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The Internet of Things (IoT). I’m quite sure everyone has heard about this phenomenon at least once, as it has become a growing topic of conversation for the past few years. It is simply defined as ‘the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other)’ (Morgan, 2014). Clear right? Well, let’s be honest. Not exactly. Though the topic is often mentioned when it comes to digital trends, its impact on our day-to-day activities remains quite vague for most people. What is in fact the actual value behind the hype and will it really be as life-changing as people say it will be? Let’s zoom in on the various possibilities that the Internet of Things offers and its future development in order to answer this.

According to a study by McKinsey (2015), the IoT could potentially have an economic impact of $4 to $11 trillion dollars a year in 2025. One of the most promising features of the IoT is the functionality it will bring to our homes, dubbed as ‘Smart Homes’. Imagine being woken up by your alarm clock at 7 AM and have that same alarm clock send off a signal to your coffee machine to prepare your favourite cup of coffee. Or say that you haven’t reached home yet, but can already switch on the air-conditioning or switch off devices when you already left home. Smart homes products are expected to save people time, money and energy (Kashyap, 2016). Another promising application of the IoT is ‘Smart city’ where the use of sensors will help solve issues such as pollution, energy usage and traffic congestion in cities. Also, by having sensors, it will be possible for people to easily find available parking spots across town. Besides these features there are a ton more of opportunities that derive from IoT for example connected cars and advancements in agriculture.

So, the potential is huge right? With big players like Microsoft and Ge jumping on the bandwagon recently, it’s clear that the actual value of the phenomenon is ready to be seized. However, there are things that need to be addressed when doing this with security being one of the most important ones. Just think of the amount of data and privacy risks that are related to billions of devices being connected. Also, the tools that are used to store and analyse the data need to be re-assessed, as companies will be dealing with tremendous data amounts (Morgan, 2014).

Just thinking about the possibilities that IoT will offer us, makes me incredibly excited for the future. How do you guys feel about this hype? Do you think it will live up to its potential? Share your thoughts!

References: 

Kashyap, S. (2016). 10 real-world applications of internet of things (IoT) – explained in videos. Retrieved from: https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2016/08/10-youtube-videos-explaining-the-real-world-applications-of-internet-of-things-iot/ 

Morgan, J. (2014). A simple explanation of ‘The internet of things’. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/#6ec772c51d09 

McKinsey (2015). Unlocking the potential of the internet of things. Retrieved from
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-internet-of-things-the-value-of-digitizing-the-physical-world 

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The Media & Entertainment industry is dealing with a rapidly changing environment since the emergence of online streaming platforms such as Netflix. The traditional brick-and-mortar DVD rental landscape and cable TV services were particularly effected by the rise of these services.

Before the industry got shaken up, pipeline companies ruled the DVD rental landscape with Blockbuster being the largest player. Customers were required to visit physical stores in order to rent content. These stores failed to anticipate on the rise of internet technologies such as faster broadband and better video compression. Something the online streaming platforms did manage to do. Blockbuster ended up filing for bankruptcy marking the end of the traditional DVD rental era (Halal, 2013). Nowadays, Netflix (used as prime example in the video) has even surpassed the number of TV subscriptions in the US (Huddleston, 2017).

Multiple characteristics have contributed to user’s preference for these platforms. Firstly, online streaming services offer a lot more variety when it comes to their titles than TV or rental stores. They’re not tied to shelf space and are able to attract customers with less popular titles, thus tackling the long-tail phenomenon (Goodfellow, 2014). Furthermore, they use their data to offer users customized content and are more affordable than cable TV subscriptions and rental fees. Lastly, by streaming content online users have considerably more freedom regarding their watching behaviour.

These benefits obviously contributed to the growth of streaming services, but it’s the communities that derived from the usage of a platform that truly accelerated the industry disruption.

Let’s take a closer look at Netflix’ platform structure: Netflix acts as both the owner and provider of the platform. It controls intellectual property and governance, while also being the platform’s interface. Producers are studios, while the users of these services are labelled as consumers. It’s the positive cross-side network effects between the two sides of the market (producers and consumers) that adds the tremendous value to the platform (Van Alstyne et al, 2016). Because of the great number of subscriptions, content creators sell Netflix more streaming rights expanding the size of the Netflix library. This content growth subsequently leads to an increase in subscribers, which again results in more content.

