Already back in 2017, Combient together with the network started discovering the potential in edge analytics. A review of the area was conducted during 2018.

This was at the same time as the joint startup program Spark started to form. Within the frames of Spark, that first edge analytics review led to the first engagement with Stream Analyze, a then early-stage Swedish startup working on a software infrastructure platform.

“We have built the platform with the analyst and engineer in mind, allowing the people with domain knowledge to build, deploy and run AI models interactively in real-time rather than streaming all necessary data to the cloud,” says Jan Nilsson, Co-founder and CEO of Stream Analyze, describing their platform which can be installed on any device in the world, allowing companies to drastically reduce time-to-market and increase productivity. “Our platform is being used to address a broad range of issues such as fleet insight, predictive maintenance, data security and integrity, sustainability, time and energy optimization, and reducing financial risk depending on the use case,” Jan explains.

The servitization case with Ericsson and SEB

As more and more equipment becomes connected, new business models emerge. Machines managing their own costs and revenues directly – making them financially autonomous – opens up for completely new pricing models and service offerings such as dynamic leasing, autonomous machine purchases, usage-based pricing, and product-as-a-service. This optimizes and reduces the financial risk for existing services. However, to be able to do this seamlessly, an infrastructure that allows for dynamic modeling on the machines alongside financial modeling for microtransactions is necessary.

This idea caught further speed when Jan Nilsson met with Erik Kruse, Engagement Lead & Networked Society Evangelist Internet of Things at Ericsson, back in June this year. “With AI on the edge paired with financial as well as environmental models we are moving IoT and edge computing from a technical issue to a much more business focused topic, which is very important. It becomes a radically different discussion that includes more departments from the customer, and the customer can play around with different business models and see how it affects cash flow and revenues. Now we can measure revenues and costs on for example a single robot level. The opportunities are limitless,” says Erik Kruse.

Discussions are now also ongoing with SEB on their Bank 4.0 concept and vision, and how to enable, implement and integrate IoT-adapted dynamic financial services with the evolving IoT-ecosystem. “Industry 4.0, including IoT and edge analytics, will drive automation as well as creating new business opportunities and models. This is happening today and at an accelerated pace going forward. At SEB we believe that an extra layer of value creation could be added by also integrating financial services into the emerging IoT and edge analytics infrastructures. Sensor data aggregated and analyzed at the edge could automatically trigger financial services for the benefit not only for the traditional production and supply chain side of corporates, but also for the financial side. This is where SEB with our Bank 4.0 concept will explore opportunities and are working on several customer driven use-cases,“ says Kristian Gårder, CTO, Large Corporates & Financial Institutions at SEB.

“We provide the analytics part of the puzzle and are working closely with Ericsson and the financial institutions to merge connectivity, edge computing, analytics and financial modeling. The end goal is to reduce the customer's financial risk and open up new revenue streams going forward,” says Jan Nilsson at Stream Analyze.

An attractive model for startups

Looking back at over two years of engagement with the Combient network, the team at Stream Analyze will enter 2021 in full speed, starting by kicking off a strong collaboration case with Ericsson. “Combient’s unique collaboration model suits Stream Analyze very well. We get to work closely with a select group of global enterprises in a variety of industries from pilot phase to implementation and global roll-out,” Jan Nilsson concludes.