partner manager with IoT expertise
Jean-Pierre,
you’d need a Senior Advisor/Enterprise Architect type profile (wink, wink) with previous Smartcity and IoT platform exposure. The tasks are numerous and depend on where you’re at in the implementation of your project:
1/ at the planning stage of the platform the expert will help formulate the business vision and philosophy of who the future Smartcity business will run. This will shape the overall architecture and by that define which software components will be well (or not so much) adapted to your project
2/ when the baseline architecture and the business philosophy is already defined, your expert will help define existing or future verticals running to make the Smartcity work. The task will be to identify capability gaps early on and formulate requirements for possible solutions (and their providers). The expert will accompany the selection process and then oversee the actual technical onboarding and production run of the new vertical(s)
3/ In an ongoing Smartcity run situation, additional solution providers may be onboarded in a similar way to 2/ to create competitive situations for certain services in your platform and ongoing quantitative analysis will be required to see how you manage the overall portfolio of your solution providers
Thanks Peter! Your answer was extremely helpful. As you know we are staffing a project in the Middle East and we will try to find a way to engage. In our case, we have some constraints as you know. The team will reach out!
You need a Business Consultant that has experience in IoT, an Enterprise/Business Architect to create a Operating Model and a Capability Framework, a Business Process Engineer to create the processes on different levels and what is really needed, which has to be based on the goals and objectives of the SmartCity initiative
Business consultant with strong background in Smart Cities to understand in details the proposed strategy and platform (I guess this is done as you are looking for partners) and expertise in solutions (IoT, engineering are key) together with deep knowledge in associated potential partners/market. Second part is the key as in my experience a lot of cities have smart city platforms but few of them are implementing/integrating into the platform actual solutions, changing the way of managing the city and so on (as well support to cities to get financing overall for those more complex or innovative solutions is key, at least in the European Union area).
We are setting up the team to manage the operate and manage the platform in a broad sense…not just technology. In this case we need an “account manager” that is able to manage new solution providers to onboard them in the platform and become part of the ecosystem. The team will have architects, CEX experts, PMO and other roles.
This one in particular will focus on managing solution providers, aligning their solutions to the platform and facilitating the onboarding of the solution and business GTM.
The answer is always similar: a set of expertise, that is difficult to find in one single person. The skills range from understanding the strategy, liase with the implementation team, know the tech language, coordinate with IT team, to bring to the table relevant players, and convince them the ongoing project is the best for each of them. Needed to use agile methodologies in different ways and forms. After all that, negotiation begins, and that’s another chapter. Have a nice day; take care.
Thanks Sebastian! We have a detailed description of what we need in the following opportunity:
https://www.outvise.com/walls/opportunity/253801
This role is an interface between the platform in its broader sense and the possible solution providers that will leverage the platform to offer their smart city services. It is more like an account manager or client support role to align roadmaps, identify requirements and land the solutions in the platform.
First thing is first, define what you are trying to solve with your smart city platform. Once you know and can articulate that then it is possible to point you at some possibilities. Currently the above answers all seem like a ‘hire me I can do it’ type set of answers (forgive me for being blunt… business consultantx2, partner manger and architect are so wildly different they cant be the answer to the same question). Sebastian is closest to me in suggesting that there is a range of skills required. But for the starting point you need to know what you are actually trying to do. How do I get from town A to city B might be a question, but without knowing if you are an eco nut, whether you are in a hurry, whether town A and city B are on the same continent, whether you have money for a private helicopter, whether you are taking just yourself or 200 tons of goods with you no one can give you an answer.
Thanks David, yes. I am aware that the question is broad. The fact is that this is a role which is part of a team that covers multiple of the aspects that you mention.
In this particular case, the assumption is that we have an IoT / Smart City platform (technology, business model, ecosystem) and that we need to feed it with solutions that multiple providers might have or develop. This role is the “account manager” or “client manager” that will handhold possible solution providers into the journey of landing their solution in the platform….from a technology view as well as from other aspects.
Hi Jean-Pierre,
Integrate solution providers into a smart city platform… this is a rather broad setting for a specific answer. So let me try to break it down to likely options, that might illustrate some of the differences:
A Ready for take off:
All documentation for platform APIs, connectivity, protocols/ compression, libraries etc is available. In addition the target picture (e.g. use cases, releases, prioritization) is clear and the sizing of sprints is set. List or better, selection of solution providers is done.
