Singapore’s digital economy is poised to drive the nation’s economic growth. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) reported that the city-state’s digital economy contributed $106 billion (equivalent to 17.3%) to its GDP in 2022. The upward trajectory is expected to continue, fuelled by rising investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Market research firm International Data Corp forecasts AI spending in Asia Pacific to grow at a CAGR of 25.5%, reaching US$78.4 billion ($105.2 billion) by 2027. Similarly, the region’s IoT investments are projected to hit US$435 billion in 2027, with a CAGR of 11.7% between 2023 and 2027.
The adoption of AI and IoT is set to transform industries by enhancing operational efficiency, improving customer experiences and unlocking new revenue streams. IoT devices like smart cameras act as data collectors, continuously gathering information from the physical world, while AI serves as the strategist, analysing those data to identify patterns, predict outcomes and enable decisions to be made quickly and accurately.
AI and IoT in the real world
Industries grappling with manpower shortages, such as healthcare and retail, stand to gain significantly from adopting AI (in areas such as video analytics) and IoT technologies.
For instance, Tan Tock Seng Hospital utilises AI to optimise bed management, freeing healthcare workers to focus on caregiving. The hospital has also deployed an AI system that uses sensors and video analytics to monitor patient movements and predict when they might try to leave their beds. This allows nurses to intervene before patients stand up, reducing fall risks.
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Similarly, retailers can overcome labour shortages by using AI. At the unmanned 7-Eleven Shop & Go at Esplanade Exchange, AI and smart cameras with video analytics record purchases so that the corresponding amount is automatically deducted from customers’ credit cards as they leave the store. When combined with IoT sensors, such smart cameras can detect suspicious behaviour and alert security personnel in real-time to prevent theft.
In the case of Funan Mall, it uses video analytics to monitor shopper traffic and crowd density, which helps it adjust tenant mix and placement. The mall’s smart directory also uses facial recognition to recommend stores based on shopper profiles. Retailers can adopt a similar AI-based video analytics approach to predict customer preferences and offer personalised shopping experiences.
Education is another sector ripe for AI, video analytics and IoT adoption. In classrooms, those technologies help automate attendance tracking, monitor student engagement and facilitate interactive learning. AI can also analyse students' learning patterns, strengths and weaknesses, enabling educators to tailor lessons and provide targeted resources. IoT devices and video analytics can enhance campus safety outside the classroom by monitoring entrances and common areas, providing real-time alerts for unusual activities and ensuring timely security responses.
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Edge cloud: The AI and video analytics enabler
As shown in the use cases above, organisations expect AI, video analytics and IoT to deliver real-time insights and responsiveness. However, for those technologies to deliver those capabilities, they need to be supported by the edge cloud.
Unlike centralised cloud computing, edge computing enables data to be processed at or near the point of data creation, which helps to reduce latency and ensure ultra-responsive performance. With edge cloud, AI and video analytics can generate faster, more timely and more accurate analysis. This is crucial for real-time decision-making applications, such as patient monitoring or security. SPTel’s access to thousands of secure edge cloud locations around the island and its ultra-low latency network make it an ideal partner for high-performance edge cloud solutions in Singapore. Unlike other cloud providers, edge cloud incurs no data transfer fees, minimising bill shock at the end of the month for greater control over IT operation budgets.
Using edge cloud is also more cost-effective than owning and managing on-premise servers. There is no need for upfront investment in servers as the edge cloud service is offered on a pay-as-you-use model. As such, organisations can scale edge cloud infrastructure on demand easily to allow workloads to be handled efficiently. Organisations do not need to set up and maintain their own on-premise server infrastructure security requirements and compliance. Additionally, SPTel’s edge cloud, housed within critical information infrastructure (CII) in Singapore, ensures data sovereignty, helping highly regulated industries like healthcare comply with legal requirements by keeping data processing localised.
