. Closing the IoT Knowledge Gap Legacy IoT solutions require highly technical engineers to keep up with the code-centric platforms. This is both expensive and time-prohibitive; the process can take up to ten months, Lucas explained. “If someone in the world already built a piece of code, why would you need to rewrite it yourself?” Webee eliminates the knowledge gap, freeing end-users to easily operate its solution with a drag-and-drop interface, regardless of skill level. It’s Time to Stop Reinventing the Wheel Lucas also shared how Webee eliminates the need for customers to constantly reinvent the wheel: “Any user that generates applications or code/pieces of code can publish it in an open marketplace, allowing other enterprises to leverage the knowledge.” He explained that users pulling existing information from the marketplace do not need to be trained as data scientists. Any user can simply drag and drop the portion of code or application they want to use and implement it into their Webee dashboard. To date, Webee has thousands of enterprise users and supports over 700 device types and protocols, eliminating the need to put engineers through onboarding processes for new devices or sensors. Supporting the Food, Beverage and Agriculture Industries with Out-of-the-Box Solutions Eric was interested in learning how Webee markets its product to target clients. Lucas explained that the Webee platform can be used in various verticals, and their current focus is the food, beverage and agriculture industries. “We focus on the beginning of the supply chain in manufacturing and agriculture. We believe that digital transformation will not be successful through a top-down approach.” In speaking with production and plant managers directly, Webee can determine the organization’s pain points. This, in turn, enables organizations to create the foundation for their digital transformation initiatives from the bottom-up. To hear more from Lucas and other IoT experts, listen to DM Radio’s full episode. Earlier this month our COO and co-Founder Cecilia Flores joined Google Cloud’s VP and Head of Platform Amit Zavery and Protocol moderators Tom Krazit and Joe Williams in a conversation about the transformative nature of no-code and low-code developer tools. The panel, titled “Today’s Transformation, Tomorrow’s Developers: What Enterprises Can Do to Encourage Innovation,” explored the current landscape of low-code and no-code technology, including how the technology is defined, its evolution and the cultural challenges it sometimes confronts and its future. Webee is clearly no stranger to the no-code approach. Every day our no-code end-to-end IoT toolset increases the visibility, sustainability and efficiency of industrial and agriculture operations. The success and customer satisfaction we’ve achieved is in no small part due to the accessible nature of our no-code toolset, which obviates the need for highly skilled engineers to assemble and interpret IoT installations. This saves time, money and headaches over securing highly technical talent to get IoT projects from POC to production successfully. Given our experience, Cecilia was keen to share her perspective. They ‘Why’ Behind No-Code and Low-Code The Protocol panel kicked off with a discussion about the present use of low-code and no-code. Amit noted that many low-code tools, which started with ideas about pre-defined ways to build applications, have become much more powerful and have removed the need for organizations to understand software engineering and data models in order to build powerful applications. Cecilia shared Webee’s motivation for delivering a fully no-code product to a field as highly complex as the IoT that struggles to find ways to move POC to production with ease, so that projects that typically took months now potentially only take days to deploy and show value. When Change Brings Cultural Challenges The Protocol team pointed out that developers are not always used to ceding IT control and can be skeptical of the idea that ‘non-technical’ employees can operate low-code tools. Amit suggested that organizations address this by developing a governance plan and offering training. Cecilia concurred and underscored the importance of having internal buy-in from developers and other teams within the organization and how no-code tools can help free up time for more complex projects within the organization. She also noted how no-code tools can help free up time for more complex projects within the organization. Common No-Code and Low-Code Use Cases The Protocol team asked for real-world examples of what organizations are building with low/no-code tools and why the tools allow them to do it faster. Cecilia