Interested in connecting with Adam? Reach out to him on Linkedin!

About OnAsset Intelligence, Inc.: OnAsset was founded (as SAVR) in 2005 with a focus on industrial RFID track and trace technology. Not long after its founding, the SAVR team met with global logistic providers seeking to leverage technology to provide greater insight into their operations. These engagements prompted a shift in direction for the young company and OnAsset as its known today was born.

Key Questions and Topics from this Episode:

(00:55) Intro to Adam

(01:32) Intro to OnAsset Intelligence

(06:10) Can you share some use cases?

(09:06) How did digital transformation really take hold in the logistics industry?

(15:13) How do you help customers recognize the value in real-time data?

(17:45) What’s your strategy for helping customers go from education, to pilot, to scale?

(20:54) How do you operate in such a highly-regulated industry? What has been the driving force for digital transformation there?

(23:39) How do you ensure that your solutions work with other software solutions out there? How do you plug into existing infrastructure?

(27:15) How do you see the need for edge computing progress as use cases continue to evolve?

Transcript:

- [Narrator] You are listening to the IoT For All Media Network.

- [Ryan] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the IoT For All podcast on the IoT For All Media Network. I'm your host, Ryan Chacon one of the Co-Creators of IoT For All. Now, before we jump into this episode, please, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform or join our newsletter at IoTforall.com/newsletter to catch all the newest episodes as soon as they come out. Before we get started, if any of you out there are looking to enter the fast-growing and profitable IoT market but don't know where to start check out our sponsor Leverege's IoT Solutions Development platform, which provides everything you need to create turnkey IoT products that you can white label and resell under your own brand. To learn more go to IoTchangeseverything.com that's IoTchangeseverything.com. So without further ado, please enjoy this episode of the IoT For All podcast. Welcome Adam to the IoT For All show. How are things going on your end?

- [Adam] Going well, thanks for having us on, Ryan.

- [Ryan] Yeah, it's great to have you. Let's start off by having you give a quick introduction to our audience, talk about background, experience, anything you think would give our audience more context into who their listening to.

- [Adam] Sure. Adam Crossno Founder and CEO of OnAsset been in the business of real time supply chain visibility for about a decade and a half now. Mainly coming from an engineering background but today I get involved in everything from helping engineer our products from the ground up, and then really engaging with customers to help understand how they, they use our products and ultimately take that feedback into helping improve our products.

- [Ryan] Fantastic. So on the OnAsset side of things, what do you all do exactly and kind of, where's your focus in IoT for our audience to kind of catch up to that?

- [Adam] So we provide real time supply chain visibility typically associated with high-value assets or shipments that are moving through the global supply chain. So really think about anything where you'd like to have that additional peace of mind where you can understand where something is, what's happening to it, who has possession of it, and, really, all of those kind of end-to-end things involved in moving product from one location to another that you want to be able to, to be alerted on anything that's not going according to plan, or just generally see all of your assets moving so you can, you know, do supply chain planning based on when those assets are arriving or departing.

- [Ryan] Right, okay, that makes a lot of sense. And tell me a little bit about the story behind kind of founding the company. So, you know, what were you doing before? What opportunity did you kind of see in the market and, you know, what kind of prompted you to, to start OnAsset and obviously get it to where it is now?

