By 2020, 20.4 billion devices will be connected worldwide, according to Gartner. Cisco forecasts that number to be as high as 50 billion. Either way - that's a lot of connected 'things'.
And with this incredible growth, the device itself will become less important than the apps that run on it. This is thanks to the value of meaningful, actionable data. Just think for a moment about the various devices you use on a daily basis, from your mobile phone or wearable to your smart fridge, your computer or your TV. And on top of these devices, consider the various apps you use and how these platforms are collecting and delivering information to consumers and businesses. If we want a world where all of these tools and platforms work together seamlessly, they need to connect and interact with each other.
"Mesh App and Service Architecture (MASA) essentially combines this network of apps, connected devices and resulting data in a cohesive and meaningful manner, to deliver a seamless user experience to customers and businesses alike, and to do so on a device of their choice," notes Vishal Barapatre, CTO at In2IT Technologies. But what does this look like in practice? Let's consider travel, for example.
The average international trip is riddled with complexity around planning and logistics, notes Barapatre. "MASA could streamline the entire process." Imagine you're travelling from Cape Town to the US. With MASA, all of the data from the devices and apps you use, communications from your chosen airline and weather information could be combined to make your experience more streamlined. Taking it a step further, says Barapatre, MASA would collate this information to provide you with useful destination-based information and reporting on the political scenario of your final destination. How much easier would it be if your typical travel preferences were taken into account, automatically factoring in the specific places you'd like to visit? With MASA, all of this data would be collated and used to maximise your experience.
When data is used effectively, your itinerary can be altered depending on the weather and political conditions, which minimises the risk of flight delays and improves traveller safety. And you'd be notified ahead of time if delays happen to occur. A rental car would be pre-programmed with suggested or selected destinations, including the best routes to take, the best times to go and the most efficient and safest way to sightsee in that region. This makes it easier to avoid traffic or crime hot spots, while maximising time. On a more detailed level, additional information about your eating habits or allergies, medical conditions and accommodation preferences would all be factored in to guarantee that any suggestions that aren't suitable aren't even presented to you.
"This natural progression of data from one app to another, and one device to another, ensures that the traveller has the best possible user experience and, thus, the best possible travel experience."
Sounds pretty nifty, doesn't it? So why aren't we all doing it already?
MASA and your business
Ian Jansen van Rensburg, senior manager for technical pre-sales at VMware Sub-Saharan Africa, believes that thegoal of a MASA environment is to improve the end-user experience. "For business, MASA must be able to link multiple endpoints, devices, applications, services and information services," he says. If we focus on what the big research houses are saying about MASA, adds Jansen van Rensburg, modern organisations should most certainly start looking at embracing, or at least investigating, how to approach MASA in their business. Echoing what Gartner has said on the topic, he points out that MASA requires a modern architecture, one geared to deliver agile, flexible and dynamic cloud-based applications with agile, flexible and dynamic user experiences.
For business, MASA must be able to link multiple endpoints, devices, applications, services and information services.
Ian Jansen van Rensburg, at VMware Sub-Saharan Africa
While agile development certainly isn't anything new, with MASA, an agile approach is the most supportive approach. "What that means is it's out with the old linear and rigid three-tier application approach and in with a new software-defined approach to all development in your business." Calling on businesses to change their approach to development and the infrastructure deployed to support new app development, focus must be placed on creating software-defined applications and services that can work across all cloud and on-premise architecture, all of which must offer web-scale performance.
"In short, your software needs to be `mobile' and it needs to be able to work across multiple networks, IoT sensors, cloud-native applications and technologies. MASA and MASA applications will help your business consolidate all of the information firing off between different networks and apps and have these all working together as a seamless single user experience."
But business executives shouldn't be disillusioned, cautions Barapatre, adding that the downside lies in the potential security risks that `connected everything' brings. "Over and above complying with regulation, organisations will need to creatively collaborate to minimise the risk of a security breach at every single touch point. In order to not `make a mess of mesh', they will need to place a high importance on protecting their customers' data, as well as ensuring that devices remains solely within their - and their customers' - control."
According to Barapatre, how businesses benefit depends entirely on how they structure themselves and make use of MASA to innovate and deliver value to their customers.
MASA and your customers
"MASA helps organisations tap into the torrent of data that connected devices and apps produce and make sense of it as quickly as it arrives, while simultaneously enabling them to act on this data and deliver value to their customers, all with flawless precision," says Barapatre. For consumers, the immediate benefits of MASA will be seamless with streamlined user experiences enhancing their ways of life. These customers will experience seamless service from a multitude of service providers in their user journey, which are all leveraging the collective data pool that MASA creates, he continues.
Through MASA, businesses can effectively tap into the meshed network of devices and apps in order to more accurately, effectively and efficiently address the needs of their disparate customers - sometimes meeting customer needs before they even realise the need exists. Due to the real-time nature of accessing the data pool and making use of the information that suits their purpose, businesses can make decisions faster and innovate ahead of the curve. This allows them to fit seamlessly into the customer experience journey and, at the same time, enhance the customer experience.
"How businesses benefit depends entirely on how they structure themselves and utilise MASA to innovate and deliver value to their customers. The better the use of MASA, the better the use of data and the greater the benefits they will see."
Mesh devices unpacked
By now, you've probably heard about `mesh networking', which sees connected endpoints generating and cooperating with each other to relay data across an entire network.
A `mesh' is a certain type of connection among devices, which allows these devices to connect and interact. `The network of the physical version of that connection - the physical devices - is the Device Mesh', according to Wired.
With a Device Mesh, devices are talking to each other on command and are automatically passing information back and forth in order to get things done.
While this networked technology was typically only used by advanced government agencies, top businesses and networking companies, Gartner predicts that the proliferation of mobile innovations and devices - and the ever more seamless connection between them - will see the Device Mesh establishing a solid space in consumer markets in no time.
Regulation in a connected world
While all of the possibilities businesses can leverage using this wealth of data sounds rather exciting, business leaders mustn't forget about regulations like the Protection of Personal Information (PoPI) Act. PoPI dictates precisely what data may or may not be collected, how it may be used and for what purpose. In the age of instant gratification, businesses need to act fast, striking the perfect balance between gathering and using meaningful data as quickly as they receive it and also protecting their customers' right to privacy.
Is South Africa ready?
VMware's Ian Jansen van Rensburg and In2IT Technologies' Vishal Barapatre agree that there is definitely a local shift in thinking in favour of MASA, but adoption remains slow.
While cloud-native application developers and digitally savvy organisations are lapping up these networked technologies, in order for MASA to be effective, it requires buy-in from many organisations and a country's people, stresses Barapatre.
He advises that local IT service providers assist businesses by ensuring that they envision and implement the correct architecture to support MASA, so that this innovation can quickly be made available and can benefit South African consumers as soon as possible.
This article was first published in the October 2017 edition of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine. To read more, go to the Brainstorm website.
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