4 Areas the Internet of Things (IoT) is Impacting Now
The Internet of Things (IoT) is possibly the most used buzzword in today’s technology-driven world. Many leading consulting firms and analysts, such as McKinsey & Company, estimate that a total economic impact of the IoT could reach $11.1 trillion a year by 2025. That’s because there is expected to be more than 200 billion connected objects by 2020, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). Together, these Internet-enabled objects will change the way we interact with the world around us, how we drive to work, take care of our health, and shop for groceries, among many other things. Because this seemingly distant future is much closer than most people realize, now it’s a great time to take a closer look at a few main areas that are expected to change the most.Home Appliances
If there’s one area where the IoT already put down roots, it has to be the home consumer market. People have quickly discovered just how useful smart thermostats, web-enabled security cameras, kitchen aplliances, or intelligent electric vehicle charging stations can be. Results of the consumer survey by GSMA, an association representing the interests of mobile operators worldwide, show that “there is already strong and growing demand for connected home devices, services and solutions.” They’ve discovered that one in four technology enthusiasts in Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US own a connected security system, connected lighting, thermostat, health monitor, and even a connected washing machine. Indeed, companies across the world are expected to ship 1.9 billion connected home devices by 2019, thus generating approximately $490 billion in revenue. Major players, including Google and Samsung, are investing billions of dollars, betting that the IoT home market will bring in insane profits.Healthcare
While the use of the IoT devices in our homes can definitely make our day-to-day life much easier, the category with the most potential for a positive social change is healthcare. Imagine a world where doctors have an abundant supply of up-to-date, reliable data they can use to better diagnose diseases and provide their patients with excellent treatment. These data can be further used for research, to help medical professionals discover new cures and raise the global health standard. The best current example of this is the ResearchKit, presented by Apple at their highly anticipated “Let us loop you in” event. Jeff William, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, said that the technology is already “used to solve some of the biggest problems facing medical research.” This open-source framework has allowed researchers to conduct the largest study on Parkinson’s in history, discover asthma triggers across the country, and find new types of diabetes. Apple is also extending this framework to individual customers, calling it CareKit. With CareKit, patients can monitor their health and receive individualized treatment plans to increase the speed of their recover and general quality of life. At OpenArc my team has been partnering with researchers across various higher education institutions to help enable health care related products and services leveraging wearable sensors and backend interfaces supporting clinician decisions.Retail
The potential applications of the Internet of Things in retail are virtually limitless. Everything from a simple inventory tracking to smartphone purchasing, in-store analytics of consumer behavior and choices, to smart advertising custom-tailored to fit each customer based on their purchasing history or social media activity. Customers are already in love with their smartphones and wearable devices, so extending their functionality to enhance the shopping experience will feel like a very natural transition. Bill Hardgrave from Aubrun University reports that retailers can expect up to 99 percent inventory accuracy and 50 percent reduction in out-of-stock items when they implement RFID tags for inventory tracking. These systems could be interconnected with home IoT devices to make it possible for stores to, for example, automatically suggest new clothes based on what the customer already has in his or her closet so that everything would nicely match.Privacy
Not everyone is excited about the positive impact that the era of the Internet of Things could have on our daily lives. Some fear that corporations and governments won’t be able to protect users’ privacy and consumer data. That can be either because of lack of competency or because of purposeful misuse of private data with the intention to generate additional profits. A study from the Altimeter Group tells us that average consumers are not comfortable with companies collecting their personal information. Older people, in particular, show very low trust that companies use their data in a safe and ethical manner. The omnipresent nature of the Internet of Things devices means that consumers would have only very vague idea about what type of data is being collected and what the company does with the collected information. Retailers and all customer-facing businesses, in general, will have to find a way how to ensure that data will not fall into the wrong hands, if they ever want to be trusted and not just tolerated.Conclusion
As you can see, the incoming technological revolution brought by the Internet of Things could have a similar impact as the introduction of the Internet. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to be able to witness how humanity manages to use this technology and push innovation beyond what we can currently imagine. One thing is certain: the world will look very different just 10-20 years from now. Being at the forefront of this revolution gets me stoked and feeling fortunate to be an experienced rider, paddling hard into this wave.Comments
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