Our Founder and CEO, Lucas Funes was interviewed by IDG Connect on its C-Suite Career Advice series.

Lucas shared his perspective on a number of topics, including the best - and worst- business advise he's ever received. From his beginnings in tech with his first job working with databases at a very young age to building a company, he gave out advice for each situation: how to get into coding, career growth, skills, certificates, and even work/life balance. He also covered his do's and don'ts for interviews. What he looks for in candidates and what puts him off of them.

Read through the entire interview on IDG Connect's website.

Webee has been selected to join the Endless Frontier Labs 2021-2022 cohort alongside 75 ground-breaking companies! We look forward to working with EFL mentors, NYU Stern MBA students, and the rest of the companies selected for the Digital Tech track. 

"It is a great recognition to our efforts that we have been chosen out of the 780 very talented applicants that went through the process this year. We are honored to be joining the 2021-2022 cohort and cannot wait to get started working with our EFL mentors to get to the next level in digitally transforming our client's operations through our easy to deploy, fast turnover IIoT solution." - Lucas Funes, Webee Founder & CEO.

Endless Frontier Labs (EFL), a program for early-stage science and technology-based startups at New York University Stern School of Business, is structured to optimize each startup’s chance of scaling into a successful company through a goals-based mentoring process. EFL mentors are experienced entrepreneurs who have built and exited successful companies, world-renowned scientists and technical experts, and well-known venture capital and angel investors. 
Over nine months, EFL mentors work with admitted founders to set goals for the startups to accomplish and act as an informal advisory board to guide founders on how best to scale their businesses. Startups making progress are able to attract financing from investors in the program.    

Consistent with its mission as a non-profit, EFL is a founders-first program and charges no equity or fees from participating startups. No NYU affiliation or relocation to NYC is required to participate. The program is appropriate for founders from around the world seeking deep connections to the thriving New York ecosystem or U.S. markets.
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“Our mission is to bridge the gap between science and markets.  We believe business strategy, validation by scientific peers, and connections to investors are critical for the successful commercialization of scientific breakthroughs. To that end, EFL provides founders access to an unparalleled network of business coaches, scientists, investors, and Stern MBA students to help transform their ideas into high-growth businesses,” said NYU Stern Professor Deepak Hegde, Founding Director of EFL.

More About EFL
Endless Frontier Labs (EFL) is a nine-month program at NYU Stern for early-stage science- and technology-based startups. Startup founders are advised by serial entrepreneurs, investors, and technical mentors to accomplish individualized business goals at eight-week intervals. These goals are designed to maximize each startup’s chance of growing into a high-growth business.  Startups that fail to make progress can be cut from the program at mentor discretion in order to optimize resources for startups that are excelling. Those that meet their goals are likely to attract investment from EFL mentors, as well as from one of the many venture capital firms that are represented in the program. While companies in the EFL program do not require an NYU affiliation to participate, all companies will benefit from access to and support from NYU scientists and Stern MBA students. Startups can also benefit from access to several in-kind services from EFL’s corporate partners, such as advice on intellectual property issues and related matters from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP and server credits from Amazon Web Services. As EFL is a non-profit academic initiative of New York University’s Stern School of Business, EFL does not take equity or collect fees from startups. Further information and FAQ can be found on EFL’s website and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for regular updates.

About Webee
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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.
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Are your Oil & Gas operations struggling with digitization? At Webee, we are eager to take on the challenges of Industry 4.0 and bring on the next level of digital transformation to your business. Feel free to reach out to schedule a meeting. Ready to take the next step? You can also book a demo.

Webee Earns Industry Recognition for its No-code, End-to-end Toolset for Connected Agriculture That Eliminates the Technical and High-cost Barriers to Entry for IoT Implementations.