- [Adam] Well, I actually started as a mechanical engineer doing a robotic automation systems quite some time ago in the early 2000s. And it was actually getting involved with some of the early RFID equipment back when RFID became a real buzzword and Walmart came out trying to implement RFID to their global chain, we started to integrate some of the RFID equipment into those robotic systems and we identified pretty early on that the stuff that was available in the open market was not really intended for heavy industrial applications, was not made to plug and play with those robotic automation systems. So we actually invented a modular RFID reader and filed several patents on it that would allow those kinds of systems to plug and play more on the industrial manufacturing side of the world. And that was very successful for us to the point where we spun that, that entity off into a separate business to take that modular RFID product to market and in the process met several logistics companies. One of which was DHL at some RFID trade shows and that was the point where we really got our eyes opened into the world of global logistics and all of the things involved in that and it was a natural extension of the type of manufacturing-centric visibility we were giving people through the RFID systems and it was really a challenge from some of the logistics providers to, to open up that kind of visibility into the global supply chain, but do that in a way that did not require RFID infrastructure to be installed in all of their various facilities because there's a pretty large upfront cost associated with that. So that really got us leapfrogging from RFID technology, which traditionally requires an installed infrastructure to use into the kind of fully autonomous cellular, satellite, wifi based type of systems that could track something from origin to destination. So effectively like a smartphone for things that you could ship around the world and this was, at the time, again in the early to mid 2000s prior to, you know, the smartphone really existing. So at the time a lot of people did not believe you could have a small wireless device inside of a package and watch that as it transited the globe, but we were able to very successfully prove that and in the process we got involved in really understanding the regulatory landscape for the use of real-time supply chain visibility. And if you really think about the types of products people move where they're willing to pay an extra cost to have that real-time visibility a lot of that gravitates around the aviation or air cargo landscape because they move a lot of mission critical or high-value products that need to get from one place to another quickly. And that became kind of centric to our business for a period of time. So we actually invented and patented some unique technology and have the benefit of actually being invited by the FAA to sit on the rulemaking committee for the regulatory foundation of how to use real-time tracking devices in aircraft. And that's where we kind of cut our teeth and got our reputation, in a sense really expanded into the global world of supply chain visibility via all modes of transport.

- [Ryan] Wow, that's awesome. That's a fantastic story. So I'd love it, I'd love it if you could expand on some of your more, let's say popular or prominent, or maybe the use cases you're maybe most active in to kind of give our audience a bit more context as to the application of your technology and offering in the real world, usually a pretty good discussion there.

- [Adam] Sure. Well, it's certainly a sector that's very, very popular for us as is pharmaceutical, life science, and perishables, really because we provide not only a service that gives you the location of your goods, but their condition as well. So if you really think about the pharmaceutical industry in general is moving toward requiring, you know, temperature regimes, depending on what you're shipping. So a lot of the medicines today require, if not frozen or deep frozen transport, at least refrigerated or controlled transport. So we do a lot of work in that space. We've been heavily involved in the COVID vaccine distribution and all things there because that is, you know, highly sensitive product and you need to maintain that chain of custody and integrity throughout the entire shipping and storage cycle. So that's been a huge market for us. We also get involved, generally speaking, in anything that is high value or mission critical. So that can be medical equipment, high-value electronics, things that are not only prone to potential damage in transit, but theft, theft concerns, that type of thing. So in some respects, our solution is a security blanket for shipments in addition to understanding, you know, the integrity and the quality of the shipment. So all of those things kind of roll up and then we do some, interesting things like helping manage, you know, spare parts for the aviation industry. If you think about mission critical, the parts themselves may not be very expensive, but they could take an aircraft out of service if they don't get somewhere quickly and in the right time and the right condition. So we do a lot of that and then most recently we've really gotten involved with our customers of taking traditionally non-connected assets, like pallets, the load devices, the ULDs that store luggage and cargo inside aircraft, even temperature controlled shipping packages and really taking our technology and integrating it into those systems so that you create kind of connected tools of the trade. So it's not just the individual shipment you're tracking, but actually the, the conveyance or what's storing, or handling those shipments. And most recently we've actually expanded our solution into the warehousing as well so we can provide that true kind of end-to-end visibility at all points in storage, or in motion, as it changes hands and do that on a global basis, which has certainly been a challenge to make a solution work consistently all over the world.

- [Ryan] Absolutely. Can you kind of talk a little bit more about, if you think about the logistics industry as a whole and kind of just the history of it, how has digital transformation kind of become a valuable tool in the growth of, kind of, what's possible and kind of where, you know, helping move the industry forward and specifically focused on like on the logistics industry side of things?

