The Internet of Things or IoT has flourished on technological advancements and made rapid strides over the past few years. IoT when rightly used can play a critical role in transforming businesses for gaining an edge in competition and fostering growth.
As wearables, mobile devices, and complex robots are fast gaining popularity, lives are changing fast. Businesses are experimenting and innovating new products and services to offer an improved customer experience that helps to bolster and widen the customer base.
People are experiencing more convenience in all walks of life because of the extensive adoption of IoT, which is not only setting new trends but also offering benefits that were unthinkable a few years ago. The immense potential of IoT implementation and a massive surge in the number of IoT-connected devices is expected to offer immense benefits and positive impact.
The Covid19 pandemic has compelled businesses and organizations to reinforce their communication infrastructure to support the new trend of allowing most people to work remotely. Even in the education sector, remote learning gained traction. The emphasis on staying connected remotely triggered a tremendous increase in IoT devices. The increased numbers of web-connected devices have turned the focus on cyber security. Companies are walking the extra mile to keep users safe from cyber threats by plugging the holes in security and making it more robust and almost foolproof. More secure online practices are one of the benefits of the proliferation of IoT.
The healthcare sector was already an early adopter of IoT, but the pace of adoption gathered steam after the Covid19 pandemic that triggered a huge increase in the number of IoT-connected devices. The capabilities in utilizing technology for the healthcare sector grew tremendously during the pandemic and helped it stay ahead of the curve. IoT technologies played a critical role in gathering huge but useful data that helped to improve the quality of services and patient care that could save many lives during the pandemic. Moreover, the availability of blood oxygen monitors and wearable health devices significantly supported better health monitoring and encouraged healthy lifestyles.
IoT technologies have an impact on business processes from manufacturing to services and supply chains that can use IoT devices and systems for automation. As IoT technologies keep maturing fast, it is becoming more accessible to small and medium businesses. What used to be a privilege of the bigger companies who were the early adopters of IoT is now within reach of small businesses. Smaller companies can use easy-to-use and affordable IoT solutions for sustainability and faster growth.
As the communication technology transits into the realm of a 5G network that will significantly improve connectivity, data transfer speed, and reliability. It will encourage the wider adoption of IoT devices. Moreover, companies engaged in the development of 5G networks will use the IoT conventions for expanding network capability.
A strong communication network will encourage the transition of IoT computation from devices to data centers. IoT devices will become simpler and cheaper to build which will enable businesses to offer new features to customers without investing in hardware.
In this article, we have only seen a small sample of potential benefits that have been delivered. With the growth of broadband speeds, especially with 5G in mobile – there will be a much wider adoption of IoT which will enlarge the benefits delivered by IoT technologies to various industries.