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Last year the whole world changed. Because of the pandemic everyone who could, started working remotely, shopping online, benefiting from online courses and consultations, used various delivery options, and did dozens of things online. And all this became possible thanks to the technologies that powered businesses and services. And if we were to have to single out a single most influential technology, it would be the IoT.
The Internet of Things is adopted by numerous companies all over the world. Healthcare, agriculture, retail, automotive, logistics, and many more business industries are already benefiting from the advantages that IoT has to offer. And the popularity of IoT is expected to continue growing dramatically into 2022 and beyond. Why is that? Simply because some groundbreaking new trends appeared and they can really become game changers for businesses.
So in this article we’d like to discuss today’s IoT market, latest IoT trends that will help businesses boost their productivity, and share with you some ideas regarding the best IoT solutions you can consider developing in 2023 to go big in 2024. And, without further ado, let’s get started!
All you need to know about IoT in numbers
It’s hard to underestimate the true potential of IoT, and how influential this technology already is. Various IoT devices are used by people and companies on three different levels – consumer, industrial and enterprise. The businesses can benefit the most from industrial and enterprise IoT devices that include various sensors and trackers, security systems, wearable devices, smart office technologies, and many more.
According to Statista, the spending on IoT technology and its implementation will reach $1,100 billion by 2023. And the main reason why companies have already started active IoT integration is their security concerns. Businesses believe that IoT is able to improve their security and report abnormalities way faster.
And as a team of technology experts, we’d like to add that IoT is way more powerful than that. Thanks to this technology you can cut operational costs by at least 42%, create a smart environment within your company, improve overall productivity and even gain competitive advantage. Just take a look at the infographics below provided by Deloitte in their report that shows high value drivers of IoT:
As to the real predictions that are already becoming a reality – information was published that the Industrial IoT market is set to reach $123.89 billion by the end of 2021 (which is very soon). And the business industry that will be generating the most revenue from it is manufacturing, in the context of which we refer to the technology as the IIoT.
Apart from manufacturing, there are several other industries that can make great use of IoT in the future if they start implementing it today. Those industries include but are not limited to:
- healthcare,
- agriculture,
- construction,
- automotive.
By now you may be interested in the business opportunities that IoT offers. But before you consider any further steps and start IoT implementation, we’d recommend you to dive into the list of top Internet of Things trends that are going to rule the market in the coming years.
Trend #1 – AI and IoT
AI and IoT technologies go hand in hand, and they can become perfect partners for your business growth. Numerous companies already use IoT devices for data collection. But is it enough just to collect that data? To make the most of it you need to process and analyze that data, and then generate informative and insightful reports. So in other words, you need powerful analytics. And that is exactly what AI is for.
AI combined with IoT can help your company collect huge piles of pre-structured data, set up necessary data pipelines, and add crucial AI components on top for further work with that data. Such a holistic approach can ensure that you are getting all crucial insights from your data and can use them to improve your productivity.
According to the Research and Markets forecast, the market of embedded AI in support of IoT-connected devices will reach $6.3 billions by 2026. And here is an infographics that provides one more interesting business related insight:
So as you can see, AI can truly power up businesses that already have integrated IoT but don’t yet benefit from that technology to the fullest. Now is the right time to think about software modernization or replacement. By combining AI with IoT in your business software you can:
- Achieve more precise data collection and analysis;
- Make data-driven and smart decisions;
- Boost your productivity and business management;
- Maintain a high security level.
To demonstrate our point through an example, let’s take the transportation industry. Well-known issue that most companies face is optimization of routing to let drivers arrive at their destinations earlier. Thanks to AI and IoT powered interactive maps enterprises can perform smart route planning, save on fuel costs, and reduce transportation time. Such interactive maps help to plan routes taking into account construction works on the road and possible peak hours.
Let’s take one more example from the manufacturing industry. IoT technology can be used there for controlling manufacturing defects during the production process. But if you add an AI visual inspector you can achieve even more – this can bring your quality control to a whole new level and save you thousands of dollars of operational costs. The possibilities of AI and IoT technologies are endless, and you should not put them aside.
