We continue to drive innovation in IoT: AT&T Asia Pacific Senior Director

By Smita Vasudevan

Internet-of-Things (IoT) is undoubtedly one of the most powerful technology trends that have hit enterprises and consumers alike. As the world around us gears up to embrace the next big technology wave, leading industry players are leaving no stone unturned to grab the big opportunity.

We get into a conversation with Sandy Verma, Senior Director, AT&T Asia Pacific, to know more about how the trend is shaping up, the company’s strategy to tap the space, and what is in store for the India market.

Voice&Data: Can you take us through AT&T’s growing role in the IoT space?

Sandy Verma: I am leading AT&T’s Asia Pacific Internet–of-Things (IoT) solutions based out of Hong Kong. I have been with AT&T for the last 13 years. A quick background on how we are making things possible for our customers. We believe AT&T is a global leader in developing and deploying industrial and consumer IoT communications. I can give you a sense of some numbers just to tell you where we are. As of Q4 2014, we had over 18.5 mn connected devices in our industrial IoT business.

And we believe our Q3 of 1.275 mn connected devices, was probably more than any other operator across the globe in this space. The point I am trying to drive home is that we have the expertise in developing and deploying IoT solutions and that’s what we are here for—to drive credibility and grow and help businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.

Voice&Data: Please highlight some key elements of your strategy for IoT.

Sandy Verma: We believe and share with our customers that mobility will revolutionize the society. It is not only changing the way we live and work, but it has also changed the way we organize our businesses and how we do business with our customers. We are one of the leading global telecommunications companies, we have a unique set of assets, and we are always striving to innovate. So the question arises how do we stay ahead? We are investing and making the right bet.

We are failing fast but we continue to drive innovation. We tell our customers that we will be the first ones to bring you the future.

For example, we have set up five foundries across the US and the globe to innovate new technology. So that’s the kind of innovation we are talking about. The ecosystem that we have today, that we continue to build, is our asset.

Voice&Data: Can you tell us about the IoT potential you see in the Asia Pacific region?

Sandy Verma: At a macro level I would say, the trend in Asia Pacific in boardrooms with customers at C-level or management execution level is very similar. We are seeing IoT opportunities in virtually all industries in Asia Pacific—logistics, transportation, automotive, and so on. There are alot of studies out there, and one interesting study on Asia Pacific by Ovum, states that Asia Pacific will lead the world in terms of IoT revenue growth, forecasting a CAGR of 26.5%.

Voice&Data: Where does India stand in the scheme of things?

Sandy Verma: I was in Nasscom last week, and I had the opportunity to visit some customers down South and Chennai. I also traveled to Pune to meet some customers there. I met a large automotive manufacturing company, I met a pretty large-scale supplier logistics company, several system integrators, another conglomerate which is working in the agriculture space—the trend was very similar.

They have made IoT a top priority and this time they are trying to figure out how to go to market. Same trend was seen from the government side. I heard there was a lot of discussion on digital transformation and smart cities in India. It was encouraging as that’s the space AT&T has a lot of expertise in. In smart cities we have placed smart meters across cities in the US, where we are leveraging AT&T’s wireless connectivity and we are helping utility companies reduce major capital expense so they don’t have to deploy and manage private networks. That’s a huge reduction in expense.

Voice&Data: What specific plans do you have in place for the India market?

Sandy Verma: AT&T has been doing business in Asia Pacific since late 1970s. So we do have a very robust setup here. Infrastructure is very important to drive the kind of relationships and connectivity. AT&T has had a presence in India for more than 20 years and its Indian affiliate started providing telecom services in India from April 2007. We now have six offices in India, and serve global multinational customers here. Now layer that along with all that I have been talking about, our global expertise in machine-to-machine and IoT.

It’s a perfect fit and that’s how we are working on the mission to help solve probably the most complex business problems for companies. We want to grow globally. The fact that I have physically moved from the US to Hong Kong and putting together this complete business plan for going to market here in this region is one thing, apart from that what we are doing today is developing integrated industry solutions.

I can’t tell you any numbers, but I can tell you the opportunity we are seeing. Our focus areas/verticals include usage-based insurance, supply chains, smart cities, industrial assets, building security, vending, retail, and so on. Now, will we do that in India too? The answer is, absolutely. Voice&Data: Also, please indicate what specific investments are being made to enhance AT&T’s line of solutions and devices in IoT? Sandy Verma: AT&T was the first to open a connected car research and innovation center, the AT&T Drive Studio, in Jan’13 and since then we have developed an expertise in the connected car and passenger vehicle domain.

We have already got the partnerships in place with the likes of Audi, BMW, etc. I am going deeper into this one area that will give you a sense of how we are preparing ourselves. The interesting part is that AT&T will provide wholesale or retail connectivity to nearly 2mn US cars, in the next year. There is a huge opportunity out there.

Voice&Data: What are the biggest challenges for enterprises treading the IoT path? How can AT&T address it?

Sandy Verma: The biggest challenge that enterprises have is they heard the buzz right but how do they clear that clutter? It is important to look at the RoI. We sit down with the customers and actually talk about what is the RoI and how do we quantify that. I am literally doing workshops with large customers and walking them through the entire story which is very potent story about our global leadership position.

I will give four nuggets. This conversation is not a CIO conversation, this is a product marketing conversation, this is a sales guy conversation, this is a strategy officer conversation, this is a CEO conversation, because you got to look at the business end-to-end. While you look at the solution end-to-end and map out the entire solution, we are recommending folks to get a trial in place with the solution provider.

That is the smartest option to learn quickly. Second, making sure your stakeholders understand what the RoI is before they start investing in this emerging technology. Third, we ask these companies to assign champions or executives to manage through the complexities IoT will bring in. Lastly, patience is a virtue as obviously IoT implementations will take time. Not only that, it demands new ways of working to overcome both business and technical challenges.