- [Adam] Well, you know, it's interesting in the sense that, to some extent, the logistics industry, you know, has a tried and true way of operating and they're somewhat resistant to change, but it's really been the consumer aspect and the proliferation of all the wireless devices and smart phones and really, you know, even when you order something from Amazon and can watch that delivery coming to your door, it's then those expectations of visibility and button click access to information on what you've purchased or what's being delivered that's actually driving a lot of the change because, you know, the consumer can see this technology can work for their individual shipments, of course, businesses are now expecting that same type of visibility. So it's been the consumer industry back pressure has really forced the logistics industry to start embracing this type of technology and the IoT capabilities that brings because really, if you think about the granularity of data that can be collected, in the fact that everybody is motivated to move to kind of a just in time supply chain to save costs, increase velocity in business, it's really a great natural fit. And we've been working with customers for quite some time that were early adopters and have moved from, you know, pilots and trials many years ago to now, you know, full roll-outs and they're seeing quite a bit of benefit and certainly some of the customers we worked with that were prepped ahead of time with technology to deal with vaccine distribution that was a huge benefit and I think, generally speaking, the world's response to COVID and understanding that those vaccines had to be really tightly controlled and necessitated this type of visibility technology and supply chain has only further pushed people to realize it's not a matter of if you need this, it's just a matter of, of when and who you partner with to roll it out. So, you know, I think the industry now knows this is the direction it's going, but you still have your interesting challenges in the sense of trying to take, you know, technology enablement into a traditionally paperwork driven process where there's a lot of data silos in the industry. You know, the technology exists to build those bridges, but it's really just a matter of taking people who are used to doing business in one way, you know, seeing the value of tools to enhance that business tomorrow and taking them on a journey to get there, which depending on the appetite of our individual customers can move very quickly or, you know, can really take a couple years to get that journey headed in the right direction and move into, you know, a really good controlled rollout because at the end of the day, you know, it's the customers who think about how this technology gets enabled at the edge and the fact that their workforce needs to, you know, adopt and understand how to work with it, it can't be something that's just driven from the C-suite without taking a lot of time to tangibly consider, you know, what the boots on the ground need to do to fully embrace and use the solution. In many cases, it can actually enhance and make their business easier and remove steps from the equation, but it is with all things, you know, it's a matter of adoption and really thinking about what is a day in the life look like from every user's perspective to make sure the solution fit for purpose, and at least from OnAssets' point of view, we have never met any two customers that are exactly the same. You know, one of the biggest drawbacks we see in the IoT industry in general is some of the bigger players that try to sell a, you know, one size fits all type solution and don't have a mindset of really engaging with the customer and embracing the fact that, you know, you need to tweak or tune the dials of the solution to their specific business needs. That's the thing I've actually organized OnAsset to do and we're very proud of that we can, we can take a product that exists and is somewhat standardized, but then we can, you know, customize aspects of that product to make it work exactly the way the customer needs to.

- [Ryan] And it's kind of a requirement these days in the IoT space. If you think about the variables that come into play, especially in the logistics space, across the entire supply chain every solution has a different kind of asset that's being tracked. The data that's required, you know, is different for each of those assets. The environment in which those assets are living in is different. You know, there's so many different variables that tie in and then eventually influence the ROI for that customer, which at the end of the day, is their decision-making point of whether or not this solution is going to work or not for them. So it, you, I don't really think you can do the, the one size fits all and, and actually get the true benefit of the IoT solution in a variety of different applications, at least not from my experience.

- [Adam] I couldn't agree with what you said more. You stated it very well. And that's, that's something I think the industry is starting to understand. But we do meet customers often that have gone to, you know, larger suppliers and find issues where, you know, not everybody can start with a full rollout day one, right? You need to grow in and plan for that to do it in a controlled way to make it successful. And we do meet a lot of customers who, you know, try to do that with some larger companies that don't necessarily have the mindset or try to force them into, you know, a very large volume commitment before they'll start doing some of that tweaking or tuning and it really just creates static in the sales cycle and that's a place where we can step in and make things happen much more quickly.

- [Ryan] And let me ask you, when you were working with a variety of different customers across different industries, different applications, that kind of thing, how do you all help these customers really understand the value of that real time data that, you know, and the solution you're bringing to them as something that they should invest their time, their resources, and money into that will, you know, overall make a very large impact of the daily operations and then obviously be able to use that data in ways they probably never envisioned, how do you kind of educate them on that? How do you help customers understand that value?

