MyEnviro is a rural digital data company powered by Spark.
“We are reaching the point where we are seeing fast-rising Internet-of-Things (IoT) adoption in New Zealand,” says Michele Wong, Spark’s head of IoT.
Last month Spark connected the one-millionth new “thing” to its IoT network.
The rate at which new connections are being added is accelerating. Wong says if you were to plot the numbers, you’d see a classic hockey stick growth chart.
Spark IoT has been singled out as one of the 2022 financial year’s highlights with revenue up 22 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Wong says customers report they quickly see a tangible benefit from their IoT investment. “It means they can run their operations more efficiently and safely, but it also drives more sustainable outcomes.”
IoT is already having an impact on reducing carbon emissions.
Wong points to a recent report Spark commissioned from sustainability business thinkstep-ANZ that says digital technologies like IoT could help reduce 7.2 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions by 2030. That’s around 42 per cent of the total emissions reduction New Zealand has targeted for that year.
The research focuses on transport, energy and industry, and agriculture. It looks at opportunities in these sectors where technology can make the greatest difference. Having people travel less thanks to remote monitoring is one case, another is making it easier for people to switch to electric vehicles. IoT can help with rural connectivity and create the smart charging infrastructure. The technology also has a role in building integrated transport systems and with congestion charging in cities. In agriculture, IoT can help plan and optimise water or fertiliser use.
To illustrate how this might work, Wong uses the simple example of using IoT for asset tracking.
“A company can use an IoT solution to locate assets wherever they are in the country. It can remotely monitor the utilisation and the actual position. This has an immediate benefit for cost savings and for carbon emissions because until now that company would have had employees driving around looking for the assets.”
Another example is Westpac Mussels, which exports locally grown mussels. “We’ve deployed a remote data buoy in the ocean to monitor the water salinity. That information is needed to understand the best time to harvest the mussels.
“In the past Westpac needed to send boats out to clean and check the buoy once a week. With IoT remote monitoring it only needs cleaning eight times a year. There’s an immediate cost saving and again it reduces carbon emissions.”
Success stories are percolating through the wider business. Wong says at first the IoT growth came from a select band of anchor customers, but now she is seeing connection growth across a wide range of use cases, sectors and industries as businesses realise what IoT is about and the benefits it can deliver.
The IoT scene is fast-moving.
During its early years, most of the applications required relatively small amounts of data. Sensors report back on temperature or moisture levels every hour or so, in effect a trickle of data.
These are still commonplace, but more data-intensive applications might now stream high-definition video and audio.
A whole new segment of IoT is emerging around computer vision and video analytics.
The technology links connected remote cameras to artificial intelligence systems, which use algorithms to monitor an area and, for example, determine if people are in view who should not be there.
Spark offers a range of IoT network options to cater for different use cases. Wong says the innovation in the IoT space is constant, not just in the devices, but also in the software space. All this means an expansion in the available options.
A typical company journey with IoT might start with a straightforward application. One popular starting place is for organisations that need to manage assets on a campus.
Wong says they might start with sensors monitoring fridges or similar, then move on to asset tracking, from there the possibilities are endless.
To ease the path, Spark offers a range of pre-built end-to-end IoT products and services.
“Our customers include government departments and enterprises, but there are also many small businesses.
“We’re customer-led in terms of our product development and innovation roadmap. We listen to what the customers say and find a way to help them.
“We have customers who want the connectivity and can self-service. The smaller customers often have a need that can be filled by an end-to-end solution. So that is why we have fleet tracking solutions that help them monitor and optimise their business fleet. We have asset-tracking solutions and so on. They bundle connectivity, hardware and software together for the customer in a way they can immediately start gathering data and measuring things but can also have the tools to make sense of the data and act on it.”
With the fleet monitoring solution, customers can log on to a digital portal and know straight away where their vehicle fleet is and get some information to start optimising performance.
“These are our solutions that can apply in multiple vertical markets. They enable those productivity and sustainable benefits.
“We have a lot of solutions for environmental monitoring because that’s an area where IoT can make a huge impact. We have solutions for monitoring water flow and water quality. There are water metering solutions. We’ve got a solution that monitors soil conditions and others that keep a watch on weather conditions.”
At Waitākiri Bottle Lake Forest Park, Spark worked with Christchurch City Council and Fire and Emergency New Zealand to build an environmental IoT sensing and early fire detection network. The technology protects more than 800 hectares. The sensors are able to detect the early signs of a fire and trigger a fast emergency response. Wong says the project demonstrates another aspect of IoT projects which are often collaborations or partnerships.
“To get the transformational change you need to get everyone working together either within the same sector or across sectors. We know that each business can make an important, but a small change in carbon emissions, but the real impact happens when people work together and apply solutions across the board.”
· Spark is an advertising sponsor of the Herald’s Dynamic Business Report.
COP29 is an opportunity to help steer us toward a more sustainable, low-emissions future.