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SUNNYVALE, CALIF. – July 27, 2021 – Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and AI innovator Webee today announced it is a finalist in the 2021 SaaS Awards Program in the Best SaaS Product for Agriculture and Farming category. Now in its sixth year, the SaaS Awards recognize excellence and innovation in software solutions.
“We are honored to be selected as a finalist, as it recognizes our commitment to eliminate the technical obstacles of deploying IoT in agriculture and farming,” said Lucas Funes, Webee co-founder and CEO. “With Webee’s non-invasive platform, users can quickly reap massive benefits in efficiency, sustainability and end-product quality that real-time sensor data provides. Our mission is to make smart farming and manufacturing simple without the need for deep technical expertise.” 
Webee’s no-code, end-to-end SaaS toolset for connected agriculture deploys non-disruptively in minutes. It includes pre-built applications for multiple use cases such as irrigation, soil monitoring, animal wellness, etc. It works with an infinite array of sensors and across the long distances common in farming. It integrates heterogenous data across sensors and third party data sources – like weather data – using AI to derive contextual and predictive insights in a unified view. Real-time notifications are pushed to handheld devices in the field so that actions can be taken the moment anomalies are detected. Queries and answers are communicated in natural language that anyone can understand. 
Head of operations for the SaaS Awards, James Williams, said, “Just as SaaS technologies have been vital in pivoting organizational functions to respond to global crises, they will be essential as we look forward to returning to normal levels of productivity. The shortlisted candidates announced today, however, have made it through that first round. They represent truly innovative thinkers in the SaaS industry, whether they’re freshly-funded disruptors or established names.”
Final SaaS Awards winners will be announced in late August. Hundreds of organizations entered, with entries coming from North America, Canada, Australia, UK, Europe and the Middle East. To view the full list of finalists, please visit: https://www.cloud-awards.com/2021-software-awards-shortlist/
About the SaaS Awards
The SaaS Awards is a sister program to the Cloud Awards, which was founded in 2011. The SaaS Awards focuses on recognizing excellence and innovation in software solutions. Categories range from Best Enterprise-Level SaaS to Best UX or UI Design in a SaaS Product.
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. 

Business Wire
SaaS Awards Contact
James Williams – head of operations
https://www.cloud-awards.com/software-as-a-service-awards/
james@cloud-awards.com

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Last week we attended in the 2021 IoT Evolution and Expo that was held in Miami Florida, the first show after the COVID-19 pandemic. What a tremendous event! 

Coming off Coronavirus and the global pandemic, it was phenomenal to see so many companies and leaders across IoT participate in this event.  Companies from all across the globe from all the different IoT stacks were at the event; hardware, software and connectivity.  The ability to finally get back to traveling for business, networking and hosting in-person meetings with partners, customers and clients was a great value for us here at Webee.  Also, the ability to see the latest trends in IIoT, IoT, LoRaWAN, 5G and other market disrupting technologies was phenomenal.  There were so many great presenters, panelists and cool new things to explore in the Expo hall.  


The IoT Evolution and Expo had many shows & informative sessions within this world class event:

• Industrial IoT News
• The Smart City Event 
• Intelligent Edge Expo 
• 5G Expo and #TechSuperShow

One of my main takeaways is that, due to the global pandemic, companies are needing to adopt remote solutions, drive better operational efficiencies and scale their IoT deployments globally.  These key trends and needs have only accelerated IoT market growth over the last 12-18 months. The conference had a ton of great panels, breakout sessions, and also an expansive expo featuring over 120 different companies showcasing their products, solutions and technologies.  Some of the new and more disruptive solutions that are center to the discussion are around Artificial Intelligence, Edge Computing, LoRaWAN, Industrial IoT and new ruggedized hardware options.  Also, we can not forget about 5G and it's impact in IoT adoption, one of the most used buzzwords and incredible network deployments occurring globally right now.  

A common challenge and issue that still seems to be arising as a commonality for organizations is integration. Still companies seem to be confused on where to start and how to select the right IoT partners as well as which will enable them to achieve their IoT goals and initiatives. This has been a common challenge over the years and continues to be in the IoT market.  With even more technology providers, hardware options and the ever growing cumbersome challenge of integrating legacy assets, infrastructure, hardware, systems and devices, there is now more noise than ever before.  It is always important to focus inward on the reason you are looking to deploy an IoT solution and what it will enable.  


Here at Webee, we were able to share all the exciting things we are doing and working on to provide the IoT sector and companies the ability to leverage intelligence based software to drive more successful IIoT deployments at scale. We also got to talk about our SmartFactory, SmartFarm and our no-code, AI and computer vision visual IoT designer tool set.  

