Uncovering the True Potential of the Internet of Things

How far are we from a connected & intelligent future? How do we get there? 

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the capacity to change the world. Even though we are beginning to observe its incredible effects, we are yet very much at the start of transformational journey. Very soon, the devices we own as well as any object we imagine will be connected to the internet. The devices and objects will be phones, wearable technologies or usual household objects. The Internet of Things will connect the population in ways one cannot imagine yet. 

The alarm systems, thermostat, doorbell, smoke detector and refrigerator may be already networked; however, changes are beginning to take shape in the cities. The better management of water, energy, transportation as well as safety are bringing individuals in closer touch with their environments while capturing the imagines for urban bliss which is a completely integrated, smart and sustainable city. There are also high rates in activity and innovation on the manufacturing sector where the possibility for cyber-physical mechanisms to enhance productivity in the process of production is of wide range. 

Imaginatively, life in a decade will be materially distinct from how it looks in 2017 due to the increasing pace of technology transformation, all as a result of Internet of Things. To some extent, IoT still looks like an empty technology vocabulary. It is challenging to collect all the different and disperate things together and discuss them in a meaningful manner. However, in striving to make sense of the emerging technology, we observe the future plans of IoT. 

In order to achieve a connected and intelligent future, there must be a paradigm shift in technology. According to technology consulting company, Gartner, Incorporation, it projected that 6.4 billion connected things were in use globally in 2016, an increase from 30 percent from 2015. The number is anticipated to increase more than three folds to approximately 21 billion by 2020. Gartner, emphasized that more than half of major new corporations processes and systems will include certain features of IoT by 2020. The effect on the lives of consumers and models of corporate business is highly increasing whereas the price of instrumenting physical things with sensors and connecting them to other things such as systems, people and devices continues to decline. 

There will be involvement of devices connected to the internet as well as each other and IoT is expected to be a tremendous enabler of improved information in both the business environments and the consumer. Thus, IoT impacts will be across the board and all of the systems we are not thinking of today are anticipated to be more efficient in keeping people productive, thus the impact will not be only in one area. 

Whereas ostentatious applications to consumer technologies generate the greatest media thrill, there is more to IoT as opposed to the daily communications and life situations. Network devices can hold the greatest promise to restrict costs whereas raise effectiveness in manufacturing and production, offering both efficiency in the management of work and smarter work (Wang, Gunasekaran, Ngai, Papadopoulos, 2016). Thus, from smart appliances all through smart factory, there will be better information, insight and more control of the daily things that humans require to function, both unknown and known. The unknown refers to the things a majority of individuals do not know about until they emerge as an issue, for instance, power grid. In sensing the things, the systems will be more enhanced to keep running in the absence of human intervention, till something will require predictive maintenance. 

Why go IoT? Building your IoT business model: Where’s the commercial opportunity and what's the justification? 

Throughout the world, traditional manufacturing sector is as well in the middle of key transformation, making the start of smart manufacturing. The reasons to go IoT are that it makes factories smarter, more environmentally sustainable and safer. Also, it connects the factory to completely new variety of smart manufacturing solutions that revolve around the production. The increasing strengthening of production and cost reduction are anticipated to generate billions in growth of revenues and productivity throughout the subsequent years. The change that it involves is huge (Hausman and Johnston, 2014). 

IoT provides manufacturers the capacity to track objects and to establish how customers are consuming a specific product, and to find out which aspects are the outstanding ones. Thus, the manufacturers have a better understanding of what changes need to be made to the products to assist improve the adoption and rates of purchasing. Identifying what consumers want to do with the products is a practice brands want to influence and IoT makes it readily accessible. 

As highlighted by Gartner’s worldwide survey released in early 2016, implementation of IoT was anticipated to reach 43 percent by end of the year. The most consumers included companies dealing in the oil and gas, as well as utilities and manufacturing sectors (Hausman and Johnston, 2014). For instance, IoT promises to bring the automotive sector transformation that cannot be predicted yet and is already prompting how car producers are building their vehicles and how they think of their products’ future. 

