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acuitilabslondon · 4 years

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Mobility as a Service (MaaS) – How is it changing the future of Transportation?

Time is not so far when customer-centric options like self-driving cars, carpooling, people opting for greener options and choosing public transport, etc. will take over, and owning a car will be rare. This is what the future of transportation certainly looks like. The concept of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) makes it even more clear and certain.

In the past few years, a huge shift from using personally owned cars to choosing public transportation or using mobility as a service has been noticed. The current way of traveling from let us say point A to point B has changed and is transforming and shaping up the whole ecosystem of individual mobility. Not only will be the entire transportation industry will be affected by it, but other sectors including health care, energy, media, insurance etc. will have the impact. These industries should reevaluate and opt for more advanced solutions to create value in this emerging environment.

What is Mobility as a Service (MaaS)?

Mobility as a Service also commonly referred to as MaaS is a customer-centric platform for individuals to use as a mode of transportation. This is an on-demand, real-time platform which basically includes a different combination of transport methods like a car and bike sharing, taxis, and car rentals/leases, and it offers its customers everything that is essential for an effortless traveling experience. Right from the user’s travel plan to payments, all this is included in MaaS.

To choose this service, all you have to do is to take a subscription of the application and you will have the access to available vehicles like car, bike, any public transport pass for the chosen time period depending on your convenience. If we talk about further details, it has smart mobility options including various modes of transportation for the ecological and social benefit are also playing a huge role in reducing harmful emissions, cleaning the air pollution, and proving better road safety.

Benefits of Mobility as a Service?

New age service Maas offers various advantages including –

Effortless and smart route planning — Maas offers real-time route planning for the users. it helps them in planning their journeys which might require using multiple transport methods based on the route they choose, with the help of smart suggestions drawn from their particular preferences.

Personalisation for best user-experience – MaaS is known for being offered as a completely personalized service. This creates a unique bonding between the users and the transport service provider. With the help of big data, it provides two-way communication and frequent customer feedback because of which MaaS systems have become the greatest customer-focused transportation platform of today

Easy payment choices — There are various different methods through which the MaaS users can pay for transportation which includes phones, smartwatches, and bank cards, flexibly before or after their journey, or also on a subscription basis.

What were the typical city transport billing platform challenges?

Multiple Booking Platforms – Leading to difficulty in creating bundles, limited integrated view of the customer, poor adaptability to multiple business models and not easy to grow partner ecosystem

Revenue Leakage – Manual processes, no single view of the customer, no streamlined order to cash process, limited Automation of business processes, higher Days of Outstanding.

Customer Experience – Needs to be enhanced, consistence and contextual

Limited Scalability – Bundles as well as combining various billing stream will lead to a massive increase in transaction volumes as well as business rules complexity

Visibility – Limited visibility (for business) of customer booking various commute options

How MaaS -Mobility as a Service and SAP BRIM together can be a game-changer?

The digital economy has completely changed the way how customers use to buy and engaged in the same service earlier. The subscription-based model has opened several options for the customers thus making the complete process hassle-free.

The Digital Economy has enabled new services … and changed the way customers buy

Iteration is based on customer behavior that includes price per month, per use, volume tiers, minimum commits, freemium, per outcome, etc.

SAP BRIM – Advanced Billing Platform for City Transport

Account Registration

Add credit card details

Journey Planning (Purchase)

Check routes and possible legs of the journey

Buy rides/journeys in advance

Journey: Tap-In & Tap-Out

Every journey start and end are recorded by NFC, Proximity Sensor Bluetooth devices using the phone

Separate events are clubbed together to record the journeys for charging

Digital Presentment

Responsive and Integrated Reporting / Customer-Centric Statements and Forms

The customer receives a statement on mail for monthly usage

PayG Payment –Fair Price Promise

Flexible Billing/Invoicing and Payment process

End of the day all PayG charges are collated and payment run deducted the total from Credit car

Service Charging

Flexible Business Logic for Services Charging

If the ride is already purchased that entitlement is used otherwise the charge is calculated for Pay

How Acuiti Labs can help?

Acuiti Labs is transforming the travel industry via the use of SAP BRIM and excellent customer experience-driven mobile apps.

We have innovated the travel of an individual who is using their own vehicle or using public transport to make it account-based pay rather than individual transactions.

These apps and BRIM platforms are designed to operate in any country or city with minor changes. This will significantly accelerate the adoption of account and relationship-based travel.

#sapbilling #sapbrim #mobilityasaservice #MaaS

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johnstones15 · 4 years

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Top IoT Companies

Today, the Internet of Things (IoT) is empowering organizations by allowing virtually endless connections that result in enhanced agility, scalability, and optimized business processes and workflows. The popularity of IoT devices is highlighted by the rapid proliferation of smart interconnected appliances, wearable devices, and IoT-based smart vehicles. With its widespread applications, IoT is boosting productivity across industries while also improving the quality of life in home and work environments.

IoT solution providers are combining the technology with analytics in order to generate value for a business and its customers. Further, IoT devices are aiding software developers and device manufacturers address complicated challenges in their respective areas of work by enabling real-time tracking and information sharing of core processes. Additionally, to address the need for effective security measures created by the growing number of interconnected devices, IoT vendors also offer IT security software packages to enable customers deploy, monitor, and secure their applications and infrastructure.

IoT devices are helping businesses and consumers alike to build a smarter world and create an environment where the seamless and real-time sharing of data and information increases the effectiveness of core operations, and improve the way of life respectively.