addressed the proliferation of no-code technology in the manufacturing world. While most manufacturing organizations have systems already in place to collect data, aggregating the data, making sense of it and contextualizing it is an immensely complex task that can take months. Webee’s no-code toolset, for example, makes this possible with a drag-and-drop visual UI environment. Amit noted that Google has seen a huge amount of use cases over the last 12 months, with telemedicine increasingly at the forefront in a year marked by a pandemic. Other examples included mortgage lenders who want to digitize the process of mortgage applications and an organization building tools to better automate factory plant inspection. In many cases, the resulting low-code-driven application connects to other databases, such as Salesforce. The Democratization of Technology The Protocol team also explored how organizations could best encourage non-developer employees to own their workflows and prioritize resources. Cecilia pointed out that Webee’s customers don’t often approach Webee with a focus on technology; rather, they come to Webee with a specific problem in mind. They need a method for working more quickly and efficiently - and aren’t in need of a comprehensive technological overhaul. Because of that, Webee’s no-code technology gets much quicker buy-in from key stakeholders. Amit said his experience has shown the movement towards low-code and no-code tends to be more bottom-up or departmental because IT doesn’t always have time to spend investigating these tools. While they may not be developers, employees advocating for low-code and no-code tend to be technically savvy or at the least, more interested in technology than the average person. They have an idea about what they want to build and what it should look like. The Future of No-Code and Low-Code The Protocol team then asked what people can expect from these tools in the future. Would the tools themselves become more capable in that they could develop more sophisticated applications? Or would they become easier to use? Would one element take priority over the other? In Webee’s case, they go hand-in-hand, according to Cecilia. No-code is powerful because it enables users to access the information they need in the moment. She then discussed a use case involving mortality issues with swine production. The customer seeking to remedy this issue found Webee’s application intuitive and easy-to-use, and the application was also well-received by non-technical employees. Career Prospects for No-Code/Low-Code In wrapping up the conversation, the panelists focused on career opportunities for those interested in low-code and no-code. Is there a fast track for someone wanting to break into the field? Or more broadly, what educational path could interested parties pursue? Technologically-inclined individuals should focus on what most fascinates them from a big picture standpoint versus trying to specialize in low-code/no-code, particularly as the technology becomes more advanced, Cecilia pointed out. Amit said the combination of low-code and a firm grasp of the business use case was where most of the value lies. Understanding the details and nuances behind business operations and then using low-code and no-code tools where they might fit in was the best course of action, versus trying to apply one particular tool to all use cases. Are you currently using low-code or no-code technologies? We’d love to hear from you and we’re interested in your take on the panel discussion! Tweet us @WebeeLife or visit us on LinkedIn. ![]() Webee and Semtech Simplify LoRaWAN® connectivity for growing low-power IoT application market Mar. 17, 2020 – SAN FRANCISCO – Webee’s No-Code End-to-End Solution Builder running on Microsoft Azure, operating on the LoRaWAN® protocol and leveraging Semtech (Nasdaq: SMTC) LoRa® devices simplifies the development of enterprise IoT use cases including industrial remote monitoring, smart farming, and smart cities. LoRa devices have been pre-integrated and work out of the box, including the LoRaWAN network server. Additionally, the Webee platform provides unique tools to accelerate and facilitate IoT including no-code Cloud services, visual drag and drop integration, and a natural language ask feature. The Webee solution recently won the M12 Microsoft Venture Fund Female Founders award for best U.S. Enterprise Software. Analyst firm ABI Research estimates that total non-cellular LPWA connections in 2026 are expected to reach 1.3 billion with LoRa forecasted to comprise one-fourth share of all LPWA network connections and more than half of all non-cellular LPWA connections. To date, the Webee solution is