The Internet of Things (IoT) has been defined as a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies (ITU, sd). It is a network of devices, home appliances, vehicles and other things, that are embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity which enables those things to connect, collect and exchange data (Wikipedia, sd). What does IoT mean for industries and companies. What kind of opportunities offers IoT and are there any challenges?
A lot of industries can benefit from the IoT. Think for example of machines used in the fabrication industry that need to be lubricated once in a while. If a machine is not lubricated on time, the machine could jam which results in a lot of costs. Nowadays, the machines are checked manually if they already need to be lubricated. It could save a lot of time and money if the machines automatically send a signal whenever they need to be lubricated. Another example is a municipality’s streetlights, once is a while a lamp stops functioning. It would again, save a lot of time and cost if the streetlight would send a signal that its lamp needs to be replaced instead of someone who needs to check all the streetlights (Smeets, 2018).
Next to opportunities and benefits, challenges exist. First, a lot of different data is generated by the use of IoT and a lot of different platforms exist which all generate data in a different way. How to connect these data and platforms? This can be very challenging and time-consuming. Next to this, IoT will mean for a lot of companies that they need to change their business model. To take full advantage of IoT, a lot of companies will in the future need to offer more service level agreements (Smeets, 2018).
To conclude, IoT can save a company a lot of time and cost, but also comes with some challenges.
References
ITU. (sd). Internet of Things Global Standards Initiative. Opgeroepen op Octobre 09, 2018, van ITU: https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/gsi/iot/Pages/default.aspx
Smeets, P. (2018, Octobre 9). De staat van het Internet of Things: belofte of realiteit? Opgehaald van Dutch Cowboys: https://www.dutchcowboys.nl/technology/de-staat-van-het-internet-of-things-belofte-of-realiteit
Wikipedia. (sd). Internet of things. Opgeroepen op Octobre 9, 2018, van WIkipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things
