Digitalization has the power to transform industries, improve quality and bring innovations to the market more quickly. But most importantly, new technology gives companies a great opportunity to serve their customers in smarter and more exciting ways.
Digitalization is a phenomenon that touches all of our lives. In fact, many of our day-to-day activities have been transformed over the last decade. As a leader in its industry, KONE has been adapting to digitalization by working hard to combine technology know-how and business agility, while adjusting to changes in the market as well as customer needs.
Digitalization has an impact on every area of KONE’s business: it means using real-time data and analytics as preventive maintenance gets smarter. It also means improving the customer experience through real-time transparency. Or it can mean sustainable, smart buildings making better use of energy and resources. For users, it means a better, personalized experience through the whole elevator and escalator journey, from access to destination.
Taking services to the next level
One tangible example of this is KONE’s collaboration with IBM. For years, KONE has employed remote monitoring systems for its equipment. In early 2016, the company dramatically widened these efforts by partnering with IBM to make use of their IoT Watson Platform. The result, a year later, is 24/7 Connected Services, a set of services that offers customers the quickest path from monitoring to maintenance results, ensuring the least possible interruption to people flow.
It starts with sensors that measure variables such as the number of starts, temperature, and stopping accuracy, which are then transferred via a wireless connection to the IoT cloud. Millions of data points are collected and sent through Watson’s analytics engine to find symptoms that might indicate a pending problem. The information is forwarded directly to maintenance technicians along with suggestions for what components to check or adjustments to make during the next regular maintenance visit, thereby minimizing the chances of a future breakdown.
Adopting a digital culture
KONE has a long and successful history of innovation in areas like technology, safety, and eco-efficiency. And in the drive towards digitalization, it is tempting for companies to try to master everything in-house. It can be more effective, however, to adopt a more digital culture, and co-create new products or services together with customers and partners. At KONE, this is something we are doing today and it is an area where we intend to lead.
Liisa Kivelä
Head of Communications
KONE Corporation