TORONTO – Rogers Communications’ Mansell Nelson says it wasn’t that long ago when Canadian businesses struggled to grasp the concept of machine-to-machine (M2M) technology, and what it could do for them. However, the vice-president of advanced business solutions said that has changed, and that companies now come to him with fresh ideas.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of people looking at existing ways of doing things (in their business) and saying, ‘how do I use wireless to change that? How do I use wireless to save money by doing it that way?’,” he told delegates at the Canadian Wireless Trade Show in Toronto on Wednesday. “Our whole goal is to make it easier for them to do that.”
Nelson (pictured) flagged M2M as “a growth initiative” for Rogers, noting that some 50 billion global M2M connections are anticipated by 2020. Some believe this could be a trillion-dollar business, globally. His team recently celebrated a million M2M connections, an accomplishment that he called “a milestone for Canada.”
Rogers has identified six principle “verticals” best suited to M2M technology – healthcare, oil & gas, automotive, retail, transportation and government. Noting that approximately 70% of Canadians now carry smartphones, Nelson detailed Rogers’ recent experience working with large retailers as an example of how wireless technology can enhance relationships with their customers.
Retail typically uses discounted offers communicated by flyers and other traditional media to attract customers to a store, a method that typically offers a 3% return on investment, he said. But “smart retail” promises to more than double that return for a fraction of the cost. “We’re using wireless sensors now and WiFi in the handsets, and we’re actually able to tell if a person enters the mall, we’re actually able to shoot them a notice on their phone, drive them to the retailer, give them a coupon, then use our new mobile wallet, for example, to drive the whole payment and continue that relationship”, he explained.
As this process takes place entirely over Rogers’ networks, Nelson added, this opportunity puts the company “in a unique position to be working with these retailers to do everything from building those (sensors), to managing that infrastructure, our wallet, and delivering the whole solution to the end consumer, and have a different relationship with the retailer.” And under some of the relationships, Rogers would then earn a percentage of each transaction tied to such direct sales from wireless location-based marketing.
While M2M is still in its infancy in many ways, Nelson assured attendees that the networks and technology are currently secure and robust, but a large barrier to full scale adoption, however, could very well be human behaviour.
“I think the next layer, if you’re a retailer, is you need to convince people that they want to register (for these kind of offers), that there are going to be benefits,” he said. “But until that happens, the magic doesn’t really start happening.”
