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Future IoT Technology Trends

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We posted a popular article about the IoT and enterprise software yesterday that ended up being shared across social media. As a top enterprise software company focusing on integration, we find IoT technology fascinating. We thought it might be helpful to share further information about this new business technology revelation

Technology trends transform day by day and spotters suggest there’s no sign of turnover peaking anytime soon. However, no tech trend is teasing benefits to businesses quite like the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT technology emphasizes the concept that objects, machines, devices, or even people should be linked with unique identifies and have the ability to transfer data over a network without use of human intermediaries or human to computer interaction. In the future, it’s wholly possible that nearly every manufactured object—either infrastructure or consumable—will be embedded with sensors to track and manage buyer behavior so that businesses can lean out processes that fail to add value to the manufacturing process or buyer’s decision making process.

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Trends In IoT

According to Information-Management.com, by 2020 there will be more smart devices interconnected together than there will be total global population. In addition, Gartner suggests 26 billion IoT system units will be embedded in the next decade. The infographic above suggests the top five trends in IoT technology that could affect your firm.

1. M2M Automation

Smart sensors could be embedded in nearly every manufactured product today. IoT systems will be able to use these sensors to communicate and automate decisions; such as demand and sales forecasting, materials procurement, and distribution without human interaction.

Imagine this scenario, you supply products on the shelves of a large box retailer. When buyers carry a smart device or smart wearables device, sensors built into shelving will attach the IP address from that device to the product’s unique identifier. It will embed an opportunity. If opportunity numbers fail to match sales forecasts, executives will be able to use BI and other software to drill down and specifically identify the issue; definitively.

The only way this is possible is through an integrated system that provides seamless connection between IoT objects and connected enterprise software. This requires an integrated enterprise that shares data across multiple channels.

2. Security and Privacy

Authentication is critical across all areas of the IoT; network, cloud, and software applications. Contrary to popular belief, cloud networks are less prone to data breaches than on premise data exchanges. Security for these networks is likely to evolve as more and more businesses make investments in information assurance (IA) services. The fact of the matter is that, awareness and security process is paramount to IA; as this trend becomes in engrained in corporate culture many of the issues businesses visual today will be minimized.

3. Product Design

Consumers are demanding easier access to products and services. Technology is evolving to better acknowledge this desire for greater access to other objects, networks, and people. We most associate the idea with applications with our smart devices, but sensors can be embedded into nearly everything we use. This new standard of product design allows businesses to magnify the most purposeful uses of objects in order to capture consumer dollars.

4. The IoT Data Broker

Forbes claims 30 percent of enterprises access to broad-based big data will only be available from brokerages. Data brokers are big business; according to the Federal Trade Commission. These companies can collect consumer personal information from a range of sources and resell or share the information for a variety of reasons to businesses. This personal information can be linked to one or several IP addresses from the smart gadgets consumers use from day to day. From there, businesses will be able to attain these consumer attributes and align them with similar insights to form profitable distribution channels, segments and micro-markets.

5. IoT Supply Chain Analytics

Businesses will live and die in the next few years based solely on how they choose to adopt IoT into their business. The most significant usage of IoT could be to lean out invaluable processes and increase efficiencies in production and customer service while streamlining valuable processes. The proper use of IoT technology could lead businesses to improved safety, security, and loss prevention.

Without a doubt, the IoT will be a a cornerstone of the future manufacturers technology arms race. But there are some serious considerations businesses must beg before going all in on the data they’re delt.

• How can businesses plug and play big data into current enterprise software?
• How should we interpret this big data?
• Where will our enterprise software fit in to all of this?

Datix is a certified ERP and CRM consulting firm that specializes in enterprise technology integration. We assist businesses with data modeling every day. If you found this helpful, we’d love to help you further with any projects you have coming up.

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