When you’re standing in a line and you see almost everyone in sight interacting with their mobile phones by viewing, listening, swiping or typing—do you ever wonder how people used to pass the time while they were waiting?

The Pew Research Center says 95 percent of Americans own a mobile phone and 77 percent own a smartphone. These numbers are also similar for Canadians and for those across North America under 30 years old, the percentages are even higher.

The summer catches many of us off guard every year - The sun heats up, the icy cold temperatures of winter are quickly replaced with the sweltering hot, humid, sunny days of summer. We welcome most of the change, but there is certainly one change that comes with the warm summer days that none of us welcome.

Unfortunately, the season change doesn’t simply bring us summer vacations, and fishing. It also brings tragedy. It’s just like clockwork, every year. I can’t explain it, nobody can, but it happens every year with amazing regularity when the temperature starts to climb.

If you like to grow plants, you know that there are three main things they require for growth: water, sunshine and good soil. If you supply all these, your plants will grow healthy and strong, putting out new leaves and colorful blossoms in their season.

I feel exactly that way about our Zedi IIoT platform growth. We’ve expanded organically by identifying and supplying the top three things our customers need for better production. Much like water, sunshine and good soil without any one of these the chances of growth drops quickly.

When you go to a restaurant, do you order straight off the menu? Or do you substitute mashed potatoes for fries, do you ask for extra tomatoes, or do you ask for rye instead of wheat? Or do you just ask for a number 5, pay your money and go sit down?

When it comes to ordering reports on your field data, you can’t settle for a “Number 5.” There are certain things you need to see first, there are certain ways you want things listed and there are ways you need it broken out.

Want it “your way?” I’m glad you asked. That’s exactly why we put together Emerson's Zedi Vital.

In the Eagle Ford plays of deep south Texas, we have plenty to worry about: heat, dust, the occasional rattlesnake, and H2S for starters. Life certainly keeps us on our toes!

What our customers like about having their remote monitoring data readily available through Zedi Access™ is that it shortens their list of things to worry about. Considerably.

What if your pipelines or wells could call you up and tell you they were sick before they went down?

Most of the time now, in the oil patch, the first we know of a problem is when the pump breaks down, the compressor slams on the brakes, a valve gives way or there’s some other catastrophic—and expensive—problem.

What if we could use Big Data to start detecting the lead-up to a problem and fix it before it became a shutdown or, in the case of a pipeline, a big leak? It could help our people work smarter by doing small jobs in time to reduce the major ones.

What kind of risk taker were you as a kid? Were you the one who built a rickety ramp out of plywood, braced it up with some loose bricks you found in the yard and wheeled your bike bravely up to the top?

Hey, everybody, watch this!

At the top, you’re surveying the scene and doing a sort of primitive risk management—am I gonna have an exhilarating ride down this ramp, then shoot up toward the stars? Or will I fall off halfway down and smash every bone in my body?

“Dear Producer,” the email should read. “I want to tell you about a problem I have on well number 10. It’s—well, it’s just not producing like it should. I think there may be a liquid loading problem. In truth, this has been building up for a while, and I was afraid something like this would happen. What should we do?”

I don’t know if you ever read advice columns, where people write in and ask for help with relationship issues. Sometimes it’s interesting to see what the columnist has to offer as a solution.

I always love a good conference—one where the speakers not only have good information, but where they also dream a little bit about how the new information will improve the future. It always spurs my own imagination about how we can better use technology to partner with our clients and help them achieve their goals.

I had an interesting conversation with my young son the other day—about how phones used to be.

Remember? Wired to the wall. Trapped by that wire.

The huge advance with the invention of the cordless phone that would let you roam all the way to the perimeter of your home or office—and permanently lose the handset under a couch cushion!