in production at over a dozen enterprise customers, supporting data collection from over 300 different types of sensors operating on the LoRaWAN protocol in industries ranging from agriculture to industrial manufacturing. “Customers with complex connectivity issues turn to Semtech’s LoRa devices, but customers still need help to get their IoT projects off the ground quickly and efficiently. WeBee's No-Code End-to-End Solution Builder powered by Azure provides for very easy creation of IoT solutions using LoRaWAN connectivity,” said Alistair Fulton, Vice President and General Manager of the Wireless Sensing Products Group, at Semtech. “Webee removes the technical, time, and cost investment barriers for organizations to successfully move their IoT projects from POC to production across the manufacturing, industrial, agricultural, supply chain, and smart cities industries,” said Lucas Funes, CEO and Co-Founder, Webee. Tony Shakib, Partner/General Manager Azure IoT, at Microsoft added, “Using Webee's Visual IoT for LoRaWAN, customers can easily set up public and private LoRaWAN networks by connecting pre-integrated Semtech LoRa devices to Azure without developing or managing a LoRaWAN network server. By making it easy to connect LoRa devices to Azure and by providing insights generated with Azure Cognitive Services and Azure AI, Webee and Semtech are simplifying IoT for our joint customers.” ![]() 2020 Edition: Winners "Entrepreneurial Force" It's a great honor to receive this incredible recognition from La Voz del Interior, a daily newspaper based in Córdoba, Argentina with a national influence and readership. "Córdoba Empresaria" is an annual edition where the business leaders and entrepreneurs recognize those that are making a difference in the local ecosystem. This year the Webee team has been recognized for their entrepreneurial force in which they have driven the business, grow it internationally, and most certainly navigated the unpredicted scheme of the pandemic. "We feel immensely proud of this recognition from an ecosystem that saw us grow and gave me many opportunities from the very first moments of my career. This most certainly represents a huge milestone for our team and the future of our company". Lucas Funes, CEO & Founder. "It's such an honor to receive this recognition from our peers and leaders in the City of Córdoba. We hope this truly serves as a reflection of the importance of building an ecosystem that values and create conditions for entrepreneurs to thrive". Cecilia Flores, CMO & Co-Founder Learn more about the award here. ![]() Webee celebrates Cecilia Flores, after being named a finalist in the Globant Awards: Women that Build in the United States and Canada. The award is a part of Globant's initiative to encourage women that generate a positive impact in the IT industry and inspire more women and non-binary people to become interested in STEM. The awards first edition had more than 12,000 nominations and more than 70 recognized world-class organizations and institutions supporting the initiative in the first edition. Cecilia was selected from thousands of applicants as a winner in the GAME CHANGER category in the United States and Canada that recognizes a leading professional without formal training in STEM who holds a leadership position and who has made a direct impact in the IT industry. "I feel immensely honored to receive this award and recognition that comes from an incredible judging panel as well as women and men in the community with whom I collaborate in our efforts towards gender equality. It's incredibly rewarding being recognized along with wonderful leaders that are working hard and committing to making an impact in technology for women around the world". Cecilia Flores, CMO, and Co-Founder at Webee. Cecilia is already a winner and an example for other women in IT. We wish her the best of success in the next stage. Meet the outstanding women from each country that are rocking the IT industry ABOUT GLOBANT: a digitally native company where innovation, design, and engineering meet scale. Globant uses the latest technologies in the digital and cognitive fields to transform organizations forward in every aspect. They have more than 14,300 employees, and are present in 16 countries working for companies like Google, Rockwell Automation, Electronic Arts, and Santander, among others This past month, we had the opportunity to participate in a series of webinars organized by our technology partner LoRa Alliance, in which Data in Agriculture was the central theme. Various smart agriculture and animal wellness solutions were presented focused on showing real-life use cases and exemplifying how LoRaWAN networks truly