http://www.insider.co.uk March 2020 INSIDER 95
COMMENT
Mark Gibson
Managing Director,
Capito Ltd
T: +44 (0)1506 460300
E: mark.gibson@
capito.co.uk
W: http://www.capito.co.ukWanna be in my team? Just
say no... or at least ask whyTECH TALK: RURAL CONNECTIVITY
to provide wireless and mobile connectivity
to rural and remote regions. Led by Stewart,
it follows a 5GRuralFirst trial project and
focuses on deployment and provision.
“5G isn’t just a faster and better
smartphone,” says Stewart. “In combination
with technologies such as Internet of Things,
low-powered sensors and data analysis
software, 5G offers Scotland’s agricultural
sector the chance to revolutionise how
they run their businesses and inform their
decision making. However, the issue of rural
broadband connectivity remains an issue.
“It’s still possible to drive 25 miles outside
of the Central Belt and lose connectivity. 5G
networks are easy to deliver but they require
‘backhaul’ – that is, they need to be feeding
data to a base station somewhere that, in
turn, is connected to the internet.”
Boyd adds: “5G is part of a
communications mix – it’s important it’s
not seen as a replacement or alternative to
broadband connectivity, but something
which complements the broadband
infrastructure to make more things possible
for more people. We want the S5GC to act
as an integration point for government,
industry, academia and rural communities
to come together and help solve these
problems for every part of the country.”
One initiative hoping to address the
connectivity issues is the SmartRural Coop:
a user-owned, agriculture cooperative,
focused on delivering ‘outside in’ rural
digital connectivity and formed as part
of the Scottish Agriculture Organisation
Society (SAOS). The Coop is about rolling-
out the wireless and LoRaWAN networks
that will provide Scotland’s farmers with
the IoT capabilities they need. Potential
applications are extensive and include rural
site security, livestock and river monitoring.
Paul Lindop, director of SmartRural,
says: “We are head-on dealing with rural’s
digital divide from the outside in – led
by low bandwidth IoT connecting the
farmers to the fields, hills and glens that
they manage, but in a way that changes
the economics of the higher bandwidth
deployments that support 4G/5G. In some
countries, the roll-out this sort of network
has been viewed as a strategic asset, and
fully funded by the government; in others,
one of the mobile network operators has
seen it as a relatively low-cost way to capture
this strategic opportunity. Neither of those
things have happened in Scotland – SAOS’s
response has been to form SmartRural into
which funds [are] invested by the farmers
and others develop the new network.”
SmartRural has two proof of concept
deployments in Stonehaven and Deveron
Valley, and, this year, thanks to funding
from Knowledge Transfer and Innovation
Fund, the Coop will install LoRaWAN
networks on three farms in Aberdeenshire,
Angus and Fife where other farmers can to
come to see the IoT technology in action. A
bespoke package of sensors will be installed
on each farm to capture a range of data
that will be used as the basis for improved
decision-making across the enterprise.
Lindop says: “Farmers have lots of little
jobs to do every day ‘just in case’ – checking
a water trough in a remote field, making
sure a pump is still working – things that
99 time out 100 require no action. These all
add up to a lot of wasted, unproductive time
and often leave the people involved isolated.
“With our LoRaWAN solution, those
assets are linked to a low-power sensor
which triggers an alarm only when action is
required - lots of simple things that, taken
together, could add up to a huge boost to
productivity and quality of life. While it’s
true farming is still a traditional industry,
there is a new generation that increasingly
recognises the value that technology and
data can bring to their business”Lindop also points to opportunities these
developments could bring for Scotland’s
digital manufacturing sector, given most
LoRaWAN kit is now produced overseas
and increased demand could lead to
opportunities to manufacture at scale
locally. He also says the farm data produced
will create data analysis opportunities.
One Scottish hardware company already
awake to the opportunities on offer is
Edinburgh-based ZIVA Robotics, formerly
known as Casta Spes Technologies. Its
flagship product is ZIVA, a multi-terrain,
low-cost robot with applications in security
and agriculture, which was launched for
trial late last year.
The robot provides 360-degree CCTV
coverage and can be driven remotely or
set-up to automatically patrol specified
routes. The robot’s creators believe ZIVA
will soon be fulfilling a range of agricultural
functions, such as checking crops for disease
or monitoring livestock.
Selby Cary, ZIVA’s co-founder and CEO,
says: “Creating ZIVA has been an incredible
journey. Once we knew we had something
that could work in the Scottish weather,
we were confident we could get it to work
anywhere. The potential applications for
farmers are enormous.” ■Once we knew we had
something that could work
in the Scottish weather, we
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it to work anywhere
Selby Cary, ZIVA RoboticsI recently sat in on a Microsoft Teams call – the brilliant
hub for teamwork in Microsoft Office 365. Bringing
everyone you work with to work together, Teams allows
you to chat, meet, call and collaborate, seamlessly and
effortlessly. I have to confess to being almost evangelical
in my love for this application and use it throughout the
day to organise my life on multiple devices.
In this instance, it was a pre-scheduled meeting with
a technology partner which involved nine members of
my team dialling in from five separate remote locations,
together with an obligatory PowerPoint presentation
and some back and forth dialogue.
The call lasted 50 minutes and left me frustrated. Not
that as an ‘Update’ exercise it failed, but following the call,
which didn’t have any pre-agreed agenda or actionable
follow-ups (sigh), I circled the team and asked them if
they understood the purpose of the call and why had
they accepted – a couple of people admitted, ‘because I
was asked and I was free’.
There are many ways in which conference calls and
virtual meetings fail, often to do with poor planning,
unrealistic scope or when key participants fail to turn
up. My current favourite bugbears are when the wrong
people are included and there is no follow-up. Inclusivity
at all costs is folly, particularly when people who have
little to contribute are asked to participate.
It struck me though that the ease with which modern
conferencing apps such as Teams, Skype and their like
allow us to instantly ‘Accept’ and ‘Attend’ virtual meetings
is also breeding or re-enforcing a culture which can be
described as lazy at best, or worse, foolish.
How often do you automatically ‘Accept’ a meeting
request because you have a free slot or because the
Artificial intelligence engine which underpins the
application does it for you?
As they become part of the DNA of how the modern
organisation works, these technologies deliver amazing
benefits and enhancements, however, what’s actually
needed is coaching and training. I am encouraging my
team to question or reject any meeting invitation with an
unclear purpose or relevance.
Employee communication is changing. Where once
we filled our day with face-to-face meetings, then ‘conf ’
calls, it is now Teams meetings in the modern, efficient
workplace. Mobile apps are how leading organisations
are connecting and reinforcing company values.
It’s easy to get carried away by the excitement of all the
possibilities but, to get the expected business value, we
still need to remind ourselves and our co-workers to give
ourselves time to think, plan and question.