New book: how and when to grasp the opportunities of Industrial Internet

Industrial Internet is a hot topic. What happens when smart products and services are connected to the Internet? How to turn this into an opportunity?

In their new book Jari Collin and Ari Saarelainen introduce the basics, current state and future of Industrial Internet. They recommend Finnish companies to boldly start developing Industrial Internet solutions.

Industrial Internet adds productivity in different phases of the supply chain. However the biggest potential is in the creation of new business models and services based on data.

- Significant improvements in customer experience and productivity can be reached, and thus achieve increased profitability for both the customer and the solution provider, explain the authors.

What’s the problem then?

According to Jari Collin the bottleneck is not any more technology or its price.  Bigger challenges in using data are related to competencies and change management. On top of technology the implementation requires strong understanding of business and cooperation over traditional industry and organizational boundaries.

Ari Saarelainen has noticed too many fears and control in companies preventing them from strategic decision-making.

- Companies have problems in recognizing opportunities and getting started, they also invest too little. Still the number of companies using Industrial Internet is very small, says Ari. 

How to move forward?

- Technological capabilities in Finland are the top of the world. Finnish engineers are competent with machines, mobiles, networks and application development. We also have tight partner networks, says Ari Saarelainen about the strengths of Finnish companies.

- Also competent staff and commitment to continuous improvement are tradional strengths in Finland. When top management has enough will and vision, companies have all the capabilities to succeed, adds Jari Collin.

The book covers Industrial Internet broadly giving practical examples and guidance. The reader will become familiar with technologies ranging from sensors to analytics. Case examples from Finland and abroad bring the topic into practice. The reader gets a comprehensive guide on how to seek business benefits and chart a company roadmap.

About the authors

Jari Collin has been appointed CTO of Sonera starting from 1 September, 2016. For the last two years he has worked as CIO of Efora developing their Smart Maintenance operations and Industrial Internet solutions. Efora is an industrial service company specialising in maintenance and engineering services owned by Stora Enso. Earlier Jari has worked as CIO of Elisa and held various positions at Nokia, for example Director of ICT at Nokia Networks. He is a part time professor at Aalto University.

Ari Saarelainen works as a journalist at Alma Media’s Tivi magazine. For more than ten years he has specialized on writing about technology. Earlier Ari has worked for Tietokone magazine and Helsingin Sanomat.

The book, titled Teollinen internet, is available in Finnish.

ISBN 978-952-14-2849-4, hard cover

ISBN 978-952-14-2850-0, electric

333 pages, 69 €