Fostering Growth and Productivity with Real-Time Insights from Mobile Technologies

Conversations About Digital Transformation: Honeywell

Smart, effective enterprise mobility is comprised of many touchpoints involving providers of industry-leading devices, apps, services and more. Each has a unique and valuable perspective on the most important aspects to achieving success through enterprise mobile technology deployments. Recently, we conducted a series of in-depth discussions with some of the biggest names in enterprise mobile technology to better understand the seismic shifts that are bringing about this digital transformation.

In our latest installment, we engage Michael Noyes, Vice President and General Manager at Honeywell. Honeywell is a leading manufacturer of end-to-end mobility solutions for rugged environments such as field service and distribution centers, featuring the Mobility Edge™ platform of fully-integrated and innovative handheld computing devices, scanners, sensors, RFID readers, printers and more. Honeywell’s extensive hardware experience made them a natural partner for organizations looking to operationalize digital transformation.

As Noyes points out, “the term digital transformation has become more pervasive in the context of today’s industry. Digitization is now more of a priority for so many organizations and for Honeywell, this means bringing together brilliant machines, analytics and people – taking that network and a multitude of industrial devices that are connected to them and putting them into a system that allows us to monitor, collect, exchange, analyze and deliver value on those types of insights. Now, we’re working much smarter and we can run prognostic and diagnostics on all our assets. To me, that’s the biggest part of what digital transformation means. It’s about the network of sensors and connected devices that are going to impact how we live and work over the next few decades.”

The Mobility Edge platform is a natural response to this need for a connected ecosystem. In conceiving it, Honeywell sought to redefine how technology fuels productivity. “We recognized our industry needed a reboot when it came to productivity,” offer Noyes. “It was pretty clear that the industry was changing very rapidly, and many developed countries were just no longer able to find double-digit returns when it came to productivity and bottom-line numbers.

Mobility will play a vital role in that future, which is so crucial because it’s very flexible and easily dispatched. Looking across the globe, each industry has its unique catalyst, but what really mattered was technology. That’s why we’ve made such a huge investment in this Mobility Edge platform and rolling it out at scale. Whether it’s a PDA, terminal style or a device mounted on a vehicle, we see mobility as a driver in allowing our customers the ability to grow.”

Honeywell is not just preparing for the workforce of today, but also for technological shifts on the horizon. When asked about emerging technologies relevant to their market position, Noyes said “one theme we see a lot is the idea of automated data capture via artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. A lot of our tools are finding ways to help customers scan and grab barcodes that may be damaged or difficult to read. AI can drive productivity so later this year, we’ll be announcing a new platform based on a software layer that delivers artificial intelligence on a continuous learning platform for the end user.”

Continuing on, he states that “over the next ten years, we should also see major improvements to 3D printing. We’ve had this concept for a long time, especially in our industry, but we should see more widespread usage soon. While we do a lot of rapid prototype work to get concepts in the hands of consumers, soon we’re talking about the ability to print jet engines or entire automobiles. We are taking advanced and complex objects that used to be built with traditional manufacturing methods and flipping the script. These projects had long lead times and needed complex building materials. Soon, we’re going to see an onset of printed parts that will help us bring advanced concepts to the market with a really short lead time.”

Honeywell’s focus is on translating these new and exciting options to practical use cases of benefit to their enterprise customers. Interaction with customers is one of the most important determinants of their product development decisions. Noyes notes that “this starts with listening to the customer up-front and seeing where their needs lie. Research shows only about 5 percent of companies are able to succeed in their digital transformation, most of them being the marquee enterprises that impact our lives every day. But when we’re out in the field talking to our customers, we see failure is largely due to a lack of purpose-built industrial platforms and devices. This is where Honeywell invests our R&D budgets to find specific solutions for these end users.

For retail, this can be building RFID sleds to pair up with mobile devices. Companies are transforming as employees move from task-based workers to knowledge-based. To achieve this transition, employees need to be equipped with purpose-built devices and platforms that work parallel with their roles. As well, training to be able to interface a device with a sled or utilize a platform to track inventory. You have to be close to the end user to create a winning solution for all.”

Honeywell realizes the sheer scale of the challenge of enabling true digital transformation – via devices, apps, services and more – requires the partnership of multiple providers to make it happen. Noyes speaks to exactly why they engage certified partners such as Stratix. “Partnerships are absolutely imperative” he says, “[because] the world is just too big and too complex for one company to try and do it alone. The way we evangelize these digital transformations and with our solutions, you need to have partners like Stratix that understand your value proposition and motives.”

When you think about digital transformation, partners not only help you get your message in front of the customers, but they help you build a pipeline and develop scale. It is imperative to look for somebody who is specialized and has a grasp of the pain points of end users. Partnerships are about developing great products not just at the conceptual stage, but out in real-world terms. They provide rationale and insights that drive projects forward. Partners can help get lab teams out of the vacuum to understand what our customers need and the situations and hardships they are going through. This is how we can drive productivity and create the tools and strategies to help enterprises embrace their transformations.”

Be sure to read the rest of our conversations about digital transformation in our eBook The Role of Enterprise Mobility in Digital Transformation for valuable insights on how the evolution of enterprise mobility is changing the business landscape.

The Role of Enterprise Mobility in Digital Transformation

We interviewed industry experts to get their most valuable insights including real world examples of successful, mobile-led transformations.

Read the eBook