Introduction to IoT: How is IoT reshaping industries looking for growth and automation?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the main pillars of the Industrial Revolution, along with Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Process Automation. With digitization, we can witness the shifting paradigm in industries where they are working towards becoming digitally empowered and data-driven to create smart business models and implement new strategies. Technologies like IoT empower them to achieve these goals.

IoT allows enterprises to create an integrated environment for all their devices to work and interact together with the help of sensors and other technologies allowing them to achieve operational efficiencies and manage everything on single platform. It helps them capture the data and turn it into actionable information.

How is IoT expected to grow?

The number of IoT interconnected devices around us is multiplying at an exponential rate. According to Statista, there will be nearly 50 billion IoT devices worldwide by 2030, creating a massive web of connected devices, be it in industries or at home.

How does IoT works and connects the world around us?

To make IoT work, people use various technologies like RFID, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, XBee, Wireless M-bus that make it easier to create an integrated environment. Big data and cloud computing are other important aspects of IoT. Using these technologies and sensors, one can collect the data and send it to the connected cloud. Once the data is collected, it is then processed to extract information, which is made available to the end-user. In simpler words, data collected is processed and turns into actionable insights that help industries be future-ready and ahead in their business.

IoT is not only being used industrially but in our daily life, too. Amazon Echo, Alexa, our wearable watches, smart cities, connected cars are a few examples of IoT around us.

How are Industries leveraging IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most used and fastest-growing technologies pushing enterprises towards automation. When everything is connected, it gets easier for them to manage various processes resulting in operational efficiency. Following are the examples where IoT is being used to improve the performance of existing use cases.

Manufacturing Industries

Manufacturing industries are mostly spending on managing their operation and production department, and IoT helps them in asset management and maintenance, making the process a lot smoother and faster. It helps in connecting devices for real-time data assessment and remote monitoring for better higher reliability, safety and security. The manufacturing industries are aggressively using IoT, and those not using, will indeed be left behind in the coming years.
Markets and Markets research shows that the global market size for IoT in manufacturing is expected to touch nearly USD 53.8 billion by 2025.

Logistics and Supply Chain Industries

The logistics and supply chain industry rank second in terms of sectors leveraging IoT. Using IoT- enabled advanced monitoring and communication system, businesses working in this industry are looking for efficiency and growth in their value chain. With the growing demand for a digital supply chain, IoT helps companies manage their internal processes like freight management and vehicle tracking a lot better.

For instance, using RFID tags and sensors, enterprises can easily keep a track of their inventory. IoT enables enterprises to revamp their warehouse system to manage their inventory in a better way resulting in reduced manual errors, enhanced security, and increased efficiency.

Retail and eCommerce

Retail and eCommerce industries are most benefitted by leveraging IoT. Using smart devices like Beacons and other sensors, they can provide an improved customer experience making their business grow. Their work gets reduced using these connected devices and helps them strategize and implement new business models.

For example, Amazon Go, an innovative concept store by Amazon is a great initiative to speed up the process of shopping and eliminate those long checkout queues by deploying advanced IoT-enabled devices and smart sensors on the store shelves. Using deep learning and IoT sensors, these stores aim to offer checkout-free shopping experience as customers can easily use their phone to make purchases with Amazon’s Go app without having to worry about waiting at the checkout counter.

Healthcare

IoT enables real-time and remote patient monitoring, reducing the time and money involved in unnecessary hospital visits. It also helps healthcare professionals deliver better healthcare to their patients, increasing the satisfaction rate. Apart from helping patients, IoT-enabled devices also enable better inventory management and medical equipment tracking, making it easier for the staff to keep track of them.

IoT-enabled wearable devices like smart watches and fitness bands are highly being used for heart rate monitoring, blood pressure monitoring and glucometer. They can even prevent heart attacks by notifying users about irregular heart rate or about their blood sugar levels.

Integrating IoT into your business process helps make better decisions by accessing and scrutinizing a large amount of data in a go. The interconnected devices will not only increase productivity but also help industries cut down their costs. Also, it allows remote device management, which acts as an added advantage enabling higher efficiency. PureSoftware has been helping myriads of industries strategize and implement IoT. If you are also planning to integrate this technology into your business, get in touch with our team today.