This model of infrastructure based location driven by API’s is completely new and it takes a little time to understand. Most folks think about use-cases as independent projects, each with its own cost structure.
When folks realize when they own the infrastructure and cloud subscriptions they own the API, they can build as many services on top of it as they want. There isn’t incremental cost, other than writing software. This is a foreign concept to most people.
Here is a real experience with a healthcare customer who already was using Mist for their Guest WiFi.
First arrived they said they had no interest in asset tags. As we walked through his new facility we asked “what is your biggest problem” and he came back with understanding how their exam rooms were being utilized as they had changed their model and he was concerned they were getting ‘less efficient’ rather than enjoying the gains he predicted. We noticed that he and other staff already wore multiple lanyards with various RFID cards so we told him there were BLE asset tags in that form factor.
We also explained by putting BT11’s (BLE only) in the exam rooms he could easily get the analytics he wanted. This led to this video showing how easy it actually would be.
This really got his attention as this was exactly the information he was looking for.
We then asked what his next problem he wished he could solve. Answer was “nurses losing laptops.” These laptops were pretty large as they were standardized and we showed him vendors that made BLE asset tags that would be a good fit for the laptop and we mentioned that by having AP41’s for their guest WiFi he already had a solution if he turned on the Asset Availability subscription. Again – this really got his attention and he asked “what about the non-public rooms like behind the pharmacy where their were no guest AP’s.” As we walked to that room we told him just to put a single BT11 in that room as all he really wanted was to know where to look for the laptop, not which corner of the room it was.
The partner who owns this account then explained how easy it would be to build them a quick service using the Mist API to let them know where “Nancy’s laptop is right now.” The lightbulbs were really going off now.
Lastly we visited the brand new loading dock and pointed out a new security camera with 360 coverage. We suggested if he created a single zone covering this space and if a high value asset showed up in the zone we could make an API call to the security company to timestamp the video from that camera and he said “why wouldn’t I send an alert also as this is probably theft” and we all realized he understood the power of what he already owned.
This is not a unique story, it happens almost every-time we meet a new customer. It is the art of the “what if?”