This edition of CIOReview presents to you, the “50 Most Promising IoT Solution Providers 2019,” featuring solution providers who are radically changing the field of interconnected devices. Over the past few months, a distinguished panel of CEOs, CIOs, VCs, and the editorial team of CIOReview have reviewed companies in the IoT sector and have shortlisted the organizations that are spearheading the charge against the challenges of the industry.

Top IoT Solution Companies

AppShare Technologies Inc.

Provider of custom-made IoT solutions that help organizations transition seamlessly into the digital world

BISTel

An IoT solution provider that is influencing the manufacturing landscape with A.I, enabled intelligent manufacturing solutions that include predictive analytics and preventative maintenance for semiconductor, flat panel display, LED, electronics assembly, steel, biotech and rechargeable battery manufacturing

Buddy Platform Limited

Provider of IoT-enabled solutions for customers of any size to make their spaces smarter

Clovity

Provides enterprises with fully integrated device-to-cloud-to-enterprise integration solutions with the outcome to simplify building IoT, Data, Cloud & Digital platforms

Davra

Provides a complete IoT AEP platform that allow end customers to define, build industrial grade IoT applications on a single, secure and scalable IoT platform

Harmonic Consulting

Harmonic Consulting is paving the way forward for enterprises to leverage modern sensor technology, cutting-edge wireless connectivity, and data analytics—the three necessary ingredients for IoT realization

HZO

HZO, a global leader in world-class protective nanocoating solutions, helps ensure electronics devices stand up to the harshest conditions, protecting the IoT infrastructure of tomorrow

ioTium

ioTium provides a secure, low cost, scalable and extensible network infrastructure that simplifies connectivity and migration of building automation solutions between on-prem and the cloud

KMC Controls

Provides IoT solutions and building automation systems for system integrators, system distributors, IT providers, and OEM partners

ProStar Energy Solutions

ProStar Energy Solutions delivers turn-key energy management solutions and specializes in energy optimization and sustainability programs

QLIKTAG Software, Inc

Provides brands and manufacturers with a platform to deliver product information, deploy extended merchandising capabilities, and set up interactive mobile experiences at the actual point of consideration

Red Lion Controls

Provider of solutions to help connect legacy equipment in factories and help create actionable data

Seebo

Provides predictive and preventive insights to avoid manufacturing disruptions

SpinDance

Software Engineers designing, developing and support complex distributed systems behind today’s smart products and simplifying the incorporation of IoT

WebNMS

WebNMS is a leading provider of enterprise IoT platform and solutions that maximize the potential of connected business infrastructure

Witekio

A software systems expert that helps companies to thrive in the IoT era with cutting edge IoT software systems

Acuity Brands

Provides of lighting and building management solutions for commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and residential applications throughout North America and select international markets

Adesto Technologies

Provides of innovative, application-specific semiconductors and embedded systems that comprise the essential building blocks of Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices operating on networks worldwide

Advantech

Provides trusted innovative embedded and automation products and solutions by offering comprehensive system integration, hardware, software, customer-centric design services, and global logistics support

Afero

Afero is the fastest most secure sensor-to-cloud IoT platform that securely scales from first-mile edge device connectivity to last-mile governance in the cloud to drive your business outcomes

Altair

Provides enterprise-class engineering software enabling innovation, reduced development times, and lower costs through the entire product lifecycle from concept design to in-service operation

Altizon

Empowers Industrial Digital Revolutions globally by helping enterprises use machine data to drive business decisions and enable digital transformation in enterprises by accelerating Smart Manufacturing initiatives, modernizing Asset Performance Management and pioneering new Business Models for service delivery

Amyx+

Amyx+ is an award-winning Internet of Things business transformation firm specializing in IoT strategy, innovation & product development

Asavie

Provides simple, secure and scalable connectivity that enables enterprises to harness the power of the internet of things and mobile devices to transform and scale their businesses

Ayla Networks

Provides the industry’s first Agile IoT Platform, accelerating development, support, and ongoing enhancements of connected products for the Internet of Things

Bridgera

Offers a personalized service by combing the benefits of our local presence with a global talent reach allowing us to provide software solutions to a broad range of clients and industries worldwide

Bsquare

Provides software solutions that can be deployed by a wide variety of enterprises to create business-focused Internet of Things (IoT) systems that more effectively monitor device data, automate processes, predict events, and produce better business outcomes

CENTRI Technology

CENTRI provides a complete, advanced security solution for the Internet of Things

Crate.io

Provides data management software that helps businesses put machine data to work more easily, in real time, enabling new gains in operational efficiency and profitability

Enlighted

Provides smart energy solutions for commercial environments, saving customers up to 90% in energy costs while improving the comfort of workspaces and the efficiency of the people who work in them

Fathym

Fathym’s unique Data and Device Framework offers the flexibility the Internet of Things demands, giving enterprise and entrepreneur customers the building blocks to create custom Internet of Things solutions

FogHorn Systems

FogHorn’s software platform brings the power of machine learning and advanced analytics to the on-premise edge environment enabling a new class of applications for advanced monitoring and diagnostics, asset performance optimization, operational intelligence and predictive maintenance use cases

KORE Wireless

Empowers organizations of all sizes to improve IoT operational and business results by simplifying the complexity of IoT

Lantronix

Lantronix, Inc. is a global provider of secure data access and management solutions for Internet of Things (IoT) assets

Litmus Automation

Litmus Automation’s industrial IoT platform allows businesses to securely connect, manage and analyze data from legacy to modern devices or assets

Mariner

Provides industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and analytic products and services for better decision-making to discrete and process manufacturers, worldwide

Mocana

Mocana’s end-to-end cybersecurity system protects millions of industrial control systems and smart connected devices that comprise the Internet of Things across all sectors