Organisations seeking the right AI and video analytics support can turn to SPTel’s edge cloud. With ultra-low-latency processing, it is ideal for real-time applications in healthcare, retail and education. A customer use case exemplifies this: a major retail chain used video analytics technology to profile buyer behaviour and spending based on demographics to predict shopping patterns better and improve its product offering.
With over 300 sites island-wide, the customer needed an efficient way to support each store's low-latency compute required for video analytics. When the video analytics technology ran on SPTel’s edge cloud, it could detect the viewer’s demographics and match it to their purchasing patterns more quickly and accurately than when the application ran on the public cloud. Blacklisted shoppers could also be quickly identified, based on the video analytics and managed by store staff. The app’s high performance and responsiveness can be attributed to SPTel’s extensive and well-distributed network of edge hubs that can provide computing closer to the data source.
In short, SPTel’s edge cloud delivers optimum performance while reducing the need for IT hardware investment, offering organisations scalability and compliance with data localisation rules.
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Simplifying IoT with SPTel’s IoT-a-a-S platform
As organisations increasingly deploy IoT devices to automate processes and gather more data to further drive operational efficiency and business growth, it will introduce technical complexities. They may struggle to integrate IoT devices with other IT systems, manage IoT platforms, ensure the connectivity of IoT devices and more.
Those challenges can be addressed using SPTel’s IoT-as-a-Service (IoT-a-a-S) platform, which is agnostic for network protocol and sensor solutions. It comprises an IoT management platform, edge cloud computing platform, IoT gateways and connectivity. SPTel can also support customers for adjacent services such as data visualisation. As such, SPTel’s holistic IoT-a-a-S platform offers:
- Ease of integration
The platform simplifies the management of various IoT sensors, ensuring seamless device management, connectivity and interoperability. This allows businesses to deploy IoT solutions quickly and efficiently. - Centralised management
Businesses can manage all their IoT devices and data from a single interface, streamlining operations and reducing the complexity of managing multiple devices. - Data sovereignty
Platform and data are hosted in Singapore, ensuring data sovereignty and compliance for sensitive patient data.
By using SPTel’s IoT-a-a-S platform, organisations can rapidly deploy IoT solutions without requiring extensive technical expertise or infrastructure investment. They can also focus on using IoT and complementary technologies, such as AI, to address business challenges instead of spending time dealing with IoT integration and management challenges. Moreover, SPTel’s IoT-as-a-service model allows organisations to scale their IoT deployments easily and flexibly to meet evolving business needs.
Some organisations already use SPTel’s IoT-a-a-S solution to manage their smart buildings easily and effectively. The solution can support multiple sensors and use cases. Case in point: a major retail and transport hub in Singapore utilises SPTel’s IoT-a-a-S solution for indoor air quality, temperature and humidity sensors to ensure optimised airflow for health and safety reasons while reducing the energy consumption from air conditioners.
Leveraging this same platform, the organisation has also set up light controller sensors that monitor mission-critical perimeter lights so that timely replacement of faulty lights can be done without impacting operations. Should the organisation wish to expand its facility monitoring solutions, it can easily connect new sensors without additional capital investment.
Future-proofing success
Digitalisation is no longer an option but a necessity. The World Economic Forum estimates that 70% of new value created in the economy over the next decade will be based on digitally enabled platform business models. To be part of that growth, organisations need to accelerate digital transformation by leveraging AI, video analytics and IoT to significantly improve operational efficiency, enhance the customer experience and unlock new revenue opportunities.
However, using those advanced technologies without the right IT infrastructure will introduce complexities. Solutions like SPTel’s edge cloud and IoT-a-a-S platform can help organisations harness the full potential of advanced technologies to achieve their strategic goals with minimal technical challenges and reduced IT footprint. With the right strategies and solutions in place, Singaporean organisations can future-proof their competitiveness and contribute to the growth of the city’s digital economy.
To learn more about SPTel’s Edge Cloud and IoT-a-a-S platform, contact SPTel here.