In the motor sector IoT emerged around the start of 21 st century comprising of navigation systems transforming highly the relations between the vehicle and the driver. But, now is the second phase with mirror devices including mobile phones as well as portable navigation units such as nomadic devices, and their screens are used by drivers or car owners when driving the vehicles. 

The influence is observed as going to be strengthened as more connected cars are introduced online and as customers constantly demand more technology in their vehicles. But, it is envisaged that the third stage will compose enhanced driver-assistance systems alongside automated driving solutions. 

To acknowledge the opportunities for business inherent in Internet of Things (IoT), it is important to first understand its macroeconomic effect. For instance, the European Commission policy paper, RAND Europe highlighted the higher approximations of economic potential of IoT from $1.4 trillion annually to$14.4 trillion across all industries globally. In addition, the services and sale of the connected devices will amount to nearly $2.5 trillion come 2020. The anticipated accumulated investments by connections of billions of connected devices will be not less than €2 trillion current prices. The RAND assessment, for example, highlights that China has already hit the $775 million for the IoT investment (Hausman and Johnston, 2014). 

Thus, it is anticipated that in the next five years, there will be sector that IoT will not directly impact. The speed of implementation integrated with customer expectations and demands will rapidly turn any non-IoT sector, into improving their long-term strategic goals. 

There are various commercial opportunities alongside their justification, that range from automotive sector, banking sector, marine sector, energy sector, aerospace sector, property (real estate sector), health care sector, manufacturing sector and food sector. Since IoT has uses that lengthen the business continuum, the opportunities are numerous. 

Safety in Automotive 

According to World Health Organization (2010), 1.24 million persons globally died due to motor-vehicle accident. Annually, nearly 30,000 persons die as a result of motor-vehicle accidents. The case is similar to the U.S. whereas in Asia it is worse. In both India and China alone, at least 400,000 persons die in a motor-vehicle accident annually. IoT technology, specifically the emergence of safety-focused sensors on automobiles, is anticipated to lessen the global rate of death from motor-vehicle accidents. Since the greater part of motor-vehicle accidents are due to human error, replacement of human decision-making features in driving is the aim of the self-directed vehicle. 

In May, 2015 Daimler Trucks North America, owned by the German, made an announcement it was ready to test the Freightliner Inspiration Truck without the driver on Nevada road. Teslax and Google are developing driverless cars which are slowly emerging. A majority of the cars come in the kind of safety sensors that provide motorists a 360 degrees view of their vehicle, whereas others function autonomously, safeguarding the vehicle in the absence of the driver’s action. Auto firms as well adopt the data the sensors get to assist them offer safer and more effective cars. Even though the data-gathering devices pose some privacy issues, they are the subsequent steps in the evolution of auto mobile. 

Efficiency in Banking 

The financial industry has assisted initiation of mobile technology to enhance banking for the common consumer. A clear example where IoT and the banking sector crisscross is with ATMs that can be embedded with sensing technology. A user with authenticated biometric identifiers can withdraw money from sensorized ATMs in the absence of their debit card. Prospectively, IoT is envisioned to connect customer’s financial activities with other features of their life. An example includes connecting the consumer’s health monitor with their financial portfolio. According to Deloitte, a health issue, captured by a monitor, may indicate the consumer’s bank to routinely rebalance his/her portfolio to lessen his/her financial exposure. Bank of Things in 2014 Accenture highlighted that it expects consumers’ necessities and respond to their transforming conditions, by providing timely, applicable solutions that help them attain their goals. Thus, it is expected to remain the trusted advisor, value aggregator and facilitator for its consumers, however, with only the most understanding of every consumer’s needs and preferences. 

Safety in Marine 

Like transportation sector, maritime shipping firms for years have equipped their fleets with different sensors to monitor vital systems of vessel, weather as well as conditions of the sea, and cargo. But, IoT technologies currently allow the sensors to obtain information that can be analyzed to enhance voyage optimization, stowage processes and safety. For instance, the open source software adopts a ship’s sensors to offer real-time information movement of the vessel to different ships and land-based sea traffic synchronization centers. Thus, the IoT software enhances a collaborative decision-making among the major stakeholders engaged to attain safer, environmentally friendly and more effective maritime operations. 