NetObjex

NetObjex’s platform consists of a Device Platform, Mobile Platform and Cloud Platform to provide complete solutions to enterprises from the cloud to the “last mile” of IoT

Niolabs

Provides the patented tools, customization, and support required for cross-functional teams to successfully deliver your organization’s digital vision

Nytec

Provides customizable talent solutions to satisfy any technical staffing requirements, either onsite, offsite, or project based. We are also able to manage highly complex projects end-to-end at our Product Innovation Center, which is equipped with cutting-edge design and engineering labs

PTC

Provides technology platforms and solutions that transform how companies create, operate, and service the “things” in the Internet of Things (IoT)

PubNub

Provides enterprise-grade security, 99.999% SLA-backed reliability, and global scalability to support the largest realtime deployments, all via simple APIs and 70+ SDKs

QiO Technologies

Designs, develops and deploys QiO products that will give customers a better vantage point to mitigate risk, extend the useful life of their assets and improve operational integrity, liberating the industrial engineer

Samsara

Provides sensor data to the organizations that drive our economy-from transportation and logistics to construction, food production, energy, and manufacturing-and to improve the safety, efficiency, and quality of their operations

Savigent Software

Delivers highly efficient manufacturing systems and provide our customers with flexible software solutions for their workflow automation, manufacturing intelligence and systems integration needs

Senet

Provides cloud-based network connectivity platforms for the on demand build-out and management of the Internet of Things

Sentryo

Provides cybersecurity and situation awareness solutions dedicated to industrial networks and the Internet of Things

Sierra wireless

Sierra Wireless is an IoT pioneer, empowering businesses and industries to transform and thrive in the connected economy

SIGFOX

Provides connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) with its global Low Power Wide Area network

Telit

Offers the industry’s broadest portfolio of IoT products and services, combined with unmatched IoT expertise and developer resources, that enable end-to-end IoT solutions across virtually any market or industry around the world

Originally Published on:

Top IoT Companies

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juniperpublishersophthalmology · 5 years

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Stem Cells and Transplantation for Retinal Diseases

Stem cells provide a promising tool for treating retinal diseases and injury. Early work focused on embryonic stem cells (ESC). The development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) alleviates some of the ethical concerns with ESC and the need for immunosuppression. Stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) are comparable to native RPE; and stem cell-derived retinal organoids self-organize into laminated structures that bear some resemblance to the neurosensory retina. Questions remain regarding genetic and epigenetic variability among different stem cell lines, especially iPSC lines. The challenge is in understanding the significance of this variability for transplant and how to control such variability. Transplantation of stem cell-derived RPE and retinal progenitor cells has been tested in both animal models and humans. The cells integrated into the recipient with possible rescue of visual function. These findings encourage researchers to develop refined culture and delivery methods that would increase integration with the host and sustain long-term visual function.

Introduction

Since the beginning of stem cell research, pluripotent cells were seen as a promising tool for tissue regeneration and transplantation. Widely known, stem cells have the ability to differentiate into one or more mature cell types or continue to renew themselves. These properties make stem cells a potential source for sustained supply of tissue for transplantation. There is growing interest in developing stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with the aim of replacing diseased tissue [1,2]. Similarly, research on developing replacement tissues for retinal degeneration has gathered momentum as well.

Sources of Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Cells

In many retinal diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa, there is degeneration of both the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors resulting in vision loss. The native retina, being a neural tissue, has little ability to regenerate. Therefore, transplanted tissue needs to replace lost tissue, continue to survive, and integrate functionally into the host retina. Several sources of stem cells have been used for regenerating retinal tissue; the most extensively studied are human embryonic stem cell (hESC) and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC). Additionally, researchers have developed and continue to improve different methods of differentiating stem cells into retinal cells.

Embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are pluripotent stem cells derived from blastocysts in early development [3,4]. In stem cell biology, they are considered the gold-standard for comparing pluripotency, and genetic and epigenetic characteristics. The ethical concerns of human ESC have been much debated. Nevertheless, ESC allowed early successful differentiation of retinal cells in culture. hESC-derived RPE demonstrated robust pigmentation, and exhibited similar morphology and gene expression as human fetal RPE [5-8]. These RPE cells also developed appropriate functional characteristics, such as phagocytosis of shed outer segments [9,10]. Scanning across the literature, there are now various differentiation methods used for generating retinal cells. Some methods involve directed differentiation using small molecules and growth factors, and others allow stem cells to spontaneously differentiate into RPE in specialized media [9,10]. The time taken for retinal cells to differentiate can vary depending on the protocol and the desired cell type. Neuroretinal precursor cells, for example, can appear as early as day 10 in culture, while pigmented cells can take 6-8 weeks to appear [11,12]. Researchers continue to improve methods to generate retinal cells comparable to native retina in order to study retinal development and to generate tissue for transplantation.

Induced pluripostent stem cells (iPSC)

iPSCs are pluripotent stem cells that are derived from adult cells. Skin fibroblasts and peripheral blood cells are commonly used to generate iPSC. The Yamanaka group were the first to describe this reprogramming by introducing four transcription factors Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc, known as the “Yamanaka factors”. [13,14] iPSCs also have been successfully differentiated into retinal cells. iPSC-derived RPE can attain appropriate barrier function including proper distribution of membrane NaK-ATPase, polarized secretion of VEGF and similar membrane potential as native RPE [15]. Retinal progenitor cells and photoreceptors derived from iPSC also exhibit similar gene expression patterns as those derived from ESC, although there can be variation in the timing of differentiation [16].

iPSC can be a source of unlimited supply of regenerated tissue for studying development and for transplantation. One major foreseeable advantage of iPSC over ESC is the issue of immune histocompatibility. iPSC derived from a patient’s adult cells would not cause immune rejection when transplanted into the same person. In practice, not every iPSC line can successfully differentiate into the desired cell type. There is in fact variability among iPSC lines. Some researchers ascribe the cause of variability to differences in reprogramming techniques and lab environment; others propose that iPSC have different epigenetic markers either due to the reprogramming procedure or epigenetic memory of the original adult cell [17-19]. However, there is controversy over how much epigenetic aberrancies contribute to the variability seen among iPSC lines [20].