enable efficient deployments to extract and process any type of data in the agricultural industry, even with limited or no connectivity available. On this occasion, our VP of Sales had the privilege of moderating these panels, and at the same time, our CEO and Founder Lucas Funes presented an extraordinary use case in which we demonstrated how it is possible to reduce pre-wean mortality up to 17% through the access to real-time data powered by LoraWan protocol. It is undoubtedly a very exciting time for the Agriculture Industry to enhance all the various solutions that are fast making progress in terms of productivity, efficiency and sustainability. Here are some of our most important takeaways from the insightful discussions. Connectivity and long-range in the most remote places LoraWan has managed to make a great contribution to the industry through its long-range wireless sensors that send data from the farm to the cloud, through public or private networks connecting over distances of up to 15 km from sensors with batteries that last up to 10 years. This results in lower maintenance costs, connectivity in remote areas with scarce infrastructure, and giving farmers valuable information to make decisions and scale their businesses. This connectivity infrastructure is helping the IoT solutions truly take-off in Agribusiness and help by doing it in a seamless and cost-effective way. The importance of data integration from disparate data sources There is a reality today in agribusiness, and it is that while technology solutions continue to emerge, multiple sensors, databases, and other sources of data generate valuable information to great use of those managing these complex processes. As this acceleration on adoption continues to happen, another major challenge arises which is the need to improve the way data is managed and visualized. To fully embrace its power, each data source needs to be interrelated and put at the disposal of those responsible for the day to day decision making in a simple way. Integrateding data sources saves time, effort, and helps agribusinesses truly achieve the full potential of their existing infrastructure. An opportunity for "self-service" IoT Each agriculture organization knows with precision the characteristics of the challenges they face and what their ideal solutions look like. Even though technology can help fix many of those challenges, it often requires an extra effort from farmers to understand what are the solutions that better serve them. So, one of the challenges of technology adoption is really moving the conversation from a technological one to a problem-oriented one. To do that, we need to continue to share success stories and build technology that makes it even easier to deploy and prove their ROI from the get-go. The LoRa Alliance has a large number of partners around the world who provide solutions to farmers in the process of implementation and adoption of its technologies. These solutions are particularly much more affordable for medium-size farmers that want to start improving their current processes with a moderate budget. As LoRa Alliance partners we have the ability to help farmers customize a solution in record time. Webee technology the time can be shortened to just weeks or even days, obviously, this can vary according to the size of the project, but it is a fact that LoraWan allows this flexibility and optimal use of time. See the webinars in both Spanish and English in the links below.
![]() This past week UN Global Compact held a 3-day conference, Uniting Business LIVE, where the WE Empower awardees and finalists came together for regional discussions on tangible, innovative business solutions for advancing the UN SDGs, both locally and globally. Webee's CMO and Co-Founder Cecilia Flores, joined Vital Voices CEO Alyse Nelson alongside women entrepreneurs in a discussion around how collective action can bring transformative and sustainable change around the world. They shared their efforts in advancing the SDGs and the challenges and Cecilia explained how the pandemic challenged the food system to find long term solutions to guarantee the continuity of food supply chain, and reduce the impact of food loss on the environment. Access the recording of the discussion here. The virtual Agri-tech Innovation Summit kicked off its virtual event on September 15, welcomed by over 900 executive-level delegates representing 54 countries to discuss how the agri-food landscape is rapidly evolving and address the surging consumer demand for the freshest produce. Within the summit, attendees ranged from the world’s leading seed companies, food, retailers, farm operators, technology providers, and investors.