When analyzing the current streaming industry using Porter’s five forces (2008), it was concluded that current players might deal with negative impacts based on the high threat of suppliers, substitution and high competitive rivalry. The SWOT analysis that was conducted showed this high threat of suppliers as well. As for the future, it was concluded that Netflix and similar players should limit this threat of suppliers by producing their own content, eliminating the fact that they’re just the middle man. It is expected that many suppliers will follow Disney’s example and pull their content from platforms, negatively affecting the current supply platforms offer (Castillo,2017).

At last, players will have to innovate their offerings on time and follow trends like smart devices (virtual reality headsets etc.) closely to avoid the risk of being disrupted themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRffR5TVNHQ&amp=&t=6s

References:

Castillo, M. (2017). Disney will pull its movies from Netflix and start its own streaming services. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/disney-will-pull-its-movies-from-netflix-and-start-its-own-streaming-services.html

Goodfellow, C. (2014). Netflix’s long tail is forcing the entertainment industry to evolve. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/christopher-goodfellow/netflixs-long-tail-is-for_b_4716228.html

Halal, B. (2013). How Netflix beat Blockbuster: an exemplar of emerging technologies. Retrieved from http://billhalal.com/?p=295

Huddleston, T. (2017). Netflix has more US subscribers than cable TV. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2017/06/15/netflix-more-subscribers-than-cable/

Porter, M. E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard business review, 86 (1), 25-40.

Van Alstyne, M. W., Parker, G. G., & Choudary, S. P. (2016). Pipelines, platforms, and the new rules of strategy. Harvard Business Review, 94(4), 54-62.

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There’s no doubt about the disruptive impact Digital has had on a number of industries this past decade. A lot of these Digital ‘trends’ have also hit the educational sector. Technology has rapidly found its way towards classrooms and students around the world. Nowadays, the printed word and ‘chalky’ hands are a thing of the past for multiple schools, with IPads replacing traditional paper books and Smartboards substituting the old-fashioned chalkboards. Though these inventions have made student-life significantly more convenient, it’s nothing compared to the way Artificial Intelligence (AI) is able to impact the education of future generations. Should we embrace this change or be wary of the negative effects that could derive from it?

Firstly, let’s start off by zooming in on the endless ways that AI can be incorporated in modern-day classrooms. The most important benefit that emerges from ‘’AI Ed’’ is the fact that the typical ‘one size fits all’ approach to teaching, no longer has to be applied. Machine learning, the part of AI that finds patterns in data, can provide valuable insights on the progress of each student resulting in personalized real-time learning plans and customized knowledge (Dickson, 2017). Besides this clear benefit, the value that artificial reality tools such as Oculus Rift and Goole Expedition offers to teachers and students is also significant (Turbot, 2017). Imagine being in class and instead of having the teacher explain and describe topics, such as the human body, you will actually be able to see this for yourself with the mentioned devices. Furthermore, AI offers a variety of tools to teachers helping them with grading and course design activities.

So far, so good right? What could possibly be the issue?

Well, though AI has a lot of potential to positively impact education, the artificial element of all these tools and techniques worries people about losing the human factor in classrooms (Ghafourifar, 2016). With the way AI is developing, we shouldn’t be surprised if intelligent machines take over the role that human teachers currently play in student lives, ultimately resulting in unemployment for teachers.

I personally believe that AI should play a supporting role in the classroom. Especially the potential of providing students with personalized learning plans, is too valuable to dismiss. It will offer students the chance to learn at their own pace and deepen their knowledge regarding things they’re actually interested in. Also, the ability of AI to take care of tasks such as grading, will allow teachers to focus on things that truly need human intervenience, such as bringing creativity and empathy to the classroom. Because no matter how fast, AI is developing, I do believe that humans are necessary to introduce students to these qualities.

But I want to know what you think. Do you believe that AI will affect the education of future generation to the extent of human teachers actually vanishing? And if so, do you consider this to be a positive development?

References

Dickson, B. (2017). How artificial intelligence is changing education. Retrieved from https://bdtechtalks.com/2017/03/09/artificial-intelligence-education-edtech/ 

Ghafourifar, A. (2016). How AI will disrupt the classroom. Retrieved from
https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/22/how-ai-will-disrupt-the-classroom/

Turbot, S. (2017). Artificial intelligence in education: Don’t ignore it, Harness it! Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sebastienturbot/2017/08/22/artificial-intelligence-virtual-reality-education/#37f5e1516c16