Why Your Digital Transformation Needs IoT
IoT is growing, and most of its potential is yet to come!
The Internet of Things (IoT) is pretty much everywhere these days. Technology advancements over the past two decades and more so this year's Covid-19 pandemic, has taught us that we must run our organisations differently for our businesses to survive.
According to reports, we are looking at 75.44 Billion IoT devices installed worldwide by 2025. The Internet of Things turns everyday objects and devices into smart, connected objects and tools. The Internet of Things is changing and enhancing our daily lives and how we function as a society.
The benefits of the IoT digital transformation services rotate around harnessing the data from the connected devices, performing analysis to extract insights that drive actions. Through those actions, the organisation will reduce costs, improve operations, customers engagement and drive further innovation.
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation (DT) has been around for a few decades, and it generally refers to people, processes, and things and how they are related to each other. However, at its core, Digital Transformation is all about data and enables companies to use said data to drive business insights, customer engagement and product innovations. They all lead to increased revenues.
Most of the Digital Transformation conversations pivot around the technology stack an organisation needs to implement to gain a competitive advantage. Edge computing, Cloud computing, Big Data, AI-driven apps.
Technology is essential, and organisations are looking to implement the different element to pivot and drive change successfully. The majority of organisations dismiss the importance of people and culture, essential for Digital Transformation to succeed. The softer side is not as quickly qualifiable. However, people are the ones who have to learn the newly implemented technologies successfully, and more so, keep using them to drive the needed change.
We cannot separate Technology from People; they are equally critical and integral parts to any successful digital transformation journey. A more holistic approach is needed to transform, and it starts with understanding the people within an organisation. All the processes and systems come next before decisions making to amend the technology stack. Actions that lead to accumulating more data will give the organisation greater visibility to run, accelerate, innovate and satisfy the customers' needs.
The Power of Now
Digital Transformation is about how we interact with our business, as a customer engaging with our operations or an employee who has to operate remotely. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has perfectly demonstrated the power of being digital and more so the need for speed and real-time data.
The digitally-enabled organisations were able to keep up, continue operating and therefore much better with this year of upheaval, and dare I say this "new norm". Being digital allowed these organisations to pivot quicker and provide a safer and connected ecosystem that enabled people to work remotely.
When talking about The Power of now, I am not referring to Eckhart Tolle's successful book about living and operating in the moment, which is extremely powerful when trying to avoid pain, fear, stress and anxiety. Instead, I am referring to the equally important power of real-time data.
What most learned from everything happening this year is the need for speed. To adapt at speed and to make decisions quickly. To achieve this endeavour, we need data on-demand, which is real-time and accurate.
Enters IoT
Until recently, organisations relied on data they could retrieve from the CRM or ERP systems, albeit relevant, only providings past data points and historical and transactional information.
For organisations to gain speed, they need to know what is happening right now to measure, act and optimise the outcome. The Internet of Things is the source of these type of data.
Taking this narrative, a step further by adding AI and ML capabilities to IoT, we can then forecast on data not yet occurred through simulations and predictive analytics; thus, set expectations for the future and have a backup plan.
Your digital transformation needs IoT.
If we consider the current challenges for a touchless economy, IoT can help with:
Being Digital
Access to Real-Time Data
Remote Monitoring
Automation
Productivity & Efficiency - internal & external
Compliance & Control
Safety
Customer Insights
Does any of these, rings any bells?
We can use IoT to measure and influence the Now, and therefore IoT is essential to your Digital Transformation.
We can legitimately influence the statement of record and, for example, reduce waste or efficiently locate assets, thereby increasing profitability. We can check whether we are on track against our forecasts and respond accordingly.
IoT helps us understand the impact of actions taken in the business through real-time data. Data generated from different sources and different sensors. We can use the data to make more accurate and timely calls that determine the overall Digital Transformation's success.
IoT Applications
Travelling in the speed of light, well at least we like to dream about it, IoT use cases, especially this year, are revolving around Smart Health, Smart Homes, Social Distancing and Wearables, Industrial and Remote Monitoring applications and Sustainability.
IoT will reach more industries and business settings, leading the world towards a more Digital future. IoT use cases will assist in integrating IoT technologies for future investment decisions.
The foundation of IoT is connectivity. For new business models, connectivity must be agile to meet network performance as IoT applications, and device types keep increasing. When it comes to device types for network connectivity, GSM, Cellular satellite, WI-FI, Bluetooth, RFID, NFC, LPWAN, NBIoT, to name a few, are all viable options to choose.
The Internet of Things solutions delivering valuable data and insight to individuals and businesses have indisputable benefits, but those too, are vulnerable to cyberattacks. IoT security, unfortunately, remains a significant concern. More now than ever, it is essential for those implementing IoT technologies to ensure data integrity and confidentiality and protect their IoT solutions by safeguarding devices and sensors alike against cyber-attacks.
Conclusion
In the past, the product was the king; to be successful in today's economy and norm, businesses must differentiate and optimise the customer experience.
IoT provides businesses with vast control and visibility of their performance, KPIs, and service processes. Valuable insights from harnessing and analysing all the data points help shape an informed strategy and provide a more creative approach to problem-solving.
But more importantly, we can use data in ways not previously possible and help ourselves make better calls and more accurate decisions faster, which will ultimately determine the success (or otherwise) of Digital Transformation.
All reasons why IoT is so crucial to Digital Transformation and explains why your Digital Transformation if it does not include IoT, is unlikely to deliver the full value and benefit from your transformation investment.
The time to start your IoT journey is Now!
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Nassia Skoulikariti
Founder/CEO Apiro Data Ltd
Get in touch and let’s build something great together!