We had a great time kicking off the virtual conference with many other agri-tech leaders from around the world. We shared our insights and vision on how at Webee we work on how IoT technology can tap into the Agri-tech industry’s most critical issues. It was a fantastic start to an enjoyable and fruitful discussion. Check out our summit highlights below:
![]() Microsoft Azure customers worldwide now gain access to Webee Corporation’s no-code visual IoT toolset to take advantage of the scalability, reliability, and agility of Azure to drive application development and shape business strategies. SUNNYVALE, California -- September 9, 2020 -- Webee Corporation, a next-gen Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) company, today announced the availability of Webee, its no-code visual IoT solution, in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, an online store providing applications and services for use on Azure. Webee customers can now take advantage of the productive and trusted Azure cloud platform, with streamlined deployment and management. The M12 Female Founders Competition SaaS winner created a unique IIoT and AI (artificial intelligence) solution with a no-code visual approach toward building complex IoT applications for the industrial and commercial markets. This enables customers to benefit from IoT technology without impacting operations and obtaining an immediate return on investment. “We are looking forward to continuing to help organizations adapt to the new working environments and bring visibility to industrial operations,” said Lucas Funes, CEO at Webee. “The scalability, reliability, and agility of Azure IoT, Azure AI, Azure Machine Learning, combined with business intelligence and analytics, make it possible to help organizations reduce the cost and time of effective IoT implementations.” “Through Microsoft Azure Marketplace, customers around the world can easily find, buy, and deploy partner solutions they can trust, all certified and optimized to run on Azure,” said Sajan Parihar, Senior Director, Microsoft Azure Platform at Microsoft Corp. “We’re happy to welcome Webee's solution to the growing Azure Marketplace ecosystem.” The Azure Marketplace is an online market for buying and selling cloud solutions certified to run on Azure. The Azure Marketplace helps connect companies seeking innovative, cloud-based solutions with partners who have developed solutions that are ready to use. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Webee serves clients around the world with a unique no-code approach to deploy smart farming, remote monitoring, and worker safety solutions in hours, saving millions of dollars lost from downtime and accelerating complex IoT implementations from months to hours. Learn more about Webee at its page in the Azure Marketplace. Press Release here ![]() Webee, the next-gen Industrial Internet of Things company (IIoT) was selected as the winner of M12's Global Female Founders Competition - an initiative that seeks to identify the next wave of leading female founders. Founded by Cecilia Flores and Lucas Funes Webee has been chosen out of hundreds of applications as Webee was selected as the Best Enterprise SaaS category in the United States. “We are proud to welcome Webee to the M12 portfolio and invest alongside Mayfield and Pivotal Ventures. We see in Webee a combination of technological vision, a purpose-driven mission, and the incredible entrepreneurial grit. The expertise of its founders and their proven track record are critical in the pursuit of more sustainable industrialization.” The competition, organized by M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, and partnership with Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures and Mayfield invested USD $6 million in four winners. Two winners–one global and one US-based startup–were selected in each of the two categories: Deeptech and Software as a Service (SaaS). Webee was the US winners in the SaaS category, receiving $2M for her business, while Deeptech winners each received $1M. The $2M investment from M12, Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, and Mayfield, we allow Webee to continue its expansion in the Food, Beverage, and Agriculture industries to help reduce the impact of food loss on the environment. If you want to learn more about the Female Founders Competition click here.
To see our press coverage on the news, click here. For more information please reach out to our team at pr@webee.io Insight Tech Article by Kenton Wilson
For many IoT projects, complexity can be a killer. Developers often need to work with a variety of legacy systems, each with its own programming language, toolset, protocols, and so forth. They need to interpret the data coming off these old systems and figure out how to get this newly acquired data to the right destination—and that can mean learning another set of APIs and protocols. For example, the data might need to go to a web dashboard, trigger SMS alerts, or be integrated into a variety of enterprise applications. Programming is complicated but it doesn’t have to be. In this article you can learn how are no-coding, end-to-end toolset powered by Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Computer Vision makes it possible. Read the full article here. Join us for an insightful conversation with Lester Burgos, an experienced Factory Manager with a demonstrated history in the food production industry. He has vast experience in Operations Management, Demand Planning, Business Process Improvement, Hazard Analysis, and Critical Control Points (HACCP). His experience in the Food Industry is leading production teams in companies such as Barry Callebaut, and Nestle. We discussed the challenges the industry is facing, how the future looks like, and how technology plays a key role in its future. Listen to the discussion and learn about:
Sign up and stay tuned with Webee's next podcasts, insights and news! See the official communication here (Sunnyvale, CA – June 15, 2020) – Webee Corporation, announces that they joined the LoRa Alliance® to advance the deployment of IoT and AI Solutions offering a next-gen no-coding toolset for manufacturing, agriculture, and supply chain operations.