The ultimate question is how cellular variability affects the safety of iPSC-derived cells for transplantation. There is a need for defining standards not only to evaluate iPSC lines but also the differentiated cells derived from iPSC. Miyagishima et al. [21] proposed a system of authenticating iPSC-derived RPE: in addition to assessing gene expression and morphology, they also assessed cellular calcium flux, membrane electrophysiology and fluid transport in comparison to human fetal RPE [22]. Rigorous testing and characterization is needed to increase the safety and integrity of retinal tissue selected for transplantation.

Retinal Transplantation

Transplantation of stem-cell derived retinal cells in animal models has presented positive results in visual improvement. Human clinical trials demonstrated good long-term safety of transplantation [22,23]. There are several ongoing clinical trials using stem-cell derived retinal cells for retinal diseases. The goals of transplantation are to replenish and rescue degenerating cells, re-establish neural connectivity within the retina, and improve visual acuity.

RPE transplantation

Overall, more translational studies have been done using stem-cell derived RPE than with stem-cell derived neuroretinal cells. Transplantation studies commonly use rodent models of retinal degeneration. A widely used model, for example, is the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) rat, which has a mutation in MERTK gene and models autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa [24]. Transplantation of ESC-derived and iPSC-derived RPE in rodents with retinal degeneration resulted in more photoreceptor survival compared to non-transplanted animals. The photoreceptor layer was thicker at the transplant site compared to control [9,11,25-27].Transplanted RPE also promoted better visual function, measured by electroretinogram or optokinetic testing, compared to control animals [9,11,26]. The exact mechanism of photoreceptor rescue is not entirely elucidated. Given that the transplanted RPE does not always restore the outer blood-retinal barrier, one can postulate that trophic factors secreted by the RPE and the phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments may mediate the protective effects on the degenerating photoreceptors.

One major challenge from the studies mentioned above is long-term graft survival and visual improvement. In Carr et al. [10] implanted iPSC-RPE cells were eventually lost in the host retina at 13 weeks after transplant [26]. The mice interestingly retained improved visual function even when transplanted cells were not present. However, it is unknown whether this visual preservation can be sustained for longer. In the Idelson et al. [9] study, for example, the increased electroretinogram signal in transplanted animals eventually diminished at later time points (19 weeks). These results are proof-of-concept for using stem-cell derived retinal tissue to improve vision in retinal diseases. However, they also highlight limitations and challenges that need to be overcome to improve effectiveness of transplantation. The route of transplantation is seen as an area for improvement. In earlier transplant studies, a bolus of cells suspended in solution was injected into the subretinal space. This delivery method limits the ability of the transplanted RPE to re-organize into a functional monolayer; perhaps relatedly, cell survival from bolus injections is low [28]. Active research now focuses on transplanting sheets of RPE grown of various scaffolds to promote increased graft survival in the recipient [29,30].

In 2015, human clinic trial results for hESC-RPE transplantation in two retinal diseases were reported [23]. The trials were phase I/II with primary outcomes of safety and tolerability. The grafted cells were well tolerated without evidence of aberrant growth or serious side effects. When visual acuity was measured at 6 months after transplant, 6 out of the 9 AMD patients showed modest improvement from baseline and 3 out of 8 Stargardt’s macular dystrophy patients showed similar improvement. The other patients had stable or decreased visual acuity. The study demonstrated the safety of stem-cell derived retinal transplantation in human patients. Other clinical trials are underway to assess different types of stem-cell derived retinal tissue, different methods of delivery, and in different retinal diseases.

Photoreceptor transplantation

Efforts to replace diseased photoreceptors have involved transplantation of retinal progenitor cells (RPC). Understandably, mature neural retina is more challenging to differentiate in culture, given its complex interconnected laminations. However, RPC have been successfully grown from stem cells and transplanted into animal models with the hope that these progenitor cells can continue differentiation into mature retinal cells in the host.

Several groups developed methods of differentiating stem cells into three-dimensional, spherical organoids composed of retinal progenitor cells [31-34]. The organoids (referred to in the literature as optic vesicles) contained cells that expressed developmental markers for photoreceptor, amacrine, horizontal and ganglion cells; with time in culture, the cells within optic vesicles self-organize into crude laminations [32,35]. One group demonstrated electrical excitability in these optic vesicles, indicating functional synaptic connectivity among the cells. The generation of these stem cell-derived optic vesicles offers a method of increasing production efficiency of neural retinal tissue for transplantation. However, the spherical geometry of the organoids makes them unsuitable for implantation, because they fail to flatten and simultaneously interact with the RPE and neurosensory retina. As models of retinal differentiation, they should prove valuable for studying the mechanisms of retinal disease and potential medical therapies.

Transplantation with immature RPC also has had positive results in animal models. Transplanted stem cell-derived retinal precursor cells migrated into and integrated structurally with the host retina, showing synaptic interaction with the host [12,36-38]. Furthermore, better visual function was assessed by optokinetic testing, electroretinogram, and visual cortex activity in transplanted animals compared to control [37,39] Like stem cell-derived RPE, the stem cell-derived neural retinal cells are well tolerated in the recipient. However, there is still little data on long-term survival of these stem cell derived-retinal progenitor cells, and whether vision can also be rescued long-term. These encouraging results highlight the need for more validation studies in preclinical models.

