A lot has been said and written about the Internet of things (IoT) over its decade long journey. It has been heralded as on the fastest growing sectors based on annual growth, along with AI, Blockchain and Robotics.
The statistic often used when talking about IoT is the prediction by Gardner claiming that by 2020 (in less than a year away while writing this post) 20.4 billion things will be connected globally. While Forbes has estimated that more than 65% of enterprises will adopt some kind of an IoT solutions by 2020.
The myriads of solution claims and assumptions around IoT creates a lot of confusion in the industry and organisations at large. At the same time, within the organisations, different departments deal with different areas of the IoT cycle which adds complexities and further confusion.
If your organisation is thinking of taking part on the IoT party, there are few things you should consider before starting your connected things journey.
First, let’s look at a handful of key insights to aid the understating of what IoT is, is not and what it can do for you…
1. The key driver behind IoT adoption, is the need for more data. Mitigating risk, is a top priority for all businesses; for IoT to have an impact it needs to provide actionable insights. IoT thus can help enterprises gain traction on their digital transformation adoption as it provides the granular details that can be used to develop strategies, prioritise problem solutions and allocate resources accordingly.
2. IoT is not a technology, although it often is referred as one. IoT is a conglomeration of technologies all working together to create the IoT ecosystem. The IoT ecosystem is how the digital world interacts with the physical world and is comprised of 4 main areas, simply outlined they are:
a. Edge devises - the things
b. Connectivity – such as GSM, ZigBee, NB IoT, LoRA, WIFI, etc
c. Platform (data ingestion engine) - where all the information about the things is gathered, analysed and actioned
d. Analytics engine - reporting driving actionable insights from all the data gathered from the things
3. IoT can drive internal efficiencies through real time monitoring and can reduce downtime via predictive and proactive maintenance which drives operational optimisation and cost savings.
4. IoT can improve product and customer experience. Through the use of product usage and product engagement analytics, you can gain better understanding of your customers and be able to provide personalised product offerings. At the same time, this is a rich real time test bed for all your products and services, thus driving improvements and innovation for new products and business models.
5. Security for the Internet of Things to mitigate the risk of hacking is everyone’s responsibility, from the product manufacturers, to the solutions providers, to the product owners. The use of blockchain technology can minimise the risks associated with security bridges and allow more time for the organisations to deploy additional counter measures. At least for the foreseeable future whilst quantum computing is on its infancy, as scientists predict it could eclipse blockchain.
The Internet of Things (IoT) predictions are no longer just hype, they touch our lives from many directions and disrupting the way we work and operate.
Join us next time, when we take a look at the top industries IoT is disrupting and how you can be part of that revolution turned evolution.
Author: Nassia Skoulikariti
Founder & CEO of Apiro Data