The LoRa Alliance is the fastest-growing technology alliance. A non-profit association committed to enabling large scale deployment of Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) IoT through the development and promotion of the LoRaWAN® open standard. "Webee is very much looking forward to continuing its progress on bringing visibility, sustainability and efficiency of Industrial Operations through IoT solutions while transmitting data in a secure and efficient way”. “LoRaWAN technology has the flexibility for indoor, outdoor and in-transit implementations overcoming structural challenges of many industrial environments in Food, Beverage & Agriculture operations”. Says Lucas Funes, CEO at Webee. “We are very pleased to welcome Webee to the LoRa Alliance,” said Donna Moore, CEO and Chairwoman of the LoRa Alliance. “I look forward to its contributions and learning about its innovative approach to developing IoT solutions. As an alliance member, Webee now has access to the largest IoT ecosystem to collaborate, form partnerships and have new opportunities for worldwide exposure to assist in accelerating its business.” Joining the LoRa Alliance’s leading ecosystem is one more step for Webee on its commitment to accelerating the adoption of IoT to reduce the environmental impact of industrial operations and achieve sustainability. To learn more or get more information, please write us at pr@webee.io ![]() Since 2016, Webee worked with different business units and regions of Panasonic, helping them accelerate the deployment of various IoT solutions to reach the market on time, add efficiency and scale their businesses. Jim French, President of Panasonic R&D shares his thoughts on how Webee help them reach their goals. What attracted you to Webee? We look for partners that can help us bring new technologies and ideas into our business. Webee has a unique vision for the future of connected devices which is in line with what our organization looks for in terms of innovation. Webee is very honest. They also have the ability to communicate as easily with our engineers as with our business executives. What did Webee bring to your organization in terms of technology Innovation? When you work on innovation the ability to solve complex problems in an effective way is critical, and that is what Webee helps us the most. From the beginning, Webee's toolset really helps us efficiently deploy solutions at a fraction of the time. What is unique about Webee’s technology and services? Webee has a combination of the technological vision, the capacity to deliver, and the human quality of the team.They make an extra effort to understand and adapt to our current business needs but they always keep an eye on what can be next and scalable for the future. ![]() By Lucas Funes, CEO & Founder For the last several weeks, cities all over the world have been under shelter-in-place orders. While some areas are slowly easing restrictions, it could be months or more before activity goes back to “normal.” For companies, remote work is going to be standard practice for the foreseeable future, and especially for industrial manufacturing operations, remote monitoring will become a priority. Working from home may become commonplace as companies choose to cut down on office space and encourage remote work even after the pandemic is brought under control. If staff members are working from home, companies can reduce office space or eliminate offices altogether. Automation will allow organizations to operate even amid disasters. Previously, it’s adoption was met with some resistance, it was viewed as a “nice-to-have technology.” Now, given the circumstances industrial manufacturing operations has faced - automation has quickly become a must-have for businesses who want to come out of this successfully and also build more resilient operations. Let’s take a look at some ways the COVID-19 pandemic will reshape businesses. What does the post-pandemic future look like for working environments? As things continue to evolve, It’s hard to predict the future with certainty, but anyone can contemplate what might come to pass. Bill Gates, for example, has been warning about the risk of a major pandemic for years. Many medical professionals have been sounding the alarm as well. Still, people never saw it coming. On the business side, we can’t say for sure what’s going to happen after this pandemic is brought under control. Things will “go back to normal” but what does that actually mean? The new normal may be quite different from the past. Consider commutes. No one likes being stuck in traffic or on the subway. Yet many metropolitan areas are congested, especially during rush hour. Employees may be stuck on the road for an hour or more to and from home. Unsurprisingly, 54 percent of Americans now want to work remotely after the pandemic ends. Some businesses may find the idea of remote work scary or intimidating. However, companies can take advantages of savings associated with downsizing or eliminating offices making work from home more tempting. Many companies such as Amazon, Google, and others have been using remote employees and contractors for years. Remote work is a modern phenomenon. The