Conclusion

Researchers have successfully differentiated retinal cells from ESC and iPSC. Retinal culture systems, such as the three-dimensional organoids, allow the study of retinal development, mechanisms of disease, and provide tissue for transplantation in retinal diseases. There is continued modification and optimization of these differentiation methods. Both stem cell-derived RPE and retinal progenitor cells have been transplanted in animal models and exhibited graft survival and possible visual improvement. For human patients, early phase trials demonstrated good tolerability of transplantation. More clinical studies are needed to validate the efficiency of retinal transplantation.

Grant Support

Leir Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation.

For more Open Access Journals in Juniper Publishers please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com

For more articles in JOJ Ophthalmology (JOJO) please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/jojo/index.php

For more Open Access Journals please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com

#Open Access Publishers #Open access Journals #Juniper Publishers e-pub'#Online JournalsPublishers #Quality Journalspublishers

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commsaquitilabs · 5 months

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https://www.acuitilabs.com/acuitiairport/

#AcuitiAirport #Automated Airport Billing #Aeronautical Billing Solution #Non-Aeronautical Billing #BRIM Accelerator for Airports #SAP-Integrated Billing #Acuiti Labs #Airport Industry Technology #Revenue Leakage Prevention #Transport Sector Digitalization #Efficient Airport Operations #SAP BRIM #Revenue Management in Airlines

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mikeduggan · 1 year

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A Mobility-as-a-service based solution and a Smart Interface for Hassle-free Travelling Experience by Acuiti Labs. That offers an all-new way of commuting and using public transportation, specially built for Comfort and Convenience.

#mobilityasaservice #transportationasaservice #maasapplication #mobility #urbanmobility

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acuitilabslondon · 4 years

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Role of SAP Billing / SAP BRIM in Transforming Tolling Business

Tolling is generally an amount, or a fee paid to access any road, bridge, or tunnel and the revenue generated by this is utilized for maintenance, construction, and/or other such operations

Toll Business can be simply understood as a way to deal with transportation challenges and provides positive impact on freight transport in several ways. The toll in many ways, has been benefiting the society without placing an excruciating financial burden on the entire transport system. The advantages the toll business offer include improved transport efficiency, increased revenue for the public budget and reduced external costs of road vehicles.

There is numerous research that have time and again proved that tolls can positively impact transportation in several ways. Below are the few examples –

Improved Transport Efficiency – With the road tolls being introduced, empty headings have been seen to decline. Additionally, tolls are also helping in reducing the vehicle km required for transportation as trucks are improving loading rates because of the pricing pressure.

Affordable choice, without impacting consumers prices – In most of the industries the range of transportation cost is between 1% to 5% of the total production cost which is comparatively low, and the accumulated statistics will not show any significant effect.

Significant contributions to transport sector funding comes from the toll revenue – This is true that money that comes from toll revenue is one of the major sources of funding that the transport sector earns.

How Tolling business can help in reducing the worldwide challenge of traffic Congestion

The increased number of vehicles on road are certainly the cause of massive traffic jams during the peak hours in many parts of the world. Managing the traffic congestion problem on a high scale would not only be sign of relief to the economies of various countries across the globe but, this would also be helpful for sustained productivity and competitiveness.

A report by UK government suggests that congestion may cost the economy of England £22 B a year in lost time by in 2015. The U.S Transportation Institute said in 2011 that cost of congestion is more than $120 billion, nearly $820 for every commuter in the U.S. World’s record traffic jam in China, Hebei province, was 110 km long during 12 days in August 2010.

There are three main purposes of road pricing and tolling among these tolling is utilized to generate revenues. The other two important reasons include congestion or value pricing which helps in managing demand, and environmental pricing to reduce environmental impacts.

E-Tolling System – What is E-tolling and what are its advantages:

E-tolling or Electronic tolling collection (ETC) is a wireless means of automatically collecting the usage fee or toll charges from the vehicles using toll roads, HOV lanes, toll bridges, and toll tunnels etc. without requiring any action or stopping by the driver. This not only is time saving but also keeps the entire process of toll collection transparent. Electronic tolling is also cheaper when compared to staffed toll booth as it does not require manual processing and it helps in reducing transaction costs for both government and private road owners.

Advantages of E- Tolling –

No stopping of vehicles at a toll booth

Time saving

Reduced traffic congestion problem

Can save gallons of gasoline every year

Efficient, safe, and secure

Evolution of Business Models and Non-toll Revenue –

Toll pricing models have been evolved the most in the past few years. With the evolution and several new innovations, it has become more complex with customer demanding loyalty benefits, discounts, and vouchers. Specially the customers who own large number of vehicles, deal with a lot of such task forces and have to take similar journeys several times.

Tolling charges vary depending on what time of the day the trip was taken. How many travelers are there in a car, total distance covered or even customer’s residence. The payment itself could be prepaid (wallet based), postpaid (Bank settlement) or hybrid model. Also, taxes could depend on type of vehicles to subsidize electrical vehicles.

Besides the pricing and billing complexities in Toll itself, tolling companies have lot of avenues to grow non-toll business and get additional revenue. The same vehicle cards which are being used for Toll could be used for paying for fuel, parking, E-vehicle charging, hiring bikes and car wash services.

Challenges Faced by Tolling Business

Road transport accounts for around 16% of global man-made CO2 emissions. Also, the number of crashes subsequently increases due to congested roads.

