Do you know what is the Internet of Things?

Today morning when I woke up, I turned on the geyser in the washroom 15 minutes before I left the bed so I could get warm water for my bath. Every evening when I reach the apartment gate, I turn on the lights and the air con to get a comfortable atmosphere before I enter my house. While at work, I often wave to my colleague’s daughter in the creche through her smartphone. And this is just the nascent stage of what Internet of Things (IoT) defines.

A more technical definition is that The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these things to connect, collect and exchange data. For example cell phones, coffee makers, headphones, washing machines, components of machines like an airplane or the drill in an oil rig and probably everything else that comes to your mind.

We are moving beyond human relationships. It’s no longer limited to 2 people, it’s people-things and things-things. It’s a continuously growing network with endless opportunities and connections which is being explored bit by bit with the development of this futuristic technology. There is still a long road ahead to reach IoT’s full potential.

Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are leading IoT to its probable future. AI makes them smarter with every experience and blockchain, on the other hand, provides for all the connections as well as the storage space required by all IoT devices. It is impacting various industries from healthcare to government services etc. However, each of these industries is impacted differently as IoT has different use-cases within each.

Some of the industries impacted by IoT are:

Communications Industry

Every communication organization has integrated IoT into their systems to understand and predict customer behaviour, as well as the viability of assets.

Finance Industry

Financial service organizations have been quick to adopt visual analytics to ensure greater security with mobile phones, cameras and sensors etc.

Healthcare Industry

In healthcare services, audio devices and mobile phones are the most essentially used whether it’s employee or patient facilities monitoring.

Energy Industry

IoT has been implemented through machinery and robots as energy sector projects are spread in areas which require constant monitoring.

Transport Industry

Since logistics and movement are the most important features of this industry, visual analytics like cameras and sensors have been implemented.

Retail Industry

Retail organizations are enabling business transformation using computers and sensors to understand customer behaviour.

Manufacturing Industry

Manufacturers have deployed IoT extensively across their organizations to enable real-time monitoring of products and assets.

Therefore, these examples illustrate that all industries have a scope of integrating IoT for better performance and productivity. There is a transition to IoT underway even as I write at this moment and we cannot fail to acknowledge it. Currently, we are in the first stage of development trying to feed smart devices with as much data as possible and then controlling its output. Very soon they will become actuators as well.