PiCo, an Australian smart-retail technology provider, is one of the first users of an integration between Emnify’s IoT cloud communication platform and workflow automation tool Zapier.

This makes German firm Emnify the first IoT CPaaS provider to offer customers no-code automation for cellular IoT management.

For IoT providers operating connected products globally, efficient internal processes for device deployment, troubleshooting and support are critical. Emnify’s integration with Zapier allows businesses to build trigger-based operational workflows quickly and intuitively using the tools that work for them. Emnify customers can now automate IoT device and connectivity management at scale, with a few clicks.

Using Zapier, IoT operations and support teams can select pre-defined Emnify triggers or actions and quickly combine them with their internal tools to create automated workflows, called Zaps.

PiCo, an Australian smart-retail provider, is among the first users of Emnify’s Zapier integration.

“Zapier has been a great help to us in managing projects globally across disparate platforms, and we have about 15 Zaps already in use,” said Andrew Lowe, managing partner at PiCo. “With this integration, we were able to rapidly integrate Emnify into our project management tool that manages workflows across three continents in under five minutes.”

Pico provides retail technology that helps physical stores be successful in a digital world. With users across four continents, its IoT devices connect any store with a barcode scanner to the internet in minutes. PiCo helps brands, distributors and loyalty programmes connect with stores and shoppers at the point of purchase.

By integrating with Missouri-based Zapier, a brand in the rapidly growing no-code economy, Emnify can now connect with more than 3000 systems worldwide, including CRM, ERP and project management platforms, without the need for specialist developers.

The combination of cellular IoT and no-code automation increases control and visibility for IoT businesses as they scale to deploy and operate thousands of devices globally. Emnify’s customers can efficiently manage and stay on top of their device connectivity using the tools they already rely on without having to switch between applications.

Benefits are said to include:

• Increased operational efficiency – automated bulk activation and deactivation of device connectivity with the user’s management tool of choice, such as Excel, Asana and Slack.
• Faster triaging and ticket resolution – real-time proactive alerts in the user’s management tool of choice when connectivity problems arise, for example, usage limit reached.
• Automated processes – such as automatically blocking a specific network.

“No-code is to source code what cloud was to on-premises servers,” said Knud Kegel, vice president at Emnify. “No-code tools enable a higher degree of autonomy for non-technical teams, enabling business teams to participate by automating workflows, building operational dashboards and more, so that development teams can focus on more strategic engineering tasks. Emnify’s goal is to enable everyone to contribute to the connected world, and no-code is critical to making that happen.”

To empower customers with more tailored workflows that streamline IoT operations on a global scale, Emnify is working to expand its set of actionable cellular IoT triggers and actions on Zapier. In the future, the company plans to integrate with a wider range of no-code tools to increase automation possibilities for IoT businesses.

Emnify is a cloud communication platform provider for IoT that enables businesses with high-growth IoT products to scale across networks worldwide with a single API. It was founded in 2014 by telecommunications experts Frank Stöcker, Martin Giess and Alexander Schebler.