In addition, there is data-driven decision-making which strengthens IoT solution for the maritime shipping. The cloud-based foundation is responsible for connecting ships with the shore-based operations, service providers, maintenance, and customer support centers. Also, it connects the port operations and authorities, and transport/fleet partners. The solution allows for the monitoring of fuel for both land-based and sea-based operators. Further monitoring are done in weather, performance of the engine, traffic and navigation for enhanced voyage optimization, the well-being of the crew for the ship, telemedicine and entertainment options, cargo conditions and locations tracking through enhanced communications. 

Efficiency in Property (Real Estate) 

At the level of property, there are smart objects including thermostats as well as other appliances, to assist owners of homes enhance energy efficiency while lowering costs of utility. It is anticipated that the products will increase as more homes get connected. However, the value of IoT will come when the connected appliances alongside other household objects communicate with one another. For instance, the smart thermostat for a home will identify the outside temperature and communicate the information to the closest system of the home that will propose the relevant outfits for that day. 

Further, there is efficiency in data-driven decision-making in the real estate sector. A home equipped with IoT can take the place of the human agent by listing itself on the real estate listings and programs showings since it will identify when the owners will vacate the house. 

Lastly, there is efficiency of property in infrastructure. Fires, floods and decay of structures are some risks any business has to take in. But, IoT technology, specifically sensors embedded in particular areas of risks, can assist lessen, and certain incidences eradicate the lasting problems. For instance, electrical systems can be fitted with sensors that monitor electricity flow in a building. When there is connection failure, and indicates the possibility of fire breakout, the sensors immediately warn the technicians. Thus, real estate firms can apply IoT sensors in the properties to assist in monitoring different risks associated with issues such as availability of dangerous gas, infestations of termites, wear and tear, and biller malfunction. 

Efficiency in Energy 

The energy sector already gains highly from IoT technology. At level of customers, they can utilize innovative appliances as well as smart devices to lessen energy consumption and costs. Businesses also can adopt the technologies, however at a much more innovative level. An office structure with several tenants may as well capture and observe energy consumptions from every floor. Assessing the data, the structure can establish areas of wasteful energy consumption so as to cutr costs. 

On the other hand, the energy sector has overtime been leading in adoption of IoT technology, mainly with utility firms transforming ways to read energy consumptions of commercial, residential and industrial consumers remotely. The number of connected devices under the management of utility firms worldwide is anticipated to increase from 485 million back in 2013 to 1.53 billion come 2020. The utility sector is the second leading source of a service provider returns based on machine to machine, following the automotive and transport sectors. The devices include grid sensors, meters, actuators, electrical appliances and energy boxes. The devices are adopted for metering, management of asset and tracking, monitoring and control of grid, and field force communication. 

Safety in Aerospace 

Fly by wire mechanisms have been key in aerospace sector for many years. The systems allow pilots to concentrate on monitoring the plane whereas automated systems and sensors take care of the rest. 

With regards to efficiency, aerospace firms are adopting IoT technology on the ground to enhance the maintenance as well as safety measures. For instance the use of onboard sensors in the engines of jets to capture immediate information on the performance of engine, to maintain electric’s aircraft engine. 

Data-Driven Decision Making in Healthcare 

There is no jurisdiction of a healthcare that will not adopt IoT technology. At the level of the patient, IoT-aided wearable enable doctors to capture information on health. Annual physicals may become out of date since doctors already have plenty of patient information that allows them identify if an in-person check-up is guaranteed. Similarly, patients with upsetting health indications that cannot cause symptoms would be identified by physician prior to leading to more serious problems. Thus, clinicians can utilize the information to help them both in understanding the health of the patient and create information sets of the patient subgroups, with emphasis on treating and preventing the most ancient diseases of humanity. 

At the same time, hospitals that have mostly produced as well as stored large amounts of information, can adopt IoT technology to establish actionable intelligence in the information they gather. For instance, several hospitals intentionally collect many inventories to eliminate shortages on dire supplies. IoT aided scanners provide hospital administrators visibility into their collections and identify the moment the shortages arise. IoT devices have the capacity to enhance treatment in hospitals, specifically in situations of emergencies. A paramedic can adopt IoT device to take the patient’s vibrant signs including other statistics, and are instantly relayed to ER. Thus, the doctors will understand the patient’s condition without wasting time, as they will have already identified the situation. 