As the world opens back up and as trade shows and conferences are hosted in person again, we look forward to participating in more of these global events and sharing the Webee story!

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 New York, NY: Friday, June 25, 2021 – The Tory Burch Foundation announced today the 50 early-stage women entrepreneurs selected for the 2021 class of the Tory Burch Foundation Fellows Program, now in its seventh year.

Receiving over a thousand applications, the Foundation selected a cohort of diverse small businesses for the year-long education program. The Fellows also have access to a premier online peer-to-peer network, a $5,000 grant for business education, inventory loan-fund and extensive mentorship opportunities.
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Traditionally providing four days of workshops in Tory Burch’s New York office, the program evolved in 2020 to focus on virtual learning due to the pandemic. “We pivoted quickly and redesigned our programs to navigate women through the crisis,” noted Laurie Fabiano, President of the Tory Burch Foundation. “As a result, we found better ways to deliver programming and meet the greatest needs of our community.”

Tory welcomed the new group of Fellows. “To amass this group of women is why I started the company,” said Tory Burch in a virtual welcome address to the incoming Fellows class. “I don’t talk about it a lot, but 17 years ago, that was my business plan: to start a global fashion company so I could start a foundation for women. To see it come to fruition like this; to see this beauty on my screen; hearing you speak, is so inspiring.”

Hailing from 18 states and Washington, D.C., and ranging in age from 24 to 60, the 2021 Fellows are diverse in every sense of the word. The top industries represented are retail, apparel, food/beverage and technology, with two entrepreneurs making strides in the male-dominated construction industry. Several of the companies represented are purpose-driven, with many focusing on sustainability initiatives. Fifty-eight percent are founders of color.

The majority of the entrepreneurs have been in business less than five years, and considering that nearly half of all small businesses fail within those first five years, it is a critical time. In addition, women founders are less likely to pass $1 million in revenue.

The Foundation is dedicated to helping the Fellows reach and surpass these key indicators of success.

The 2021-2022 Fellows program is made possible with support from:
BDT Capital
Fossil
General Atlantic Foundation
Rene Kern
Trott Family Philanthropies
American Express
Deloitte
Luxottica
PayPal
Shiseido

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:

• Focus on the challenges your organization and industry is facing.
• Set clear KPIs and goals for what you wish to accomplish with your solution, application and deployment. 
• Look for market ready solutions that are available to be quickly tested, developed and deployed in a specific project or use case that your organization has identified.
• Identify the right Sensor, connectivity and software partners to assist in taking your project from whiteboard to reality. 
• Remember to focus on the data.  How are you going to use this data?  How can this data be used for actionable insights to drive greater operational efficiencies and enhancements to your organization's industrial processes?

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[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 →→

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. 

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: 

• Crops: monitor soil conditions in real time, such as temperature, humidity and nitrogen; identify risks at an early stage to protect crops from frost, heat, pests, disease and inefficient irrigation; improve fertilization process by understanding soil conditions; and increase the quality of a crop yield by means of optimized tunnel management and field-specific weather forecasts 
• Grains: access real-time post-harvest data; avoid spoilage and ensure temperature and humidity for ideal storage conditions at all times; and monitor the condition of silo bags and their movement to prevent theft or damage 
• Livestock and poultry: monitor vital signs in real time; understand environmental conditions that can affect quality of life; optimize quality controls by automating simple tasks; and monitor air quality to ensure the airflow is sufficient for proper heat dissipation 
• Aquaculture and fisheries: monitor population and water temperature in fisheries and oysters beds; perform cold chain monitoring to ensure freshness throughout the supply chain; and collect data about water salinity

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.
 

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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.

• Smart object recognition is an AI function that entails a deep learning algorithm that sorts new data streams into known categories of information, allowing the system to understand normal behavior, patterns and conditions in the industrial environment. This helps identify more efficient patterns and send recommendations to optimize manufacturing processes based on same-category behaviors so actions can be taken to reduce any identified waste and inefficiencies.
• Anomaly detection allows the system to predict deviations from normal behavior to identify systematic breakdowns (for example, if machinery is or is about to be broken or malfunction), report the anomaly and recommend the actions or tasks to avoid the problems. 

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. 

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​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. 
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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.