Insight Enterprises launched Wednesday Insight Connected Suite, a fully managed Internet of Things (IoT) solution that is industry-agnostic and helps clients accelerate the use of smart solutions.
Insight Connected Suite, built on Microsoft Azure, propels the adoption of IoT solutions at scale by solving common deployment and management challenges, such as managing and analyzing remote data sources in low-connectivity environments.
For example, farms may run data or machine-learning models based on a variety of information, such as imagery collected from drones or sensors placed in the field that give real-time data on fertilizer and moisture levels. Or oil companies with thousands of wells scattered across remote areas of the world, with little to no internet bandwidth, can now enable operations like autonomous pump inspections that reduce the risk of damaged equipment while potentially increasing uptime and yields.
Connecting disparate IoT point solutions via a common framework to a centralized dashboard that ingests, visualizes and triggers events from any data source. For example, a restaurant might deploy temperature sensors for freezers and cooking preparation devices, smart appliances monitoring inventory and maintenance, patron seat sensors, security cameras, digital signage and smart washroom products.
Insight Connected Suite provides a holistic picture derived from these IoT sources to enhance the customer experience, improve safety and compliance, and optimize overall operations.
It also aids in translating insights from data-gathering devices into real-time communications when time is critical to preserving public safety. For example, helping private businesses or public-sector organizations like schools formally relay safety concerns on their campuses to first responders and anyone impacted by an incident. Campus security can improve emergency response by using a wide variety of notifications and alerts fed by IoT security devices like cameras, sound sensors, panic buttons and smart lighting linked to third-party systems.
“Communities and businesses understand the transformative potential of IoT and smart solutions as they look to modernize their infrastructure. However, the time and resources needed to develop complex, one-off solutions have remained a roadblock to widespread adoption,” said Stan Lequin, vice president and general manager, Digital Innovation, Insight. “As a super solution integrator, Insight is addressing this market need with preconfigured, repeatable cloud and IoT-based architecture that readily unites a host of third-party smart devices and applications under a single framework.”
“Complex problems don’t have to translate into complicated and costly answers,” said Jeff Dodge, director, Digital Innovation, Insight. “We see many aspects of our clients’ businesses that are getting smart, yet they’re not in the business of collectively managing these different smart solutions. They need one way to procure, deploy, integrate, manage and support their entire portfolio of IoT devices while solving for common challenges like low connectivity in remote areas or translating different data sources into collective intelligence that produces greater results for the business. Insight Connected Suite is that end-to-end solution.”
Insight announced last month that it has entered into an agreement with PCM Inc., provider of IT products and services, under which Insight will acquire PCM for US$35 per share, representing a 36 percent premium to its onw-month average closing share price as of Friday, June 21, 2019. The transaction implies an enterprise value of approximately $581 million (including cash and debt acquired).
PCM, based in El Segundo, California, is a provider of multi-vendor technology offerings, including hardware, software and services to small, mid-sized and corporate/enterprise commercial clients, state, local and federal governments and educational institutions across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. PCM has offices in 40 locations across these geographies and has more than 4,000 teammates, including more than 2,700 client-facing teammates in sales, technical and service delivery roles.
The combination of the two organizations extends Insight’s reach into areas where clients need help most: positioning their businesses for future growth, transforming and securing their data platforms, creating modern and mobile experiences for their workforce and optimizing the procurement of technology. Together, the combined organization will be able to offer partners an even stronger salesforce globally, with increased footprints in North America and the United Kingdom.