Tolling business deals with a lot of administrative tasks and paperwork which becomes quite a headache if not managed with the help of proper dedicated solution

Juggling between too many transponders and navigating the customer service maze

Role of SAP BRIM Solution in Toll Collecting –

Billing and Revenue Innovation Management (BRIM) solution under the hood comprises of various different solution components which are pre-integrated in a suite. The Customer, Products Master and Order, Contract Management is handled in Subscription Order Management (SOM) component that allows new customers to register, along with their e-tag information. On the tolling plaza where the vehicle information is actually captured by tolling operational systems which will then pass that on to Convergent Mediation which allows data massaging and validation.

SAP BRIM Platform can orchestrate information to downstream systems or can couple separate events together like vehicle entry and exist events received from two different toll points on the same route. Convergent charging takes care of the complex rating and charging logic and find out whom to charge and how much to charge for the journey. Finally, Convergent Invoicing can handle billing, invoicing and settlements processes with banks and postings to subledgers.

Tolling Systems – Open versus Closed

In the closed tolling system, the vehicle is tracked both at entry and exit points. While in the open system toll plazas or charging booths are charging points for the applicable road section.

Customer Journey

The customer journey begins right from the moment when he/she either purchases a card or e-tag from the store and registers it along with the vehicle registration details. Customer can then top-up his card/e-tag using banking services like bank mobile app or ATM. Now when the customer makes a toll-applicable journey, based on closed or open toll system the toll plaza will record the details or his card/e-tag verifying them against the vehicle plate number to detect any fraud.

These details will then be fed through Convergent Mediation where there will be further validations like multiple journeys on the same path in very short amount of time or improbable time difference between entry and exit timestamps recorded. Once the event data is validated it is rated by the Charging system to create billing items (records) of transactions. These transaction records/items are aggregated to be shared with customer and the bank for any applicable settlements later. To minimize credit exposure it may very well happen that the entry point registers the vehicle entry and reserve or block some amount on customers e-tag account and at the exit point the charges are calculated and the e-tag balance is either deducted immediately or send to bank for settlements.

Advantages of Using SAP BRIM –

Simplified Customer interactions

Meeting real time expectations

Real time insight for true customer 360-degree view

Increase Transparency and efficiency

Real time Execution for context sensitive offerings

Improved Customer engagement

Innovative pricing and Bundles

Consolidated Billing to manage credit and collection efficiently

Handles hybrid payments

While now you already know what role SAP BRIM plays in managing toll business efficiently than ever, it also important to get a holistic view of some other advancements offered by SAP solutions to its customers and how Acuiti Labs could be the most suitable choice for you –

Business Responsiveness – SAP BRIM offers Innovative pricing model, charging and billing models and also opens up smart revenue stream that are personalized for your B2B offerings and you get a chance to know your customers better and thus can offer customized solutions to them.

Efficient Revenue Management – SAP Solutions could be the best choice when you are looking forward to increase customer satisfaction and improve financial performance with a converged view of customer account, receivables, payables, and disputes.

Flexibility of Deployment – Get a flexibility of deploying a complete, integrated customer care and next gen billing system with SAP Billing Solutions or choose to deploy in smaller implantable steps for targeted incremental value. You get the freedom of doing it the way you wish to choose!

How Acuiti Labs can help with the digital transformation of the tolling businesses?

Acuiti Labs’ SAP BRIM solution can efficiently handle the issues that toll businesses are currently facing. We can manage the toll Industry pain points and also support potential future grow avenues. Contact us for the digital transformation of your tolling industry today!

#sapsolution #sapbrim #sapsubscriptionbilling #sapbilling

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acuitilabslondon · 4 years

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Top 7 industries impacted by IoT Solutions

IoT (Internet of Things) refers to the physical devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, used for collecting and sharing data. IoT adds some portion of digital intelligence to devices enabling them to communicate real-time data without a human being involved, effectively merging the digital and physical worlds.

Do you have any idea how far the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions have impacted many industries? Internet of Things (IoT) continues to spread across the home and the enterprise, which is changing how we live and work. We can say that IoT is the next wave of internet technologies. The reason why IoT is being preferred by businesses is that it provides access to more data about their products and their own internal systems. IoT products can be broadly disputed into five categories:

• Smart city

• Smart environment

• Smart wearable

• Smart home

• Smart enterprise

The IoT is a giant network of connected “things” that has the potential to impact how we live and how we work. We can say that the world is going with a flow of “Anything that can be connected, will be connected.” Here are a few examples that can make you understand this thing better, consider an alarm clock waking up you at 6 a.m. and then notifying your coffee maker to start preparing coffee for you. Another such example could be that you are on the way to a conference in your car that has a connection with your calendar and already know the best route to take and in case of heavy traffic on the route notifies another party that you will be late. One can say that IoT allows for endless opportunities and connections to take place.

We can see that equipment is becoming more digitised and more connected, establishing networks between machines, humans and the internet. We are entering an age where data analytics, connectivity, and automation are creating innovations and progressing out of reach day-by-day. If we go to see manufacturing, transportation, utilities, healthcare, consumer electronics, retails, financial industries, energy, communication, these all industries are leading IoT investments and adoption. IoT created a new opportunity for industries to evolve and reach new markets.

Here are some remarkable statistics about the impact that IoT has on seven industries:

1. Manufacturing

As we all know more than companies in other industries, rely on heavy machinery to produce products which in return lead to a deep interest in understanding the performance of these machines. IoT is considered to be the driving force behind the industries. In addition to optimizing workflows and processes, it enables automation, data collection, and analytics. It can collect data on the status of the equipment that allows smart technologies to be put in place that allows for proactive maintenance or automated recovery after failures. This data can be exchanged with analytics programs that improve and iterate workflows and processes. With this manufacturer are seeing the greatest transitions from IoT.

