Powering the New Normal with SAS and The AIoT - Futurum Tech Podcast Interview Series

In this special edition of the Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series, host Daniel Newman welcomes Jason Mann, Vice President of IoT at SAS. Daniel and Jason discussed SAS’s response to COVID-19 and the impact IoT and AIoThave had on businesses all over the world.

Analytics to Fight COVID-19

It’s almost cliche to say that we are living in an unprecedented time, but it’s still the case. SAS, like all companies, had to quickly reprioritize and pivot within the last month. The first priority obviously was the health and safety of employees and families. SAS quickly moved to equip employees with what they needed to work from home. The second priority for SAS was community-based. On the company homepage, you can find dashboards available for free that help track the spread and trends of the virus.

They also created specific resources that are focused more on the healthcare sector. SAS is working with several hospitals to help with the SIR epidemic models which help with the projections of the advancement of disease within populations. The output for these models is critical in order to project staffing and equipment needs.

The final priority is helping partners and customers with business continuity. What can SAS do to help other companies continue their business as close to usual as possible. Jason shared a great example of this effort has been seen in supply chains and food chains. SAS is working with companies to help maintain a level of consistency of delivery from the farm to the grocery store. SAS has moved quickly to use their analytic software to make decisions or help other customers and companies make decisions. They’re able to take information and create an action item. The companies that do this successfully during this time will inevitably come out stronger in the end.

Breaking Down the AIoT

In the last few years SAS has spent a lot of time and money focusing on the Artificial Intelligence of Things or AIoT.  Jason described it as a convergence of AI around IoT principles, many of which have been around but are seeing renewed value in the expansion of compute. It’s an expansion of the power of analytics and a convergence of data that customers can use to make decisions in real time to solve issues faster.

Companies and Industries Benefiting from AIoT

Industries like healthcare, manufacturing and transportation are already seeing the benefits of AIoT. Jason shared a particular example of a rail company that has been able to track not just the locomotive performance and maintenance initiatives but also the operator performance and how all of those things interact and impact each other. The company is also able to use data and evaluate in real time the safety of the track, overall station performance, and potential maintenance issues. Using AIoT the company has expanded their compute capability and has improved performance and the bottom line.

AI provides the opportunity to streamline, to determine correlations, to get more intelligent as neural networks or deep learning is able to identify patterns, trends, and then create automation and activities. It’s about removing the human from the equation to make decisions faster.

SAS has also partnered with Honeywell to pair this AIoT technology with drone video surveillance to help farmers track vegetation. Farmers can take this data and then make decisions about their crops optimizing fertilizing, watering, or eradicating efforts.

AIoT and Future Technologies

There are a lot of potential use cases for AIoT and other technologies. We could easily take the surveillance and data technology and use it to determine if social distancing is happening in some areas.

Jason also discussed the potential around virtual and digital twins and virtual reality. Companies are realizing that we don’t necessarily need to be in person or in a physical location to conduct business. So as more digital or virtual twins are created for existing technologies, how will the AIoT help them operate more efficiently?

More than 220 US public companies are seeing their supply chain impacted by a virtual version of product, process, or system. When you can manufacture a product in a digital or virtual environment you’re keeping costs low. We are seeing this with automobiles. We're seeing it with windmills. We're seeing it being done in a lot of heavy industrial manufacturing as well as consumer products and health care. We're seeing all kinds of applications. This is really powerful and this is IoT data. This is AI and this is analytics at their finest.

It’s likely that moving forward, many businesses will have continuity plans that include digital twins or virtual environments in case something catastrophic like this ever happens again. This will clearly be our new normal.

If you’d like to learn more about SAS, AIoT, or the future of this technology be sure to check out their website and listen to the full episode. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.