The power combo for a data-driven era
By: Shreejit Sudhakaran
Tags: Ai Introduction, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain Introduction, Blockchain, Internet of Things

Photo by Franki Chamaki

As we move towards a digital-first economy, the lines between Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) are rapidly blurring. Today, these technologies represent an unprecedented opportunity for enterprises, startups and the public sector.

Organizations capable of leveraging this opportunity can streamline and enhance their existing business processes, create new business models, and develop innovative products and services.

While most organizations look at AI, Blockchain and IoT individually, they need to understand that the real value comes from combining these technologies together.

To attain maximum business value, businesses need to set up an end-to-end digital foundation (or backbone).

Let’s take the supply chain business for instance.

Autonomous Supply Chain

IoT enables supply chain companies to create a digital twin of an equipment or serviceable asset. Businesses can use sensor information to identify shipment location and monitor shipment condition as they move through the supply chain. In addition to this, they can monitor the condition of the vehicle’ system.

Plugging AI into this helps businesses derive actionable insights from assets moving across the business ecosystem. Whether it’s analyzing transactional data to determine the best performing trading partner, or analyzing sensor data to determine if a piece of vehicle equipment is about to break down. AI helps companies optimize and enhance efficiencies across the end-to-end supply chain.

Blockchain, a relatively new technology, is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. In supply chain, Blockchain helps track and trace the transactions of equipment, goods and raw materials — from source to end.

Now you know how AI, Blockchain and IoT can do wonders holistically. Together, these technologies can help supply chain companies establish a smarter, connected, self-aware and trusted environment.

In addition to this, each one of them comes with ample space for continuous innovation. Businesses need to level up their research and development capabilities in order to explore business opportunities and tap into their full potential.

Let’s explore these technologies one by one.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Think Tank

AI has come a long way in the past few decades. What was once called ‘science fiction’, is now becoming ‘science fact’.

Driven by data, AI processes large volumes of information, which it converts into actionable insights by detecting underlying patterns and connections. It is an umbrella term for Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Deep Learning, and more.

Sophia, the human-like robot created by Hanson Robotics in 2016, is a great example of AI very close to its peak of evolution. Thanks to the technology’s seamless capabilities, Sophia can hold conversations and act almost like a real person.

Machine Learning—AI’s widely used subset—enables systems to automatically learn and improve from data, without being programmed. ML algorithms can apply what is learned from past data to new data. It supports AI’s goal of stimulating and demonstrating intelligence.

YouTube is a great example of Machine Learning in action.

It deploys ML algorithms to learn your viewing/browsing behavior from historical data. The service then recommends content that they (the algorithms) think you will be interested to consume.

Blockchain: The Trusted Bookkeeper

Blockchain is considered as the foundation of highly trusted computing. It offers reliability, transparency, and security to all types of data exchanges — such as financial transactions, legal agreements/contracts, and ownership transfers.

The technology uses a distributed peer-to-peer network to keep a record of every data exchange and makes it unalterable. This consequently removes the need for any other trusted, third-party accounting solutions.

Business Benefits:

Faster processes

Real-time transaction visibility

Reduced operational costs.

According to Gartner, by 2023, blockchain will be scalable technically and will support trusted private transactions with the necessary data confidentiality. The research giant also estimates that blockchain could generate US$ 176 billion of value-added revenue by 2025.

Internet of Things (IoT): A Connected Ecosystem of Smart Devices

The Internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Even today, IoT is impacting a wide array of industries. This includes the public sector, automotive, manufacturing, transportation, consumer goods and healthcare. The technology helps organizations extract new data and improve existing business processes, develop innovative products and services with faster time-to-market, and seamlessly collect/monitor data on consumer trends and preferences.

International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts — by 2025, there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices, or “things,” generating 79.4 zettabytes (ZB) of data.

In order to put IoT to practical use and realize its business benefits, organizations must:

Build a robust ecosystem of IoT-enabled devices

Source, store, and manage massive volumes of data

Deploy and manage end-to-end security

Utilize advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities

Integrate IoT with existing business applications and workflows

Constantly monitor and manage the overall value chain

Business Benefits: