You can find IoT in action almost everywhere these days. The healthcare industry is one shining example – from blood pressure machines to heart rate monitors and blood sugar checkers, all of these devices use IoT to enhance their functionality. In homes across the world, smartphone apps are used to adjust the thermostat. Even in commercial buildings, the introduction of IoT sensors have led to more energy efficiency, increased safety and a reduction in maintenance costs. In the agriculture sector, farmers deploy motion sensors to analyze where crops need the most irrigation. In smart cities such as Dubai, sensors are in place to analyze road and traffic conditions.

IoT Explained

The Internet of Things is not a single device or piece of software. What it really is, is a connected string of several devices and pieces of hardware and software that work together to collect and transfer live data from the real world through the internet.

What IoT does is give organizations real-time information and insights so they can make processes and operations more efficient, responsive, cost-effective and secure. Keep reading as we get into the basics of IoT, its benefits and what the future of IoT looks like in the world of business.

Four key concepts to know about IoT

• IoT devices reflect the conditions out there in the real world. IoT is a technological evolution of RFID tags, distributed through a factory that transmits information about machine conditions and material workflows. Data like this helps a business learn what’s happening, and also lets it exercise control over what’s happening.
• The second key concept of IoT is immediacy. If data was noted down in a memo, it would stay there for an infinite amount of time without being used. However, with IoT, data is collected, analyzed and put to work in an instant. This immediacy makes things like network bandwidth, connectivity and reliability very important.
• The third key IoT concept is data processing. It’s all about how the data produced by IoT devices is processed and used by the business. When it comes to an IoT project, they must be defined by the purpose of the businesses and its intended goals. Think along the lines of a cause and effect objective. If you want to find bottlenecks in a production line, data must be gathered from the machines on the factory flow. 
• The fourth and final IoT concept is the scope of data and collection. With IoT, businesses aim to paint a picture of their operational environment. In order to bring this picture to life, a multitude of sensors, each with their own capabilities and deliverables must be connected together. IoT devices have a tiny dedicated computer with processor firmware, small memory capacity and network connectivity. These devices are connected wirelessly and have their own battery power source. 

The Deep Dive

There’s a second layer to IoT that has to do with connections or the ways in which IoT data is moved from individual devices for collection and processing. The data collected and transmitted involves the broad network, typically a conventional IP-based EtherCAT network. As each IoT device has its own IP address and identifier, it can transfer data to the network either through WiFi or a cellular connection. 

The collection of IoT devices used by a business is known as the IoT sensor fleet. With several devices in the fleet, a huge amount of real time data is stored at the IoT gateway. Then the data is analyzed. IoT collects and transmits information that helps systems analyze, identify and react to issues faster than any human could. But every IoT system does include some form of human interface. It can be an alert, a dashboard, big data analytics and reporting or other form.

Benefits of IoT

The benefits of IoT come down to knowledge and insights. If you are a sales manager, IoT can help you predict the following quarter’s revenue. If you are a production manager, IoT will equip you with the insights needed to make a decision to shut off a machine in the production line for maintenance. IoT data lets managers and technicians respond to specific real-world situations in real-time. 

However, where IoT adds the most value to a business is the long term insights that are provided to business owners through advanced analytics. The back-end processes that evaluate and correlate a huge quantity of seemingly unrelated data can answer business questions and make accurate predictions about future circumstances. For example, sensors in a vehicle or machine that can detect changes in operation and condition will alert humans to the need for maintenance or warn of an imminent failure.

IoT might have big business benefits, but there are challenges to surmount when deploying any IoT project. For one, standards. With IoT project design, there is almost a complete lack of any international standards to guide the design and implementation of IoT architectures. When it comes to setting up an IoT project there are no hard and fast rules, this allows for flexibility in design, however this also means that major design flaws can come up. That’s why having IT staff with IoT experience is essential.

As IoT processes produce a massive amount of data which is extremely valuable to a business, it needs to be stored securely and destroyed properly when the time comes.  And IoT data is extremely time-sensitive; businesses need to invest in storage, security, and data retention and lifecycle management.

When implementing IoT, there are some additional challenges around security control. If there are undiscovered devices, ones that are unmanaged or orphaned, they might not provide useful data, but they may give hackers a weak point in your network to exploit. In order to ensure device security, all devices must be authenticated and authorized. Strong passwords and network encryption for each IoT device is also essential for IoT security.

Device updates are another challenge when deploying IoT projects. IoT devices are notoriously low bandwidth devices. So internal software updates can be time-consuming. But ignoring or overlooking device updates gives hackers an open door and network security. Organizations that implement IoT should also beef up their network security. For instance, by adding intrusion detection and prevention systems, comprehensive anti-malware tools, and strong data encryption. 

The Future of IoT

Because the technology and its applications are relatively new, the future of IoT is hard to predict, but there are six possible directions we can see now. 

• There will be billions more IoT devices added to the internet over the next few years. Right now, there are over 15 billion. This is expected to double by 2032. 
• IoT security will become a key focus. Expect to see new initiatives in IoT security, starting with device design, all the way through implementation. New legislation, regulations and device defaults will emphasize end-to-end IoT data encryption.
• AI and IoT will possibly merge into the artificial intelligence of things. AIoT will fuse together data gathering capabilities of IoT with the computing and decision-making capabilities of AI.
• AI use cases for AIoT will diversify. Basic AI is already used to predict potential events such as system failures. Using real-time IoT data, advanced AI will bring autonomy such as adjusting a patient’s insulin in response to dynamic blood glucose levels.
• IoT data storage and processing at the edge will become more important to optimize network bandwidth and security.
• Vendors will likely offer platforms and services across the IoT stack. Market maturity will help speed the creation of new IoT deployments by removing complexity and making the design and deployment process more turnkey for businesses. 

Regardless of the actual directions, IoT will have a significant impact on the future of business. Regardless of the industry or the scope of work of the business, it is clear that IoT is here to stay and will revolutionize workflows across the world.