- [Adam] I mean, the real answer to that question is you've got to kind of come from the mountaintops of singing the high level value proposition and get down into the valleys with them and really, really start to understand, you know, what are the features that they need? How can it be implemented? In a lot of cases, we deal with customers who have legacy IT systems that they can't just rip out and change, but that maybe aren't even set up to kind of absorb, you know, real-time location and sensor data by the minute or second. So, you know, there's a lot of blocking and tackling you have to do by, first of all, just listening to your customer and understanding their business as much as you can to kind of fit your solution to their needs. And then, you know, really very early in the process, you need to start having those discussions about, you know, what does deployment look like? What system integrations are required? Who needs to share data? Where does it need to go? You know, who makes decisions and how do they make decisions based on this data? You know, those pieces are important to get on the table and talk through early because I can tell you through all of my experience it is almost never a scenario where the technology doesn't deliver on the value promise. It always gets bogged down in the implementation cycle or people not thinking through, you know, the aspects of global implementation and simple things like if you are a global company, you know, do people need to ingest this data or be delivered in a secondary language or the operating times across the globe that people need to be supported. It's simple things like that, that I think you have a danger of coming later in the discussion, we try to really bubble those up and get those out early because, at the end of the day, it's never an issue of does our product deliver on its value promise, it's always a matter of how you make sure that business is set to accept that value and roll it out in a controlled way.

- [Ryan] Gotcha. And when you're working with these customers, how's the process for moving them from, kind of after you've educated and you kind of helped them understand the value, you get them into a pilot and some kind of trial, and then you move them into, or you're hoping to move them into, these large scale roll-outs. What have been the biggest challenges associated with that, and kind of advice you may have for companies that kind of are looking to be able to accomplish the same thing at a pretty high success rate like you have been able to?

- [Adam] Yeah, I think it's multifaceted in the sense that certainly with us, we serve, you know, probably the two most regulated industries in the world, in pharmaceuticals and aviation. So, you know, number one is you've got to make sure that the partner you pick has the appropriate pedigree to address the specific needs of your industry or the vertical business you're in. You know, there's, I think a desire for some companies to find a one size fits all provider, you know, very large company with a marquee name, but to a large extent, those kinds of people don't have expertise in applying IoT solutions to specific product verticals. So you've got to make sure you've got the right partnership and that you really have in focus early in the exchange, the, you know, regulatory requirements, testing requirements, all of those things so that you, you're all engaging in a way that's kind of eyes wide open. You know, the other thing you've got to do is plow the road to make sure the benefits of what you're delivering can be absorbed and used. You know, again, kind of back to that point where you've got to have the backend systems that can absorb the type of data granularity that's generated so that ultimately, you know, you can trigger rules, and events, and business processes to actually gain, not just visibility and peace of minds through the solution, but actually implementation and change. Those are, those are big parts, you know, the other just interesting challenges, you know, we try to make a single solution that works in a consistent fashion all over the world. I think there's quite a few, you know, upstart companies in IoT that have the perception, you know, you can buy a module here, pop a SIM card in it there, throw plastic housing and a battery on it and now you've got a product. It's not quite that easy and there are so many road bumps and hurdles you run into when you try to deploy a product to the four corners of the world and support things through, you know, roaming relationships that are two or three levels removed. It's an interesting challenge and you have to have a support organization set up to absorb and deal with that. So that's another, you know, learning, I think, a lot of people go through that curve, but it's not trivial and it's not as simple as some make it out to be. But that being said, you know, with the right kind of mindset and the right understanding, and really trying to be eyes wide open with the customer, and what not only needs to be accomplished in the trial, or pilot, but what does that end state look like three to five years from now? You got to have those conversations early in the cycle to make sure everybody's eyes wide open and not stumbling.

- [Ryan] Right, that makes a lot of sense. And now do you all work, I mean, I know you do, but when you are working in these industries that are highly regulated, that have a lot more kind of processes to follow, have a lot more things that need to kind of be reviewed and understood before they venture into a solution like this, what are the challenges that you found being able to deliver, you know, the expected results in an industry that is highly regulated and maybe often resistant to, you know, adopting these types of technologies?