Safety in Manufacturing 

IoT assures to highly reduce the workplace rate associated injuries and deaths. According to the International Labor organization, 2.3 million persons die annually from work-associated accidents as well as diseases worldwide. Each year, at least 3 million employees are falling victims of grievous accidents while performing their jobs and 4,000 persons die in workplace accidents as highlighted by European Commission. IoT has the capacity to safeguard workers more so those working in dangerous sites including those of constructions. For instance, wearable technologies should be equipped with fixed sensors to establish when an employee can be dangerous performing a dangerous maneuver. The sensors may as well monitor dangerous conditions of the environment including availability of toxic substances. Behavioral information gathered from the wearable sensors can assist safety managers to understand an employee is at risk of an accident. The predictive feature of IoT, can be one of the most and possibly exploitative aspects, though a majority are yet in form of theories. 

Further, data-driven decision making firms can adopt IoT products to make sure the integrity, safety, quality as well as security of features in their complex chains of supply. It is approximated that by 2020, a 30-times increase in internet connected physical devices will highly change the supply chain leader data access alongside cyber-risk exposure. IoT devices fixed across the supply chain will offer managers an understanding of their processes compared to before. The IoT technologies features to transform how firms design, maintain, and secure their sensitive chains of supply from in-transit visibility through depot security. 

Efficiency in Food 

Delivery firms are already providing their customers with the capacity to track their packed orders at every processing point; however, the technology is more essential when adopted for businesses. IoT sensors fixed at the right place in the right time assist firms track their assets immediately. The gathered information assist firms to find out inadequacies and jams in their chains of supply. 

Joining Forces: To what extent does the true value from IoT lie in the sharing of data and the creation of partnerships? 

Internet of Things (IoT) does not majorly depend on computers to exist. However, each device, including the human body, can be part of Internet of Things if equipped with specific electronic parts. The electronic parts differ based on the functions the object is to carry out, which fall into two wide categories. First, the device must be in a position to capture data, mostly through sensors. Secondly, the device must be in a position to transmit the data to somewhere else through the internet. Thus, a sensor coupled with a connection, are the two main electronic components of an IoT device. 

Overcoming interoperability challenges: Are we any closer to creating a one size fits all IoT Framework? 

It is not an exaggeration to admit that IoT will bring in innovative era for the whole world. The promises Internet of Things holds are merely improvements on the available processes and models of economics; they are transformational in range. The IoT economy is anticipated to revolutionize the methods of business production, function and performance. The change occurs faster than any other earlier industrial revolution. 

Concurrently, IoT is anticipated to present substantial challenges throughout all sectors as well as all industries. While it is addressing problems that have impacted business for many years, it also creates new challenges, both ethical and procedural. Some of the opportunities it presents include issues of privacy, products and property liability, cybersecurity among others. Thus, whereas firms are beginning to adopt IoT technology, if they are hoping to be sustainable, they must as well adopt strategies to account for the numerous risks linked with IoT. Thus, we are not closer to creating a one-size fits all IoT Framework. 

Regulation and Security: Will this hinder or enable IoT innovation? 

In several ways, possibilities of IoT are restricted only by individuals’ imaginations. Specifically when we regard the whole data that goes without record, all the bits of data that slip through the fingers, and the way IoT will permit individuals to eventually capture the data and utilize it in a manner that has escaped humanity for a long time, it is easier to abolish the dark side of innovative IoT world. However, companies cannot afford to capitalize on their IoT systems without first appreciating the risks integral to a system that is connected to an Internet. From the first time humans turned on the first computer, it is identified that the reliance on technology has the capacity to result to disruption, whether small or big. The incidence is not to scare firms away from adopting IoT. The opportunities are more than the risks by far. Yet each firm must acknowledge that each problem IoT addresses, there is another issue it creates. 

Whether regulation and security will hinder or enable IoT innovation remains a matter of discussion. When billions of sensors across the world are continually acquiring information on their environments, including humans, then issues of privacy are essential in an IoT world. A majority of the first world have made efforts towards safeguarding customers from illegal consumption of confidential data (Dewri et al. 2017). However, in several cases the laws are insufficient to meet the high number of new ways individual data is being captured and consumed. The recent effort by EU to update law on copyright is an indicator of the outmoded nature of several developed laws of the world. 