2. Transportation

Every industry is investing in IoT, even transportation industry is heavily investing in it. IoT systems are playing a role in managing movement and logistics in transportation. Transportation vehicles are equipped with sensors that help monitor maintenance, optimize fuel consumption, and train drivers. Cameras and sensors may be placed along railroad tracks to monitor wear and tear on wheel assemblies. Vehicles can also monitor driving behaviour for insurance purposes. Digital data recorders are another facility that is programmed to take video samples under conditions of heavy acceleration.

3. Utilities

This industry was one of the early adopters of IoT. The IoT solutions help utility companies to more accurately and efficiently bill customers for consumption. Smart meters are developed that help track the amount of energy users of green technologies send back to the grid helping to incentivize the use of environmentally friendly energy. The oil and gas industry are also benefited from IoT solutions. It is also used within power generating plants to monitor equipment over time. Energy companies are turning to IoT solutions to monitor asset performance and enhance their customers’ experience to boost overall efficiency.

4. Healthcare

In the years to come, the Healthcare industry is that will experience the fastest spending growth in IoT. The healthcare industry has the vast use of IoT solutions that ranges from medical machines that capture images and share with patients, monitoring and troubleshooting problems with equipment, a system that can track dispensation of medicine and much more. Connecting such devices to the internet benefits patients by reducing errors and providing more data to doctors to improve diagnosis and quality of care. IoT solutions are also used for employee monitoring along with patient monitoring facilities and enhancing customer experiences.

5. Retail

As an impact of IoT, the retail world has changed. It can be predicted that in the coming years, rather than going to stores, people will soon be able to try on different outfits using augmented and virtual reality headsets. It’s not only that the fashion stores will change but also the farming and food consumption, a supermarket that is also set to drastically alter their retail approach. Supermarkets will have an abundance of low-cost products, which can be produced only as and when they are required by consumers ultimately leading to saving food wastage and over-stocking of perishable goods.

6. Financial Service

When it comes to financial service organisations they are highly concerned with security and therefore increasingly rely on networks of cameras to ensure the viability of their facilities. Companies in this sector are well ahead of visual analytics adoption. The most important goal of the financial industry is to expand the connectivity of their networks along with employing IoT as a vehicle for greater security. Both banks and consumers are becoming more accustomed to managing their financial transactions through a variety of connected devices. With the help of IoT, devices businesses can measure risk a lot more accurately, helping insurance firms to cost their decisions with a greater degree of precision.

7. Consumer electronics and cars

Observations say that this is the 4th largest IoT market segment in 2016 and is projected to become the 3rd largest segment in 2020. A proven example could be the rise of home and office automation systems and digital assistants such as the Amazon Alexa and Google Home. Most people invest in fully connected homes and offices for a better and convenient living.

Connected cars are also an IoT industry leader. For example, every General Motors car produced today has IoT functionalities that allow drivers to gain information and connect to the internet. In the next coming five years, connected vehicles and smart buildings are predicted to rank among the top industry segment for IoT adoption.

As you can see every industry has the potential to reap the benefits from IoT. The flexibility of IoT technology makes them useful in a wide variety of applications. IoT offers industries the opportunity to increase automation and improve data processing and analytics. IoT devices are driving and will continue to drive change in a variety of industries over the coming years.

How Acuiti Labs can help?

No matter what industry you own, IoT will have some or the other capabilities to offer for your business to get it simplified. It’s time to leverage IoT to gain competition in your marketing and flourish in the sector. If you are looking forward to adopting IoT for a certain reason Acuiti Labs have got a team of experts working on customising IoT solutions according to the requirement of the clients. So, if you are interested to know more about the services offered at Acuiti Labs or you have any quarries and requirements regarding IoT solutions, contact us at https://www.acuitilabs.co.uk/contact-us/.

#IOTServices #IOTSolutions #InternetOfThings

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acuitilabslondon · 4 years

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Artificial Intelligence Future – How’s AI going to change the world in coming time?

Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI, is one of the most rapidly growing technologies today and “it is going to change the world more than anything in the history of mankind” – AI oracle and venture capitalist Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, 2018.

Artificial Intelligence Future

If we talk about present time, there is no industry and no human being whose life has not been impacted by AI in some or the other way. Artificial intelligence can be considered as the major driving force of the latest and emerging technologies like big data, robotics and IoT, and in the future also, we are sure that it will continue to be an important contributor and technological innovator for the predictable future.

“Everything we love about civilization is a product of intelligence, so amplifying our human intelligence with artificial intelligence has the potential of helping civilization flourish like never before – as long as we manage to keep the technology beneficial.”

Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute

Talking about Artificial intelligence future, we are pretty much sure that AI is emerging as another consistently growing technology in our lives, just like the internet, electricity, and combustion use to be a few decades back. Days are not far when Artificial Intelligence will become an important part of human lives that will support us in carrying out small and big day to day tasks.

AI today is not confined for the machines that only helps in carrying out physical tasks, like it used to be at the time of industrial revolution but, it’s growing towards working on accomplishing things like thinking, planning, strategising and making decisions.

How is AI changing the world and how fast is it Evolving?

It’s from past 20 years that the technology of AI has been continually evolving and astonishing us with various new innovations. Today, AI is categorised as a mature technology that is capable of changing the face of the world. Due to its faster growth and high-tech innovations, many \organisations are actively opting for AI in one or the different way.

