Nearly four decades young, Digi has thrived across a number of technology and economic changes because we are constantly innovating. We have never taken the stance that we need to “reinvent” ourselves, but we have always kept our eyes on customer and market trends. Laser focused on our customers’ needs and requirements, we stay at the forefront of machine and IoT connectivity with market-leading, problem-solving products and services.
What does that mean today? It means Digi fully embraces a “solution” model and mentality. Gone are the days when enterprises, healthcare facilities, municipalities, transportation systems and other customers managed the entire process of procuring, deploying and managing connected devices.
In the past, this gauntlet included selecting the right hardware and software components in a sea of choices, identifying and implementing connectivity and security strategies, and providing all of the engineering required to actively manage this entire suite — then determine how to manage and update their deployed solutions. That typically meant stepping far outside the available wheelhouse of daily business and IT management knowledge most entities possess. No wonder so many of these initiatives failed. They didn’t have an expert to guide their journeys.
Hardware, Software, Solutions and Service — the Next Generation of IoT
Connected systems typically are extremely complex. The average Industrial IoT solution requires orchestrating over ten providers. Whether you’re designing a medical device, irrigation monitoring system, or electrical vehicle charger, or you're deploying a citywide upgrade to your traffic management system, there are many critical decisions to be made. And there are nearly always some critical engineering and operational management processes that must be developed or enhanced.
Providing customers some components or routers and telling them to contact us when they need help is clearly suboptimal. Instead, we are providing a more complete solution of product, connectivity, cloud and mobile application management tools, and expert support. This approach aids our customers by compressing time to market, reducing risk, and improving outcomes for them.
Engineering and Deployment Support
We discovered long ago that needs don’t stop with a purchase order. So, we are in the midst of completing three bold moves:
- We built out a full Wireless Design Services team of expert engineers to support OEMs who are designing and building go-to-market IoT solutions.
- We also built a full Professional Services team to support customers who are deploying IT and OT systems, so they can get the complete care they need. This care includes things such as site surveys, application development, deployment services, certification, kitting, SIM activation, and even team training.
- We are moving to 24 x 7 Customer Care, supporting our critical customer needs with round-the-clock support.
Our customers often report that these supporting services help to accelerate their project timelines, which ultimately saves costs. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Monitoring, Management and Predictive Maintenance for Every Industry
Another key customer need is the ability to manage IoT deployments and ensure the viability and security of installed devices. Digi has also spent over a decade building out the sophisticated feature set of our remote monitoring and management system, Digi Remote Manager®, to support the mission-critical device management needs of our customers. It all started with a simple question: Once that device is deployed in the field, how can I make sure it’s online and doing its job?
Multiply that by dozens, hundreds or thousands of devices located in dispersed geographies, and the value proposition is clear. Most companies fully recognize the tremendous value of monitoring and managing those devices long after they have been installed. Companies want to ensure those devices are secure, adapt to technical and regulatory changes, and get rapid notification in the event of tampering. Better yet, with our highly sophisticated Digi Remote Manager IoT management platform, our customers can automatically remediate many of those issues right when they occur.
Predictive maintenance is one of the driving forces of any operation today that relies upon machines and connectivity. To help achieve this, Digi Remote Manager can provide alerts for specified conditions such as tank or temperature levels, or offline devices. Customers can get detailed reports on any metrics needed from those devices, and fully manage them from a dashboard, through a “single pane of glass” that lets them quickly see every single device. Moreover, they can efficiently rollout security patches or firmware updates to enhance functionality — anytime, from anywhere.
The Next Step: The Complete Solution Is the Only Solution
We’re taking the concept of an IoT solution a step further. With our next-generation solution offering, most customers will obtain the management solution upon purchase, with a host of value-added tools — all designed to save costs and headaches, and ensure they are never left scratching their heads when their IoT solution needs attention. Stay tuned as we bring this exciting next phase to our customers and distribution channel.
Why Is a Solution Mentality a Bold Move?
Every business takes on risk. To be successful, you have to invest continually in your offerings and your company with the customer leading the way. You need to ensure your products and/or services meet a critical need, and then go after markets that have opportunity and competitive space.
The time is right for Digi to move to a new paradigm. We believe so completely in supporting our customers' IoT needs and ensuring they have all the tools for complete planning and deployment success, as well as full control for the extended life of their products, that we are taking that next step. Digi intends to take the pain out of IoT initiatives, so each and every one of those projects — when built and deployed with Digi solutions — is a long-term success.
Awards — Reflecting Digi Innovation, Full Solution Mentality and Customer Focus
We are extremely proud of the awards our products and services have earned over the years. Today, we see a shift that reflects how our business model is evolving.
At Embedded World 2023, we were awarded Best-In-Show by Embedded Computing Design in the Security category for Digi ConnectCore Security Services. This new solution offers a collection of advanced services and tools that ensure the security of products during their entire lifecycle — solving the challenge of keeping products secure after release.
Also recently, Digi was awarded two exciting wins at the 2023 ACG Minnesota BOLD Awards, which honors companies that are “original, inventive, daring and bold.” The first was the category award for “Large and Established” Minnesota companies. The second was the overall award, called the “BOLDest of the BOLD” award. Watch our video to hear about the journey:
Reach out to us if you have questions or need solutions to solve your connectivity and IoT management needs.
Next Steps