Internet of Things (IoT) has disrupted the information and communication technology sector and moves businesses toward a complete digital transformation. IoT applications aren’t just restricted to home networks, they have a large role in the information-driven business environment.
Understanding IoT Relevance
IoT software enables developers to combine device and connection data with enterprise-specific customer and ERP data as well as data from third-party sources like social and weather data to create more valuable IoT applications.”
-IHS TECHNOLOGY
Businesses looking to enhance their digital transformation use IoT in their global business landscape. This demand is clearly evident, here a report from Gartner explains: “..by 2020, more than half of major new business processes and systems will incorporate some element of the Internet of Things.”
With the rise of AI capabilities, every technology and service is improving. This is the main reason for the increased demand for personal-area networks like IoT. The best part of IoT is that it brings all devices onto one platform to exchange data for more in-depth business applications. Here intelligent mobile apps serve as a connectivity management platform enabling devices and technologies to communicate among themselves as well as with users. Apple’s Homekit is one such IoT application.
IoT platforms collect massive chunks of data from all devices. Then AI applications transform the data into meaningful information by collecting analytics that is valuable for the business use case. This is what makes IoT more than just a technology but a business strategy.
McKinsey’s Global Institute predicts IoT will have an economic impact of between $4 trillion and $11 trillion by 2025.”
How IoT Alters the Way Businesses Operate
Here are some of the key ways AI Enabled IoT improves businesses:
Utilization of Business Resources
No longer will data be stored in resource data silos, only to be forgotten and never used. IoT combined with predictive intelligence, can aid organizations in managing resource allocations that translate to optimized performances with better utilization of data. Furthermore, the reordering of jobs and resources can be based on a mix of real-time statistics and predictive analytics.
Intelligent Automation of Work and Service Management
Automation efforts can be scaled up when solutions are augmented with the power of analytics and IoT. Integrating IoT with service delivery automation platforms like ServiceNow can be a groundbreaking service management process.
The rise in smart devices and Bring Your Own Devise (BYOD) standards in many workplaces is leaving enterprises with a broader spectrum of data and real-time info. Even research reports reveal that “data from mobile devices and the Internet of Things are accelerating the pace of automation efforts and workplace efficiency.” With growing chunks of specific data, IoT and real-time analytics can aid enterprises by creating a centrally-organized data bank. This data bank alerts and identifies enterprises of any upcoming issues.
Real-time Management of Business-Critical Systems
Connected IoT assets capture huge chunks of real-time data. This data enables business teams to track assets and processes day-to-day operations. These deep insights assist business teams by monitoring business assets in real-time and remotely. For example, business teams can now have access to instantaneous supply chain visibility, security status updates, and deception detection. This information, further enhanced by AI and predictive intelligence algorithms, can skyrocket operational efficiencies. In the case of business critical systems, this sort of real-time information management can help the enterprise avoid heavy damages.
Customer Focused
Customer Personas are key to driving customer engagement. Smart devices integrated into IoT platforms gather behavioral information about each user. This process increases the ability to identify customer personas. Based on this info, sales and marketing teams can cater content specifically to the user resulting in improved customer engagement.
Conclusion
The best of IoT abilities can be extracted only when it is perceived not as a technology, but as a strategy. If perceived so, IoT can play a key role in transforming organizations to be more agile both in terms of internal (business processes and workforce management) and external (customer satisfaction) functions. The major success of IoT lies in creating a platform/culture where humans and machines co-exist and work together for improved results.
