LG CNS CEO stresses IoT service over devices

By Yoon Sung-won

LG CNS CEO Kim Dae-hoon stressed the importance of services over devices in the nation’s Internet of Things (IoT) industry.

“The IoT industry should come up with new business models to prepare for the future when the industry will be more oriented to services than devices,” the CEO of LG Group’s system service affiliate said in a company newsletter on Tuesday. “The IoT industry’s interest, however, remains in the ‘things’ level.”

Kim said that the service-centered IoT starts from “why the things should be connected,” and concentrates on devising convenient and useful services such as smart homes and smart healthcare.

On the other hand, the device-centered IoT focuses on “what to connect” and on developing unprecedented devices, he said.

According to a data by the global market researcher Gartner, 85 percent of the total sales in the IoT industry in 2020 will be generated from the service-oriented sector.

The CEO said the IoT industry gained profitability on the back of technological advancement in three related sectors ― device, network and service ― and this change has brought new business models.

He said the new business models include the change of profit system from product to service; market expansion by online-offline integration; and opening of new markets through collaborations between industries.

“The IoT technology will impact the entire industries by providing business opportunities and risks such as blurred boundaries between industries and collapse of traditional business moels,” he said.

LG CNS plans to hold an IT conference titled “Entrue World 2015” in Seoul on April 21 and invite domestic and foreign IoT experts to discuss related services, solutions and business opportunities in this sector.

Kim is scheduled to deliver a keynote at the conference and talk about the vision of service-oriented IoT, the company said.