At last week’s IoT Tech Expo North America virtual event, printer maker Lexmark announced a portfolio to help users quickly unlock the value of the IoT and accelerate digital transformation.

Lexmark’s Optra IoT offerings leverage the company’s cloud, IoT and connectivity technologies and expertise, supported by its heritage as a maker of connected devices and work in managed services. 

“We believe IoT has the power to transform all types of industries,” said Allen Waugerman, CEO of Kentucky-based Lexmark. “Companies only need the right tools to harness it, enabling them to grow and innovate. Lexmark figured it out. We unleashed the power of IoT and built a solution that we have used for years in our own business to achieve measurable benefits for our customers and ourselves. Lexmark Optra IoT can do the same for other companies.”

The first offering is the Lexmark Optra IoT platform, a ready-made IoT offering to help users jumpstart their business transformation, creating better products and more advanced services at lower costs.

McKinsey estimates 84% of companies working on IoT are stuck in pilot mode. Compounding this situation is the vast amount of data that exists in silos across business applications and beyond the organisation’s walls. Due to these complexities, uncovering actionable insights from the data is extremely difficult.

Lexmark built an IoT platform to run its global managed print services business. The platform harnesses performance and sensor data from the devices that Lexmark manufactures and manages, combining them with data from core business systems to deliver insights. The company is also able to drive internal and external value through outcomes including predictive services, asset optimisation, systemic innovation and as-a-service engagements. Lexmark remotely resolves device support issues 70% of the time and has increased profitability per device via optimised use.

With the Optra IoT Platform, Lexmark brings the ability to harness IoT and achieve business outcomes to makers of connected devices beyond print. It includes an engineered platform built on technologies that enable manufacturers to combine and operationalise siloed data from connected devices and core business systems.

A suite of accelerators includes algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence models, reporting dashboards, and business process templates that fast-track insights and efficiencies and speed implementation, quickly delivering business value.

Dedicated consultants will use their expertise to help customers realise the value of their investment and navigate their IoT journey.

“The Optra IoT platform is ready-made and proven, enabling makers of connected devices to quickly implement and rapidly achieve outcomes that bring them further success,” said Vishal Gupta, Lexmark chief information and technology officer. “Lexmark is reinventing how manufacturers leverage IoT to transform their business.”

The Optra IoT platform is available in North America and select markets in Europe.