Orange Business Services spills the beans on connected coffee

Netherlands-based De Jong DUKE is working with Orange Business Services (OBS) and Ericsson to link its ConnectMe connected coffee platform that enables its customers to manage and monitor coffee machines in office environments and coffee shops remotely.

Monique Klein, Product Manager, de Jong DUKE

Monique Klein, Product Manager Connectivity at de Jong DUKE, said her company were pleased with their partnership with OBS who have delivered a solution that precisely meets their needs. “This partnership will bring us the benefits of simplified management and logistics, as well as improved coverage at our customers’ sites for a smart and connected coffee experience,” she noted.

de Jong DUKE’s ConnectMe service provides realtime information on coffee machines, including coffee consumption, cleaning cycles and maintenance requirements. It also supports two-way communication to push software updates or change coffee recipes on the machine, as well as leveraging the embedded video screen to announce upcoming events, to feature weekly promotions, or run advertisements. The platform comes with a touchless application that allows customers to order drinks direct from their mobiles.

OBS’s IoT Managed Global Connectivity Solution provides the reliable and secure connectivity that De Jong DUKE needed, simplifying the management of the company’s connections to customers across Europe and North America and enabling them to manage their IoT SIM cards centrally. The management platform is based on Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator service.

Omnisperience View

This is a great example of how a supplier in a B2B supply chain can innovate to deliver a better experience to its customers. It demonstrates how an excellent product is now only a component of a wider solution that helps differentiate the supplier from rivals. What we like about this coffee-as-a-service solution is that it converts a product into a service offering, delivering sticky features that promote loyalty while driving a combination of both operational and commercial benefits. With the hospitality sector under so much stress currently, this type of innovation is both welcome and timely. By working together, Ericsson and OBS make this type of solution easier for global enterprises to adopt – delivering a powerful combination of capabilities and connectivity.