“By 2030, most social situations will be facilitated by bots — intelligent-seeming programs that interact with us in human-like ways. At home, parents will engage skilled bots to help kids with homework and catalyze dinner conversations. At work, bots will run meetings. A bot confidant will be considered essential for psychological well-being, and we’ll increasingly turn to such companions for advice ranging from what to wear to whom to marry.”—Judith Donath, Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

This might sound superficial, but the way AI has grown in the past time and has impacted our lives, we should be ready for more surprises that Artificial intelligence future might bring to us.

Today, there are many organisations that are indulge on various AI projects and are giving a new meaning to the future of technology. We have seen some really interesting examples like AI-driven driverless cars, facial recognition feature, AI auto pilot mode in commercial flights, deep-learning neural networks in the workplace etc. that makes us believe that Artificial Intelligence future is definitely beyond our imagination and will keep surprising us with such amazing innovations.

Artificial Intelligence future can be truly unbelievable, as it has the potential to transform the industry by implementing latest technologies like ML in best possible way, but to see this turn into reality we cannot just wish for it to happen on its own. In order see it happen and create a better world, it’s very important to have the necessary resources and also expertise to work on it effectively with full dedication. The major requirement for AI to grow today is to have the right people, people with the caliber to utilise right and necessary tools at the right time.

A lot of businesses and people are expecting to see some major breakthroughs in AI in the coming years. However, we still have to wait for some more years for the time when we can live a fully autonomous life and can call it “Artificial Intelligence future”. There are still a bunch of researchers who are busy exploring various approaches and possibilities that is eventually helping us keep up with AI. A few examples include driverless cars, auto-pilot mode, deep neural networks, and reinforcement learning. In general, most of the researchers thinks that the more sophisticated machine learning techniques, including those used in areas like auto-driven cars, deep neural networks etc. might take some more time to evolve. Still, it’s been experienced that even in this era of quick AI evolution, researchers have gained success in finding surprising ways to improve things by the minute.

Future Expectations of AI technology –

We have already discussed that how in-spite of many new technological innovations that have changed our lives, AI has the bought the most exciting changes and still making our lives better. It’s not that AI is a new concept to us, but a few recent innovations have made the technology even more adaptable. Looking into Artificial Intelligence future, it’s easy to expect a world in which AI is going to play even more significant role changing the day to day lives of humans.

Most promising Artificial Innovations the world can witness in coming Future:

Getting more advanced with Self Driving Cars: Self-driving cars have already begun to make their way on the roadways in many parts of the world, still we can expect AI technology to bring more advancements considerably in the coming time. The ultimate goal of utilizing AI and creating a much safer and entirely automated self-driving car.

AI and robotics emerging together: The time is not far when incorporating AI technology into robotics is going to be possible. If this happens, we humans will be able to enhance our own bodies, giving ourselves greater strength, longevity, and endurance.

Fully functional Robots will be seen in action with the help of AI: The most awaited innovation of AI is to see a fully functional Robots. Though, we have seen a few of them till date but in addition to helping us enhance our bodies, Artificial intelligence future technology is anticipated to help us create artificial lifeforms in the form fully functional Robots.

AI in future is also going to impact our lives on personal level: we have already started taking the benefits of Artificial intelligence in our personal lives as it has now made its way into many homes. But in the future, AI and its technological innovations will become essential in most households.

As we are moving closer toward being a part of the technologically driven society, Artificial Intelligence future applications and innovations is already all set to fulfill its promise of simplifying our lives with computers. AI future clearly indicates that new technologies will be an important source of making our lives happier and healthier, at the same time contributing in conserving time, energy, and money.

Major sectors that will be impacted by AI in future –

Travel and Transportation

Security and Surveillance

Health Care

Education

Media and Entertainment

Heavy Industries

Customer Services

Retail

Manufacturing

Food industries

What are the Artificial intelligent and Machine Learning Solutions that Acuiti Labs can help your business with –

Vehicle-based Intelligent Safety Systems – ADAS is a smart feature that can tune your car to have a clear understanding your surrounding environments that can include roads, people, and obstacles. Acuiti Labs vast experience in video analytics and computer vision has helped us in greatly improving the real-time performance of ADAS and therefore providing better and improve road safety. With expertise in both back-end systems and in-vehicle UI, we are the perfect automotive software partner.

Video Analytics & AI: The new frontier of Retail Intelligence – In the past few years, global digital transformation has increased the pace of retail innovation. It is a fact that brick & mortar retail are struggling and loss by theft is costing the UK economy hundreds of millions every year. But the retailers who have adopted video analytics & AI have started earning significant benefits in both reducing big losses by theft and has also improved customer intelligence.

Asset Management and Remote Inspection – The inspection systems that use artificial intelligence technology have completely transformed the way inspections are performed in modern enterprises. Today, mostly the inspections are automated that uses a hosting of software applications and hardware like drones etc. to record video, capture and generate thousands of images and subsequently analyse, visualise and act upon that data through video analytics.

Acuiti Labs Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence solutions are built around the latest technologies, and our highly experience team is capable of applying these technologies within a range of various industries.

#machinelearningandartificialintelligence #artificialintelligence

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juniperpublishersophthalmology · 5 years

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Stem Cells and Transplantation for Retinal Diseases-Juniper Publishers

Introduction

Sources of Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Cells

Embryonic stem cells

Induced pluripostent stem cells (iPSC)

Retinal Transplantation

RPE transplantation

Photoreceptor transplantation

Conclusion

Grant Support

Leir Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation.

#Juniper Publishers #Juniper publishers publishing group #Open access Journals #Juniper Publishers e-pub #Online JournalsPublishers

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