This week’s Smart City roundup features a revealing report on how businesses now see the Internet of Things market, a connected traffic system’s role in easing traffic congestion, and a new smart park on the rise.

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IoT is a game changer

Zebra Technologies Corporation, a services provider of real-time visibility into organizations’ assets, people and transactions, released the results of a survey conducted by Forrester Consulting which covered how businesses understand and implement the Internet of Things solutions as part of their business strategy. Nearly 600 global firms in retail, consumer products, manufacturing, transportation,government, oil/gas, healthcare and hospitality industries were included in the survey that focused on IT and business decision makers.

According to the survey, 80 percent of the respondents believe that IoT solutions will be the most strategic initiative for their organization in a decade, and look at these solutions as a way to address a variety of strategic, operational and business challenges. Sixty-five percent of the responded have IoT solutions in place or are in the process of implementing them. The region seeing the strongest deployment momentum are firms in the Asia Pacific at 70 percent.

Eighty-three percent of the surveyed firms identify WiFi infrastructure and real-time location tracking technologies as important or very important building blocks of IoT solutions, while 80 percent of the global firms surveyed also mentioned that sensor technologies to monitor assets and the surrounding environment are important technology elements.

As for the benefits of IoT solutions in the enterprise, nearly half of the respondents stated that improved customer experience as one of the top five benefits, followed by supply chain optimization, visibility, loss prevention and cost efficiencies.

“Over the last two years, there has been a growing need for organizations to obtain a full picture of their business operations. I believe that with these survey results, it is clear that enterprises in key industries globally are adopting Internet of Things solutions to arm themselves with the real-time data and intelligence to become smarter and more connected. At Zebra, we believe that IoT and visibility solutions can help businesses reach new levels of efficiency and deliver greater value for customers,” Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Zebra Technologies, stated.

Smart traffic system is the key to ease road congestion

Speaking at a conference organized by the Dubai chamber of commerce and industry on the future of mobility, William Clay Ford Jr., the executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., stated that the solution to ease traffic congestion in Beijing is not to add more roads but to implement smart traffic systems.

Ford stated that according to a report from UCLA, 74 percent of city congestion is caused by drivers looking for a parking space. By implementing smart traffic lights that connect cars through sensors and inform drivers of available parking spaces, congestion can be eased.

Royal Oak to get smart park

The city of Detroit will be transforming a small area behind the Center Street parking structure in Royal Oak into a smart park. The area is used to store picnic tables until the next weekly Summer Concert Series event. It came as a surprise that these  tables attract business people and visitors using the area to eat, work or just to hang out.

Detroit will be working with Living Lab to come up with a concept plan for the smart park with a budget of $4,000.  The park will be called the Center Street Smart Park and will feature Wi-Fi access, sustainable landscaping, smart materials, tables to eat and work, interactive LED lights, solar charging stations and a “technology wow factor”, among other ideas.

photo credit: MarcelaPalma via photopin cc