Internet, streaming video services, online project management tools, and other platforms make work from home possible and relatively easy. Further, in the so-called shut-in economy, online learning has become the norm. Companies can leverage this to increase employee training while reducing the need for expensive retreats. So while office work may be getting the most attention as far as virtual work goes, manufacturers may evolve dramatically as well, embracing new technologies and discarding outdated practices. Even non-remote companies will undergo massive change Many manufacturing and industrial facilities remained open during the outbreak. However, even in spite of the shutdown, essential operations have been closed and severely affected by in-house outbreaks of COVID-19. While manufacturers initially resisted change, the shortcomings caused by a lack of preparation have become obvious. By using IoT and AI-driven automated processes, and leveraging data, companies can fortify supply lines and reduce the risk of being shut down by diseases. A better understanding of inventory can also help companies prepare for outbreaks or other events that could affect supply lines - and, this has to do with having access to real-time data. Automation is no longer a “nice-to-have” solution - it is the only way companies can succeed in the post-pandemic world. The Internet-of-Things can make manufacturing and industrial activity more responsive to unfolding events. AI can be used to help manage resources even as humans call in sick, helping increase efficiency and ensuring a steady supply of inputs and production. Manufacturers need to accelerate technology adoption and the most effective way to do that is by adopting solutions that work with existing infrastructure, are easy to deploy, and guarantee immediate ROI, such as Webee’s Remote Monitoring Solution that is installed remotely in just hours without the need of technical expertise. COVID-19 will create a paradigm shift The COVID-19 outbreak started in China and quickly shut down supply chains across the globe. As this disaster proves, what happens in China won’t necessarily stay in China. Many companies are already re-examining their supply chains to ensure continuity in the event of the next crisis. Some companies will leverage data and other resources to fortify and diversify supply chains. More manufacturing processes may relocate back to the United States and other fully-developed countries. Technology is a key ally on this transitional processes. "Automation, and AI, can help to take over the redundant tasks while reducing human error. Critical work can be automated so that the supply chain can withstand the disruption." It’s time to embrace the types of strategic technologies that will prepare us for the future of business operations. We are all in this together so let’s get to work! As the COVID situation unfolds, IIoT for Industrial Remote Monitoring Technology is set to play a growing role in COVID-19 response to help the manufacturing industry keep up with production demand and avoid any disruptions in the supply-chain. Here are 4 key aspects in which technology can help the manufacturing industry. Find more information about the Industrial Monitoring Solutions here.
Control Virus Spread and Hospital Demand Optimization
As the advance of COVID around the world unfolds, we felt the immediate need to see how we could contribute. We believe technology can become a deal-breaker in the way we face this global crisis, not only today but also as we rethink the future. We connected with our partners in Italy to put our technology at service to help work on this emergency situation. “Innova for Italy” is an initiative by the Italian “Minister for Technological Innovation and Digitalization” that invites organizations from the private and public sectors to provide ideas and solutions for prevention, diagnostics, and monitoring of the spread of Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) on the whole national territory. We presented a solution to monitor and localize patients and control the spread of COVID-19. Our team worked to adapt our tracking solution to be able to effectively track and monitor patients and hospital staff to control the spread of the virus. The sick patient or hospital staff holds a small tracker in his pocket. Every time they move inside or outside of the hospital facility the system alerts who they were in contact with, who are the people at risk and if the isolation is properly conducted. This solution allows real-time understanding of hospital capacity so they can fast identify what type of movement needs to be done between hospitals to optimize capacity and avoid dangerous and inefficient delays. We hope our technology can contribute to mitigating COVID impact and we are looking forward to understanding and finding other ways in which we can contribute. If you find any ideas that could benefit from our technology please send us an email to info@webee.io We’re excited to announce that Webee recently joined Microsoft for Startups, a new program that delivers access to technology, go-to-market and other benefits that helps startups grow their customer and revenue base. The