At the Internet’s earlier stage, consumers were familiar, with tracking software, such as cookies. Since there was a lack of law regulating use of cookies on a website to track the browsing behavior of a cookie, several firms implemented the practice without the consideration of the user’s concerns. It was the browser responding to the user concern with tools to regulate the usage of cookies and eradicate them after a session of browsing. 

The EU’s legislations now restrict how cookies are utilized and what type of information they are permitted to gather on the user (Wang, Gunasekaran, Ngai, Papadopoulos, 2016). However, with the increase of mobile technology, which do not require cookies to track the behavior of the user, a majority of the laws are slowly becoming out of date and insufficient in a world of IoT. 

Similarly, the U.S. also depends on outdated regulatory frameworks for new IoT technologies and systems. Though, there is no any federal, law that restricts the gathering and consumption of individual information, the U.S. depends on a patchwork of available state and federal laws to safeguard privacy of consumer (Dupont, 2012). Public concerns for the federal government, specifically National Security Agency, in charge of information collection practices linked to law-enforcement as well as counter-terrorism indicate the public policy arguments to come. 

According to the United States Federal Trade Commission report (2015), it recommended that best practices for firms needs to be adopted when it comes to consumer information and security. The report further perpetuates the government’s disregard when it comes to IoT regulations. The report emphasizes the repeated call of the Commission for robust data security as well as breach notification laws. 

Concerns of privacy should extend to workplace too. There are many programs on the marketplace that enable employers to track the behavior of an employee, mostly based on the PC of the worker. However, IoT permits an employer to fix sensors in almost any corner of an office to monitor employee behavior. 

Lessons on how to successfully innovate whilst keeping security and privacy at the forefront 

Cyber-crimes are a big threat to businesses currently. Cyber-crimes lead to an approximated cost of $400 billion annually. The most troubling issue from IoT ideology is that cyber-criminals breach apparently secure systems with several layers of safeguards in existence. The complexity is making sure the security of IoT technologies is a field of improvement for firms. More so, in preparation for a day the IoT platform comes to existence where billions of devices are connected to the internet alongside one other. 

Thus, any IoT with an Internet connection is a potential breakthrough for a hacker. For instance, additional research on the product, produced by a Chinese firm, Focsam identified 40,000 of 46,000 objects had not been modernized with security measure to prevent it from breach. Also, it is important to note that the more the automation and connection to specific systems, specifically industrial systems, and the more vulnerable the systems are to hacking. Due to the networked nature of Internet of Things, and every connected devices uses data from specific connected devices, there is the risk of malfunction leading to dangerous system failure. A malfunctioning device has the capacity to feed incorrect information to another object that is functioning well and as the information finds its way up the system it starts to infect more systems. 

In addition, to successfully innovate while keeping security and privacy at the forefront comes with liability. For instance, autonomous vehicles such as driverless cars are influenced with ethical dilemma. The dilemmas include autonomous vehicles harming the pedestrians or motorists in the seconds prior to accident among others. Other concerns of liability come when we regard ownership of data. Since billions of objects collect data, lines are congested to identify who is responsible for which data. IoT devices autonomously function in conjunction with several other devices. Information is drastically shared and processed, re-shared and reprocessed before it is identified by the human eyes. Thus, it is simple to relate one object with a piece of information, as a majority of IoT’s possibility depends on the seamless transfer of the information between devices. For example, the IoT heart monitor cannot only monitor the heart of a patient for impending warnings on heart attack. It as well monitors the routine fitness of the patient, which takes information from an object that monitors intake of food. The question therefore is who is responsible for the patient’s heart attack. 

IoT objects as well raise disturbing concerns when it comes to object malfunction. Sensors can be fixed in vital infrastructure such as dams, roadways and bridges to monitor the integrity of the structure and the conditions of the environment that are likely to affect structural integrity. Any road in a flood site could be fixed with sensors that can identify the time rainfall is above the point that provides engineers early warning of flooding. Safeguarding infrastructure is one of the features of IoT. However, when we turn more of the dire infrastructure and systems of security over IoT devices, there is the risk of a hazard if and when the devices fail. 