Trend #2 – FOTA and IoT
FOTA (or firmware over-the-air) technology is a revolutionary one. It lets operators of the devices that are connected over the Internet perform upgrades of firmware remotely. So no physical intervention is required to update an operating system of connected devices, fix bugs and make them more up-to-date and secure.
FOTA and IoT are perfect helpers for the automotive industry as they help not only to interconnect devices and upgrade firmware wirelessly, but also detect bugs and malfunctions at early stages and fix them immediately. This means that by implementing IoT and FOTA companies can achieve technical stability, sustainability, and high efficiency. The automotive industry can benefit the most from this technological trend.
IoT powered devices can be used for monitoring vehicle manufacturing, conducting diagnostics, monitoring conditions of transportation, performing road condition analysis, and many more. But what’s more important is that IoT can help companies achieve so-called vehicle-to-everything technology (when a whole vehicle can be transformed into a powerful IoT tool equipped with numerous smart options and able to perform various connections). This is one step further to autonomous vehicles that can communicate with each other on a high technological level.
Trend #3 – Edge computing and IoT
Edge computing can easily process crucial data keeping it close to its source and reducing numerous possible bandwidth bottlenecks that usually take place while processing data. This grants numerous additional values to businesses such as better latency and performance, higher data security, better architectural choice, reduced cloud spend.
Now you may be interested in practical use of edge computing and IoT. One of the interesting examples would be their usage for specific autonomous vehicles. While being on the road those vehicles need to collect and process lots of real-time data. That data can be related to detecting pedestrians, identifying signs and traffic lights, finding parking places, and on top of that monitoring the condition of the vehicle itself.
That’s a lot of information that should be collected and quickly processed. There is literally no time to send that data to the cloud and back. So edge computing helps the vehicle equipped with IoT sensors to process all the data on the go and locally. So the vehicle gets all necessary data insights in real-time that helps to avoid crashes and other accidents on the road.
One more great example of IoT and edge computing use would be condition-based monitoring. IoT powered condition monitoring helps your equipment to last longer and therefore save your costs and nerves.
Let’s say you have equipment that is used remotely. To monitor the condition of that equipment properly and without spending too much time, you need specific IoT sensors that will measure pressure, temperature, vibrations, etc. and send that real-time data to you. Thanks to the edge computing the data can be transmitted and get to you really quickly which is great in terms of damage control.
Where should you start with IoT implementation?
I guess at some point you’ve already considered IoT implementation for your business. But chances are you’ve put that idea aside because you didn’t know where to start. Should you build a new solution from scratch? Or maybe it’s better to add some IoT powered features to your existing systems? What exactly should you do?
Well, the right answer is to find a reliable team of specialists like Altamira and perform proof of concept stages together. The thing is that IoT is not a simple technology and to make it work to the fullest you need not only a great hardware and middleware but also a reliable user friendly software able to manage all those devices.
While proving your concept and shaping your app idea, Altamira experts collect all your functional and non-functional software requirements, explore what devices you’d like to use and in what way, and if those devices and future IoT apps are a perfect fit for your business goal.
For example, let’s say you work at a construction company and want to build smart houses. Then you need to use lots of various sensors and have a software able to collect the data from those sensors and process it to provide you with necessary insights. Our team can help you complete the Discovery phase and identify what software you need, what options it should have, what its architecture should be, what design would be better and so on. In the end, you will have all necessary technical documentation, software specifications and development plan. This will help you minimize the development risks for your IoT app and get an expected outcome.
Also if you already have an IoT powered business solution but are not fully satisfied with it, we can help you perform its modernization – change some options, add missing ones, do an app redesign, perform code review, update libraries or integrations. Whatever your end goal is – we are here, ready to consult you and help you with the IoT app development.
FAQ
To sum it up
If we were to choose one certain technology, we would say for sure that IoT technology is what should be actively adopted by businesses in the upcoming years. Smart environments with interconnected IoT devices are able to transform the way companies work and achieve their major business goals.
IoT is an extremely useful technology for many business niches including but not limited to manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, agriculture, logistics and construction. There are so many use cases that the companies can pay attention to and implement in practice. But what is more important, IoT can be successfully used together with other high-flying technologies like AI or edge computing.
A right combination of technologies selected for your particular business model can make your company a tough leader on the market. IoT is capable of many things, so why not use its power to your business advantage?