Everybody is talking about the Internet of Things and how organizations must dabble in it in some way or the other. Is it really that simple? Will IoT be omnipresent by the end of this year? Read on to find out.
Implementing an IoT framework into digital businesses has transformed from a theoretical concept to a practical reality. The advantages of integrating IoT architecture is a potential game changer for digital business. These benefits include streamlining business activities, data flows, value driven data systems and data analytics in real time. These are the reasons why businesses must start thinking of incorporating IoT in 2016.
Sensor availability
Wireless sensor technology is the crux of deploying IoT enabled devices into ‘fringe ecosystems’. However, these sensors used to be expensive, limiting their commercial exposure. They have been leveraged effectively in the manufacturing, transport, and energy sector. Today, the price of sensors and RFID tags has fallen due to high volume production. This has enabled IoT service providers to churn out fragmented solutions that can benefit small businesses. Thus, IoT services are no longer confined to big business but can be offered to smaller businesses.
Utilization of Smartphones
The meteoric rise of the smartphones in the market has presented a unique opportunity for IoT providers. Armed with simple sensors, Smartphones make an ideal IoT enabled device that has successfully gained market share. As such there is no need to deploy complex IoT devices anymore as smartphones can be leveraged in various ways.
Small changes big gains
Small businesses cannot adopt a purely IoT based infrastructure. Such complete IoT based systems will be rare even in big businesses. Incorporating a component of IoT infrastructure in business architecture ensures that even smaller companies get a piece of the pie.
Customer sophistication
More and more businesses are adopting an IoT framework. Customers will soon be accustomed to dealing with data driven systems. Then being part of the IoT trend may become a marketing strategy in itself. Businesses clinging to dated technologies will become isolated and lose customers.
Competition
Businesses must realize that the value derived from data driven IoT ecosystems has great potential. Competition that has successfully integrated an IoT framework in their infrastructure will be way ahead of the curve. They will be unable to compete with such value driven business models. Ultimately, a business must adopt IoT to survive, else perish.
Over the years, the Internet of Things has emerged from being a pipe dream to a practical reality. A Gartner press release stated that by 2020, more than half of major new business processes and systems will incorporate some element of IoT. But keeping the above factors in mind, only serious digital businesses will adopt Internet of Things by 2016.