What’s coming next? AI, Drones, Robotics, AR/VR … discuss this in detail (technology, applications) 

The IoT is not new. It started way back in 1999 by Kevin Ashton, a British technologist, who was working at Procter & Gamble as an assistant brand manager. If there were computers that knew everything that would be known about things by use of data they collected without the help of humans, we could track and count each thing, highly reduce waste, costs and loss. Humans could establish things requiring replacement, repair or recall and whether they were fresh or past their best (DuBravac and Ratti, 2015). 

There is the need to empower computers with their individual means of collecting data, to enable them sees, hear as well as smell the world for themselves. Sensor technology and RFID enable computers to make observations, establish as well as understand the world in the absence of human –entered information. 

The IoT develops from current internet by creating a persistent and self-consolidating network of connected, identifiable as well as addressable physical devices allowing application development in and throughout major vertical sectors through the adoption of fixed sensors, chips, and actuators alongside cost-effective miniaturization. 

Even though the technology has existed for more than ten years, two advancements in the last two decades have been the major drivers behind the rise of IoT as paradigm shift phenomenon. The first advancement is the emergence development in the mobile objects and applications and the wide availability of wireless connectivity. 

The other advancement dates back further than the mobile technology and includes sensors. But, the costly sensors for most of the 20 th C restricted their application in anything but greatest products. Currently, smartphone can be anything but smart if not for a range of sensors fixed on every device. Currently, smartphones are fixed with five to nine sensors, based on the model. The sensors include: 

Proximity Sensor 

Ambient Light Sensor 

Accelerometer 

Gyroscopic Sensor 

Magnetometer 

Ambient Sound Sensor 

Barometer 

Temperature/Humidity Sensor 

M7 Motion Coprocessor 

Sensors enable not only features on our mobile phones. Thus, they are important in turning on IoT. By constantly capturing information on its environments, a sensor is the replacement of human as the main means a computer receives information. Since sensors can capture information at speeds and in quantities that no human can match, they have resulted to Big Data or the acquisition and analysis of high data sets. The information that today’s sensors can acquire, and humans are unable, are transforming the economy as well as business processes. Other features that have led to IoT (Manyika, 2015), specifically in the business and industrial environment, are cloud storage that are cost-effective and the emergence of data analytics which permit firms to manage as well as extract data from big amounts of data. However, we are not further than the key players. It is a sensor that captures the information and mobile connectivity which relays the information to another device and to the cloud. 

Notably, IoT is not only one, or an easy phenomenon that can be defined. There are different categories and markets that compose IoT. For the customer, IoT refers to wearable technology, including smart appliances, for instance televisions and thermostats. In the sector of industry, IoT refers to autonomous machines and equipment which are sensorized. In the commercial environment, IoT refers to Big Data and analytics of marketing. In summary, from manufacturing to products of consumers, IoT is as different as worldwide economy itself (Manyika et al. 2015). 

References 

Dewri, A., Nguyen, A., Chen, F., Lin, M., & Gupta, S. (2017). Cybersecurity & Internet of Things. Routledge. 

DuBravac, S., & Ratti, C. (2015). The Internet of Things: Evolution or Revolution?.  Part1 series ,  1 . 

Dupont, B. (2012). The cyber security environment to 2022: trends, drivers and implications.  Browser Download This Paper . 

Hausman, A., & Johnston, W. J. (2014). The role of innovation in driving the economy: Lessons from the global financial crisis.  Journal of Business Research ,  67 (1), 2720-2726. 

Manyika, J. (2015).  The Internet of Things: Mapping the value beyond the hype . McKinsey Global Institute. 

Manyika, J., Chui, M., Bisson, P., Woetzel, J., Dobbs, R., Bughin, J., & Aharon, D. (2015). Unlocking the Potential of the Internet of Things.  McKinsey Global Institute . 

Wang, G., Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E. W., & Papadopoulos, T. (2016). Big data analytics in logistics and supply chain management: Certain investigations for research and applications.  International Journal of Production Economics ,  176 , 98-110.