Following its corporate statement of direction on April 14th, Hitachi has announced the formation of Hitachi Insight Group. Headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, the new group will drive Hitachi’s unified Internet of Things (IoT) business and go-to-market (GTM) strategy worldwide.
With USD$5.4 billion in IoT solutions and services revenue generated in 2015 and 33 solutions in-market today, Hitachi offers one of the broadest IoT solutions portfolios in the industry. By uniting its digital and IoT solutions and services businesses, Hitachi is positioning itself to lead in this fast-growing market. The newly formed Hitachi Insight Group will be the ‘tip of the spear’ in Hitachi’s quest to capture market share in what IDC projects to be a $1.46 trillion market opportunity by 2020.
Hitachi’s IoT portfolio includes solutions and services for public safety and smart cities, renewable and sustainable energy, intelligent transportation, precision agriculture and manufacturing, water treatment and urban development, construction, mining and more. These digital solutions deliver connected intelligence and drive actionable insights to support better business decision-making and tangible real world outcomes, like increased productivity and safety, streamlined business processes, lower cost of operations, reduced carbon footprint, and improved quality of life.
To enhance its existing portfolio and support the development of new solutions and services, the company has created Lumada, Hitachi’s IoT core platform. Lumada’s open, adaptable software architecture is designed to accelerate the development of IoT solutions, while providing flexible support for customization and co-creation with Hitachi’s customers and partners.
Market-in approach
The formation of Hitachi Insight Group is part of Hitachi’s corporate strategy and initiative to move its business toward a market-in approach. Led by Keiji Kojima, Ph.D., who also holds concurrent positions as senior vice president and executive officer at Hitachi Ltd, the group will drive research and development and GTM strategies for Hitachi’s IoT-optimized solutions and services, in four key market segments: Smart City, Smart Energy, Smart Healthcare and Smart Industry. Hitachi’s global IoT-focused team of more than 16,000 employees from Hitachi Insight Group and various divisions across Hitachi Ltd. and its Group companies, including Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi Consulting among others, will collaborate to accelerate delivery of solutions.
“Through the formation of Hitachi Insight Group and the Lumada IoT core platform we will provide Hitachi’s customers and partners with the fastest and simplest path to develop and deploy comprehensive digital solutions at scale,” Keiji Kojima commented. “It is a profound honor to lead this elite team in accelerating Hitachi’s global IoT business through the creation of digital solutions and services.”
Leadership team
Hitachi Insight Group’s leadership team includes veteran executives Kevin Eggleston, general manager for the Americas, and Patrik Sjostedt, general manager for EMEA. The group will receive strategic direction and support from Hitachi Ltd. regional leaders Jack Domme, chief executive of the Americas; Klaus Dieter Rennert, chief executive for EMEA; Ichiro Iino, chief executive for Asia-Pacific; and Kenichi Kokubo, chief executive for China. Hitachi said it plans to establish regional operations for Hitachi Insight Group in APAC later this year.
”IoT represents a critical inflection point, in which the interests of business, industry and society are now intersecting and aligning like never before,” said Kevin Eggleston. “Our repeatable solutions are already helping businesses, cities, municipalities and industrial companies around the world. The formation of Hitachi Insight Group will now enable us to take Hitachi’s vision for Social Innovation to the next level, as we move our IoT business into the next critical phase of its evolution.”
Centers for Social Innovation
Hitachi has also established global Centers for Social Innovation in multiple geographies staffed by cross-disciplinary researchers, data scientists and solution architects to work closely with customers on solution development to solve unique challenges, ultimately verified through a proof-of-concept process. These labs will work closely with Hitachi Insight Group to apply the Hitachi’s market-in strategy and solve real world challenges in areas such as energy & natural resources, transportation, telecommunications, and healthcare.
The announcement of Hitachi Insight Group’s formation was made from the Internet of Things World Conference and Exposition at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California today, where Hitachi Ltd. Chief Executive of the Americas Jack Domme is a featured keynote speaker. The company will have six of its IoT solutions and the new Lumada IoT core platform on display. Conference attendees should visit booth #310 for hands-on demonstrations when the exhibit hall opens tomorrow.
“Digitalization is driving transformation in every aspect of business and society, fundamentally changing the way that businesses interact with their customers and governments interact with their constituents. With all the hype surrounding IoT these days, it can be difficult to understand what its real world applications are, or what will net the best return on investment,” said Domme. “Hitachi is working to change that paradigm. No other company has the ingenuity, depth of understanding or breadth of capabilities to help customers extract value from IoT and support digital transformation at scale, like we can.”
Hitachi Insight Group is collaborating with market leading innovators to co-develop digital and IoT-optimized solutions, including SAP, PTC, AT&T, Eurotech S.p.A., Intel, Microsoft, and others.