initiative offers joint sales engagements with startups, along with access to technology, and new community spaces that promote collaboration across local and global ecosystems. Startups are an indisputable innovation engine, and Microsoft is partnering with founders and investors to help propel their growth. "Collaborations with Microsoft will help us not only understand our clients needs better but also have access to leading technology to guarantee scalability" said Lucas Funes, CEO and Founder at Webee. This is the beginning of a new collaborative path for Webee. Sign up and stay tuned for more news! ![]() By Lucas Funes, CEO & Founder As I kicked-off 2020 I attended some of the most important annual shows in the US to get a glimpse of how the future looks like in some of the most prominent industries. Started with Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, that since 1967 brings the latest technology innovations to the floor, NRF Annual Convention & EXPO, the flagship industry event of the National Retail Federation, and International Builder Show (IBS) the NAHB event that gathers home builders from all over the world. Here are some of my thoughts about what is next in terms of innovation. It is not news that Business Intelligence (BI) and analytics are becoming the backbone of any decision making in any industry. As I walked the floor it was obvious to me that it comes down to either retail, home builder or consumer electronics: a strategy without the right data infrastructure can no longer be sustained. So if you haven't looked at your BI infrastructure, stop what you are doing and start planning how you will get in on the future. The retail industry is evolving its processes with very sophisticated solutions for real-time analytics for inventory and supply chain. Retail business BI needs IoT, AI, and machine vision to optimize operations, logistics and supply chain in order to transform the business and fit into the new market trends and consumer demands. One example is a solution that uses drones and walking robots for inventory control and puts an end to many costly processes that have a direct impact on the customer experience, like making sure orders are shipped on time. Access to real-time analytics is key to optimize warehouses and facilities. With the imminent growth of e-commerce, retailers need to make sure they have the right logistics in place and that their operations can scale at the speed of market adoption. The fast-changing patterns in consumer behavior are certainly driving technological change. ![]() The Home Builders industry is also going in the same direction with technological solutions, to optimize the construction industry processes and ultimately build more efficient houses, faster: from automated processes and AI to predicting supplies, to the visibility of workers' safety and productivity. Almost every critical process in the construction industry is being improved by technology with a strong sense of efficiency but also adding sustainability to the equation. During IBS, Panasonic presented the BUILDER Chowa Concept Home, an idea rooted in the past but aligned with the needs of the future: the spirit of Chowa, looking to evolve a very stalled industry and bridge the gap between what homebuyers want and what the industry can deliver. “The Chowa spirit of life balance, harmony, and connection to nature” looks for advances in areas such as materials selection, construction processes, air quality management and technology integration to create a health and wellness-focused environment, and to leave a more sustainable footprint. Launched in CES and IBS, and powered by Webee Technology, the Panasonic’s Cosmos Healthy Home System brings the possibility to manage the home’s indoor air quality on a 24/7 basis sensing the air for VOCs (Volatile organic compound), fine particles, carbon dioxide, and humidity, and automatically adjust airflow systems to remove air contaminants and bring in fresh, healthy air from the outside. CES summarized the idea of industries and businesses of any type embracing technology at some point whether it is to offer new innovative customer experiences or to optimize long-time inefficiencies to critical processes that have a direct impact on their businesses. If I compare 2020 edition to my previous years at the show, there is a clear common ground on the use of data, I can see that even though there are many discussions around privacy, we as consumers somehow learned how to embrace it and make the best use of it to improve our daily lives, and we accept that. The only aspect that we continue to work on is the discussion around sustainability and how we can speed to the use of data and technology to also guarantee a sustainable future. With some industries taking the lead and making tangible progress such as the auto and renewable energy industries, we still have a long way to go on making technology and data more accessible and inclusive, so that it can be applied to solve some of the most urgent issues towards the future. There is a power to technology innovation and it still needs to consider its role in creating a more inclusive and sustainable future. |
Archives
March 2023
|