Second Annual Event Unlocks Customer Value Across Food Service, Pharmaceutical, and Healthcare
BOSTON, November 14, 2023 — SmartSense by Digi®, part of Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII, www.digi.com) and a leading global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity solutions, recently hosted a highly successful LIVE23 user conference from the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando Resort. The second annual conference marked a 300% increase in attendance year-over-year, bringing together product safety experts from the food service, pharmaceutical, and healthcare sectors for two days of collaborative education and thought leadership. Notable conference attendees included analysts from Gartner and Ernst & Young and customer representatives from CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, Trinity Health, Jollibee, honeygrow and Giant Eagle, among others.
“LIVE23 was a testament to SmartSense’s commitment to value-centric customer success,” said Guy Yehiav, President of SmartSense by Digi. “Our customers, collaborators, and advisory board members are among the brightest minds at the forefront of IoT-enabled condition monitoring and location services. It was critical to bring them together in an inclusive environment that promotes open collaboration and knowledge sharing. We’re grateful to everyone who helped make this conference come to fruition and look forward to building on it with LIVE24.”
The conference featured a diverse lineup of keynote presentations on broad technology trends, executive customer panels on industry-specific topics, and intimate breakout sessions on implementation challenges. In addition, Chief Product Officer Sammy Kolt delivered a comprehensive review of the SmartSense IoT Sensing-as-a-Service solution to highlight the company’s integrated platform, product roadmap, and optimization plans for 2024.
“LIVE23 showcased the importance of community and collaboration when it comes to product development,” said Kolt. “The conference enabled us to engage directly with customers about their evolving needs and challenges so that we can optimize our solutions to deliver and increase lifetime value. We look forward to continuing this collaboration. Together, we can take steps to foster a safer future across food service, pharmaceutical, and healthcare.”
The LIVE23 keynotes covered a variety of emerging topics around the role of IoT connectivity in a digitalized future:
- Blockchain: The Next Wave of B2B Transformation
Paul Brody, Global Blockchain Leader, Ernst & Young
- IoT: 5G is Not the Solution You’re Looking For
Bill Ray, VP Analyst, Emerging Technologies & Trends, Gartner
- Managing Product Safety & Compliance Across Domains
Victor Vercammen, Vice President of Safety, Regulatory & Government Affairs, Giant Eagle
- Reimagining the Way Health Systems Operate
Joel Vengco, SVP and Chief Information & Digital Officer, Hartford HealthCare
- The Herculean Effort: Product Safety as a Mission
Dr. Darin Detwiler LP.D., Associate Professor, Northeastern University and Best-selling Author
The balance of high-level knowledge and granular industry analysis during LIVE23 provided customers with actionable insights to apply within their organization.
“SmartSense LIVE embodies Digi’s first cultural imperative: customer focus,” said Ron Konezny, President and CEO of Digi International. “We’re passionate about our customers, and I think it’s most noticeable during events like this. The participants benefit from an amazing network effect of connecting with industry leaders and colleagues to discuss how technology can have a positive impact on their business. That community is what makes SmartSense so valuable.”
Board of Advisors Hold Strategic Meetings
SmartSense leadership conducted in-person meetings with its Healthcare and Food Service Advisory Boards to discuss the company’s strategic initiatives, product innovations, and 2024 goals. The Advisory Boards, chaired by Dr. Jim Langabeer (Healthcare) and John Deane (Food Service), were created in 2022 to amplify customer success and accelerate product offerings across verticals.
“Our LIVE23 meetings were very open and collaborative,” said Deane, Managing Director of Clipper Advisory Group and former Chief Operating Officer of Wendy’s. “There was a lot of experience around the table from folks who have been in business for quite some time. We exchanged interesting ideas that will help set priorities for how SmartSense products integrate centralized IoT sensing and monitoring data. After this week, I leave convinced that SmartSense is poised and ready to deliver more value for customers – now it’s only a matter of time.”
The LIVE23 Board meetings took place on the heels of two recent appointments. Josh Jewett was added to the Food Service Advisory Board in August, and Edward Marx joined the Healthcare Advisory Board in September.
Customer Testimonials
“I loved being at LIVE23. This is my second year here, and I enjoyed it last year too. Getting all of us in the same room and hearing best practices from subject matter experts really helps to promote our success. When we go back to our respective organizations, we have the insights we need to implement best practices that can help launch a new program or initiative.” – Molly Gombos, Lead Director, Retail Quality Standards, CVS Health
“The reason why I’m back for a second year here at LIVE is multi-faceted. It’s a good opportunity to interact directly with SmartSense leaders and product development specialists about our wish lists and future plans. But the other part of it is interacting and learning from colleagues who have similar challenges to us. There may be solutions they’ve implemented that could work in parts of my business, and I wouldn’t have interacted with the folks in any other way.” – Victor Vercammen, Vice President of Safety, Regulatory & Government Affairs, Giant Eagle
“LIVE23 was super beneficial. Having leaders from restaurants, grocery, and healthcare all in one space showed that there’s a lot of shared challenges we weren’t aware of. Even if we’re in different industries, we can still learn from one another about how to solve those challenges. SmartSense showed a real and genuine openness about wanting to provide that value for all of us.” - John Paul Thomas, VP of Operations Services, honeygrow
About Digi International
(NASDAQ: DGII) is a leading global provider of business and mission-critical Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and solutions. We help our customers create next-generation connected products and solutions to deploy, monitor and manage critical communications infrastructures and compliance standards in demanding environments with high levels of security, relentless reliability and bulletproof performance. Founded in 1985, we’ve helped our customers connect over 100 million things, and growing. For more information, visit www.digi.com.
About SmartSense by Digi
SmartSense by Digi®, a business unit of Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII), is a leading global provider of Internet of Things (IoT) Sensing as a Service solutions that deliver dynamic and personalized asset monitoring, process digitization, and digital decisioning across key verticals. The company enables organizations to leverage the power of IoT automation, prescriptive workflows, and insightful analytics to ensure compliance, workforce productivity, brand loyalty, loss prevention, and reduction of waste and energy consumption. Combining new and innovative data-driven approaches with world-class IoT tools, SmartSense collaborates with enterprises to elevate their business outcomes and asset protection to new heights. For more information, visit https://www.smartsense.co/.
Media Contact
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Jeff.Eltringham@digi.com