Profile/ skill set: You‘ll be looking for an orchestrator, that ensures all tasks are addressed and takes care of the topics that arise. Basically, someone that is strong on project management (documentation of minutes, backlog tracking, management reporting, decision paper, etc).
B Core is ready:
The documentation for APIs and core features of platform are designed and running. Due to lack of overarching standards, some issues might still be optional or not decided. Prioritization of use cases is rough and only a more general target exists.
-> You‘ll likely be looking for someone that can drive to finalize the use cases at first. - If you are not sure where to go, you’ll never be able to decide how to get there. - By this, the project will, as a result, gain a better understanding of mutual requirements, resulting from the defined use cases. Having then clustered the use cases into similar groups and weighed them with business requirements (values such as revenue potential, reach), you‘ll get an overview of drivers. A SW-architect is always helpful, to ensure that the resulting sw-stack is manageable (release mgt., updates etc) and fits into the organization’s overall model.
> Try not to dive into details too soon. The faster the initial design works and can be tested by users, the better. You will never get it right the first time.
> You might want to look at open source solutions for orientation/ inspiration (e.g. oneM2M).
> Goto/ workshop with solution providers to gain understanding of their focus and reasoning, to learn and pot. adapt.
Profile/ skill set: Business minded person [management consultant with IT project mgt. skills (>5 years) or similar] with support from a SW-architect, to challenge resulting suggestions. The result should be a solution that both can agree on.
C Open for discussion:
Should you merely have a rough idea on what the platform should be capable of doing - look at open source documentation (e.g. oneM2M). There is plenty to validate and get inspiration from.
Profile/ skill set: Management consultant/ business development background as you are just getting started.
At a higher level - should you be at B or even C, you should definitely ensure sufficient number of programmers are available (3-5). They might not drive the decision making BUT the insights gained by exchange are usually quite fruitful.
All the best for the challenges ahead!
Dear Oliver, thanks a lot for your reply!
Our case here is closer to B…we are setting a team with Product Manager, CEX experts, Architects and PMO…I believe we should assume that the platform and the ecosystem around it is defined to an extent and we are now focusing on identifying solution providers to leverage the platform.
The actual job description is this one:
https://www.outvise.com/walls/opportunity/13x253801
We will reach out to you.
I agree all in all with David and Oliver.
First of all you need to write a road map (general direction where the project should go into).
Based on this, write down the key targets and possibly use the SMART method to do so to be sure you get targets as good as possible…
Which technology do you want to use or what do you want to be able to?
Do you want to use smart phones, do you just want to use browers (maybe both)?...
Do you want to use another technology like AR or VR?
What kind of smart city platform do you have in mind?
In my opinion also:
This word or phrase can mean so many things at once so you need to determine the goals and targets within this project to succeed…
Jean-Pierre
you have a wealth of ideas of the skills from a technical and process perspective. However, I fear that the job descriptions doesn’t meet the question that you have asked and the additional detail provided:
Your questions was:
What kind of expert is required and what are its key tasks to onboard possible solution providers into a Smartcity platform?
you also say:
I believe we should assume that the platform and the ecosystem around it is defined to an extent and we are now focusing on identifying solution providers to leverage the platform.
So we have a platform of capability that has assets (Data process and systems) a potential market of citizens, businesses and organisations and that you seek someone to assess the ideas, solutions and validate the commercial viability, the likely demand, the capability of the solution provider (from startup to corporate) and how the potential solution might fit on the platform.
I agree with many of the skills above being required, however that commercial viability and looking at the company and the ability of the solution providor to deliver will be key.
I suggest the additional skills required should include Assessing business for technical du diligence, looking at the opportunity from a commercial vioability and cost to purchase perspective. (many business get this wrong), and looking at the solution provider people and their skills (especially for startups or early stage companies).
Hope this helps.
Hi Jean-Pierre,
Adding my 2 cents to the discussion; in my opinion and experience you need someone that is an E2E solution architect in order to build the vision, this person need to see what other can’t see. The same person need to have a strong experience in dealing with big data and used to work with vendors that provides real-time monitoring solutions. At the end of the day sensors are like mobiles, they generate traffic and this traffic needs to be analysed with a proper solution; He/She needs to be able to design KPI/KQIs that don’t necessarily exist at all in order to capture what the sensors are generating and last but not least, he/she needs to be a good storyteller, e.g. communicate with non-technical people
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