An IT revolution began in the 1950s and picked up steam in the 1990s with the advent of the world wide web. Today, it is moving at breakneck speed. The 21st century is, by all means, a digital century. The Internet of Things, popularly known as IoT, plays a vital role in this digital transformation all around us.
Companies and governments alike are using this technology for its numerous benefits. This article explains the top 5 advantages of using IoT applications. But first, let’s shed some light on what it is.
What is IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a collective network of devices connected with each other, the cloud, and people through the internet. Devices or objects with processing ability, physical sensors, and software, amongst other technologies, are connected using the internet or a communication network.
Thanks to the proliferation of the internet and the availability of smaller, more economical computer chips, innumerable devices are today connected to the internet. According to one research, the IoT industry size is expected to achieve a valuation of over $520 billion by 2027. That is huge! And the covid19 pandemic has only accelerated this growth.
IoT enables automation and facilitates communication by integrating devices with the internet. This is why all the major IT industry players are doubling down on IoT applications. New IoT applications are popping up all around us. While some are still in their experimental phase, others are already well-established.
Let’s explore the top 5 benefits of using IoT applications.
Benefits of IoT
1. Increase in Productivity
IoT solutions are famous for improving workforce productivity through automation. Simple, mundane, and repetitive tasks are easily automated using IoT applications. Consequently, resources can spend time working on tasks requiring out-of-the-box thinking and creativity. Moreover, as you automate your business processes, you’d naturally need fewer workers, thus cutting down your business costs.
2. Data Monitoring
The data monitoring capability of IoT features right at the top of its advantages. IoT enables users to know in real-time, for example, the air quality of one’s house. It empowers you with an unfettered flow of data, which in turn lets you make better and more timely decisions.
Let’s take another example. Imagine a warehouse with all its stored products connected to an IoT network. Whenever a product leaves the warehouse, the IoT application updates the status and places procurement orders accordingly. In other words, an enterprise IoT application will ensure your warehouse is never under or over-stocked. How convenient, no?
3. Data Collection & Customer Analytics
Data collection and monitoring go hand-in-hand with each other. An IoT network enables you to collect tons of data, which can then be used to make better decisions. Such data collection helps you both at the tactical and strategic levels. You can make effective micro and macro business decisions.
Let’s carry forth the warehouse example to illustrate this further. You can easily determine customer buying patterns and trends by using internet-linked retail tags on your products. It would thus empower you with vast amounts of relevant information, allowing you to make effective business decisions through mobile app development.
4. Reduced Costs
Connecting smart devices through an IoT network offers you multiple cost-reduction opportunities. As explained earlier, IoT increases workforce efficiency and productivity by giving access to real-time information. It lets your resources use their time more efficiently.
Take the example of an indoor vegetable grower. Instead of hiring a resource to manage the temperature levels of the growing facility, the grower can use temperature sensors to regulate the building’s temperature automatically. Moreover, IoT also helps reduce development, production, and even transportation costs. All this results in across-the-board cost reductions.
5. Enhanced Quality of Life
So far, we have listed only the business benefits of IoT. But IoT as a technology has immense potential to improve the lives of ordinary people. The use of smart devices is increasingly becoming commonplace. People use these devices to do tasks as simple as turning on the bedroom light bulb to tasks as complex as managing traffic at a busy intersection.
IoT has even disrupted the healthcare sector. Doctors and scientists have developed smart pills that course their way through a person’s body and transmit information back to the device in real time. Blood pressure monitors are also capable of sharing information in real time. This enables doctors and patients to make better health decisions.
Summing it up
To put it simply, the scope of IoT in Business is monumental. It solves so many everyday business and personal problems. In fact, even climatologists battling global warming use IoT to enhance their efficiency. Each and every sector of the global economy uses IoT directly or indirectly. And although we have listed only 5 benefits of IoT applications, there are many more benefits to it!