Internet of Things has progressed from coming together of micro-electromechanical systems, wireless technologies, micro services and the internet. This convergence has assisted in tearing the silo walls amongst the operational technology and the information technology, enabling unstructured machine-generated data for analyzing the insights which drive improvements. The IoT is simple: it’s all about connecting devices via internet, allowing them to speak to us, to the applications, and with each other.
In the last couple of years, much has been talked about the sensors, cameras, and other devices that will be connected exponentially in the Internet of Things (IoT). And, the huge amount of income potential in terms of trillions of dollars of economic value that is being thought to emerge from it. Though the future of the IoT may be exciting, yet much of the industry messaging has gone above the heads of people who do not understand a thing of the IoT. And, these people operate plants, companies, and businesses and are also accountable for the deployment of the IoT-based solutions. Investors wonder to see the state and think what is actually real, and what is the hyped-up vision of the IoT-based future of industries in the near future.
During the last few years, organizations across the globe have started showing interest in IoT technology. Conventional industrial organizations are managing to alter the outdated processes of manufacturing. Also, the whole gamut of young innovative startups are redefining the old notions and assumptions. It ensures that the advantages of IoT technology will not keep it much far from the current scenario. It is being implemented now on the go.
According to reports, by the end of the year, 2008 number of ‘things’ were connected to the Internet than mere people as the users of Internet. And, it is predicted that by the end of the year 2020, the count will go much high. The number of things directly connected to the Internet will reach 50 billion approximately. It is estimated that the overall profits as a result of this rapid move will be around $19 trillion. The era will see huge cost savings coming from the IoT over the coming decade.
The concept of connected homes will become a major contributor in the Internet of Things. Scholars say that by the end of the year 2019, companies may bring approximately 1.9 billion home devices connected to the Internet into the market. This will add about $490 billion to their revenues. The tech giants like Google and Samsung are already known players in the market. Google successfully made a deal to buy smart thermostat maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in 2015. And, Samsung acquired the IoT firm SmartThings for a deal worth $200 million.
Currently, we have very few smart devices being used in our day to day lives. Many of the IoT smart devices are not being used practically in our homes or phones. The majority of smart technologies and IoT devices are used in factories, corporates, and health care organizations. But, the study reveals that by the end of the year 2025, the worth of the global usage of IoT technology will rise to as much as $6.2 trillion. And health care industry will share the highest percentage in it. It is approximated that Healthcare industry will contribute to around $2.5 trillion and manufacture industry will make $2.3 trillion approximately.
Do you wonder how these technology companies will board on the move and get started on the IoT drive? Research says that the fundamental idea should be to start with a small and definite project that will enhance the competence and productivity in the currently existing processes. Numerous small and big organizations have taken steps to walk into the IoT trend and succeeded in the path.
Here are few tips that will be helpful to lead a company to the IoT journey.
• Connected business
Consider the iconic American motorcycle maker Harley Davidson. It is revealed that only by connecting the major operations and equipment in their production process on one of their networks, Harley-Davidson raised its productivity by about 80%. It has reduced its build-to-order cycle from the duration of 18 months to only two weeks, thereby growing its overall profit by nearly 3%-4%.
• Remote access
An Indian dairy company started observing the freezers in its ice cream stores from remote access, gave alerts during breakdowns like power outages. The company analyzed and concluded that within a month’s time it realized a payback and a five times return on its actual investment in a time period of 13 months.
• Predictive analysis
The telecom giant Cisco has employed sensors and energy analytics software in its industrial plants and decreased its consumption of energy by almost 15% to 20%.
• Predictive safeguarding
Rio Tinto, a global mining company, employs sensors to observe the state of its vehicles, spot the maintenance requirements within time, before it turns into problems, and manages to save $2 million per day in case a breakdown is avoided.
Opportunities offered by the IoT across various domains, are:
• New trade opportunities and revenue streams
The IoT ensures connected operations associated. E.g. consider the 3D printing vertical. These are personalizing and mass customizing every possible aspect of the business.
• New trade models
The IoT enables the equipment manufacturing businesses to employ service-oriented business models. Manufacturing companies like Fanuc, the Japanese industrial equipment maker, is able to offer remote monitoring, analytics, and predictive maintenance services at much lesser costs and lessened the uptime, by collecting data from the devices that are installed at its customer site.
• New business structures
In most of the conventional industries, consumers have typically opted for one single vendor to get a full end-to-end solution that uses closed, proprietary technologies. But, today, the IoT offers the features like flexibility, cost effectiveness, and lesser time-to-market. And, these benefits are driving a tremendous shift towards business models based on open technology. Consequently, every participant offers the best capabilities to enable a complete IoT solution for their potential consumers.
• New value propositions for consumers
The IoT is assisting companies to offer new over-relevant experiences to their customers. They are providing much quicker and more precise solutions than ever before. Consider the ever-rising numbers of holiday gift orders placed over online shopping just on an event like “Black Monday.” The IoT is increasing the pace of the whole fulfillment process, right from placing an order to making the delivery.
The connected robots and Radio Frequency Identification tags in the stock rooms increase the speed of picking and packing the ordered items in more accurate manner. The real-time preventive maintenance systems help the delivery carts to get packed and get running. The sensors like Telematic sensors help in tracking the temperature and humidity during the complete process. Hence, you are able to track your order anytime till it arrives at your doorstep, manage the on-time delivery of your ordered goods, and also see that the things arrive in perfect condition to you.
The Bottom Line
Adapting oneself to technology or what we call as Internet of Things is not just a matter of money, thing or place. It is a big transition from the traditional approach to life. The trend to modernize the world towards the smart technology and the IoT concept will bring in scope for launching new products and new services in the market. It is predicted that the Internet of Things will be one of the biggest technology trends of all times. The technology will give huge scope and opportunity in the coming years.
