The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, (CVG) has deployed an IoT solution, provided by Losant, to streamline operations and improve customer experience when travelling on the airport’s tram between terminals and the concourse.
Losant and CVG will appear on an upcoming webinar hosted by IoT Evolution to discuss the strategy and deployment. The webinar, entitled “Brand Enhancement with IoT: A Real-World Use Case,” will take place Thursday, April 26 at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific. Click here to register.
The two companies worked together to deploy a solution for streamlining reporting and operations of the intra-airport transportation system. With Losant, the CVG is tracking its terminal trains that bring people from the terminal to the concourse between flights. The system was originally designed in the late 80s and built during the early 90s. Because of its age, the technology had gotten fairly outdated and couldn’t really help operators understand train locations or how long it would be before they arrived at the stops in a dynamic way.
I spoke with webinar presenters Stephen Saunders, Sr. Manager, Terminal Operations at CVG, and Brandon Cannaday, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Losant, to get a little preview of what to expect from the event.
IoT Evolution: Why should companies and enterprises of all sizes use IoT?
Brandon Cannaday: A lot of companies are adopting IoT for two reasons: to make additional money and to portray an innovative side to their company. They want to tell the story about themselves that is about being innovative.
Stephen Saunders: From our perspective, we want to use the best technology that’s available to us and IoT is an emerging space that, especially in a dynamic environment like we have, can keep pace with industry. And, it helps us stay on the cutting edge and stay innovative.
IoTE: Why is IoT ideally suited for the airport environment?
SS: IoT is nimble enough to be able to adapt to the changing conditions in our dynamic environment. Every airport struggles with efficiency, whether it be at security checkpoints or baggage claim. There’s always some kind of a unique aspect that could throw that process off and hurt our customers’ experiences, so we want to have a technology solution that’s nimble enough to react to our environment at the airport.
IoTE: What was the goal of this partnership?
SS: One of the things we partnered with Losant to do was to put sensors in the train tunnel to be able to track the train at any point and then display that information in a user-friendly way to know where the train is, and how long it will be before it arrives at a particular station. In an airport environment, we’re learning that we need to give the power to the customer, give them information and let the customers make good decisions for themselves.
IoTE: Why is this project and process relevant to any industry, beyond airports?
BC: Almost every industry has problems of inefficiencies that can be solved, or there are ways to improve customer experience. Once you’ve identified those problems, you can sit back and decide how IoT can help address or solve those problems. There are sensors for everything these days and data can solve almost every problem.
It’s all about starting small. For example, if a retail space wants to have a certain type of experience whenever a customer walks through the door, that’s a cool idea, but you have to start small and try it first. A lot of companies fail at the IoT project roll-out stage because they bite off too much and then get a bad taste in their mouth for IoT and they don’t want to move forward. Instead, they should start small, and test out the solution, ensure it works before going to full-scale production.
SS: Also, when the proof-of-concept works, for us, it not only helps prove that the concept works, but also helps us sell it internally. We have to be able to sell it internally to make sure our executives get it before we start rolling out larger deployments. In most industries, you’ve got to get the buy-in from your internal stakeholders and a proof-of-concept is the perfect way to do that.
Make sure you register now to join CVG, Losant and IoT Evolution for the “Brand Enhancement with IoT: A Real-World Use Case” webinar discussion on Thursday, April 26 at 1 p.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Pacific to get a deep dive into this execution and how it can apply to any enterprise.
Ken Briodagh is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars.Edited by
Ken Briodagh