- [Adam] You know, certainly there's a timeline element of it, in the sense of, in highly regulated industries you typically have to go through a lot of checks and balances, you know, quality audits, security audits, you know, mapping to regulations and that just takes time. So what we try to do is develop that to the extent we can relative to just the aspects of our solution and then we engage with the customer to flesh it out and create the full package. And that, you know, it depends a lot. It's different for each customer in the sense of how they're architected, what IT tools they're using, what third-party products they may be using in combination, because certainly in the pharmaceutical space, you know, there's temperature controlled packaging that when we may need to integrate or work with that's also an additional test cycle. So there's those aspects and then frankly, just the foundation of coming to the table with some of that regulatory pedigree already delivered, we're one of the few players in the market that has all of our equipment approved for use on aircraft and we design all of that to be fully compliant with aviation regulations because, again, if you're deploying real time supply chain visibility, especially for a global operation, there's almost always some aspect of air cargo, or air movement involved in that. So, you know, we try to tackle the hardest regulatory aspects first, and it's that much easier then to take our solutions and use it for ground, inter-modal, rail transport, whatever the customer may need to do, because our goal is kind of a one stop shop for all of those different modes of transport. So you have a visibility solution that's based on standardized technology, is delivered consistently, and works the same way globally. So you don't have to have, you know, regionalized fleets that you manage and different things based on where they're being used. You know, the global supply chain, the velocity is just increasing day over day. Everybody wants it faster. They want it more just in time, you know, and to do that, you've got to have something that's flexible to deal with all those different environments.

- [Ryan] Right, that makes a lot of sense. Now, one question I did have is, you know, knowing just about the supply chain and the logistics space, there are lots of other software platforms that are being used throughout the entire journey there. And I wanted to get a better understanding of how you all kind of approach integrating with, and working with, you know, other supply chain systems, ERP systems, things like that, and why the need for kind of an integration into kind of your offering and that real-time data kind of how that all works together to maximize the value of those platforms when kind of brought together with what you guys have?

- [Adam] Sure. Well, as you know, there are a huge variety of platforms that have come out in the market, I think due in large part to, you know, what I mentioned that a lot of legacy systems weren't really set up to absorb or utilize real-time visibility data effectively. So these platforms now have a home and there are some people out there with a lot of funding and massive valuations building these kind of real-time supply chain orchestration, you know, visibility and management platforms. And our perspective is that in order for those platforms to really have the most value they can to the customer is you've got to have quality real-time data at the edge injected into that. You know, it's a particular pet peeve of mine that I think a lot of those players go to market really touting, you know, all of the different data feeds that they can, they can bring to the table, and they can pull from all of these different sources and they're agnostic as to the IoT device landscape and will integrate with everyone. What we see though, you know, peeling the onion on that, and looking from the inside is in a lot of those cases, these systems are great, they have excellent capabilities, but they're making their decisions and presenting their data based upon data feeds that, you know, aren't timely, aren't necessarily accurate, are two or three layers removed from the actual source of the data, and they're starting to make these decisions and do, you know, things like predictive arrival times and they're getting it wrong purely because they're not spending as much time as they should really looking at the quality of the data they're feeding into the system that's now automating these business decisions. And I really think, you know, they're doing, in some ways, the whole customer base a disservice by being agnostic and trying to chase more data integrations when it's really looking at the integrations you have, it's the 80/20 rule. You know, there's probably a small handful of data feeds that actually do the lion share of decision-making in those platforms. And I really do think we're going to see in the future a culling of that market where instead of the approach of, you know, I'm agnostic and doing business with everybody and pulling feeds from all these places, there's going to be more focused business partnerships where people are really going to drive down to, you know, which IoT solutions are generating that valuable data that's actually enabling these systems to make some sort of decisions, or AI based planning and you're going to see, you know, a more focused group of partnerships that will materialize because at the end of the day, it's, you know, the old adage garbage in garbage out. If you're not controlling the quality of what the system is ingesting, it's never going to give you the best outpu