IoT Series — Part 2: Internet of Things in the Business sector
By: Simon Renault
Tags: Connectivity, Smart Homes, Smart Cities, IoT, Iiot

Adoption of the IoT, and its growth

Connectivity in technology is rapidly changing; Not only is it just laptops, mobile phones and tablets that can connect to the internet any more; We now see smart cities and homes, connected wearables and means of transportation (i.e. Cars, Trains, Planes) using or being connected devices. There is a wide variety of IoT solutions, from standalone products, such as remote connected sensors (i.e. Powelectrics), to those that connect to existing products, such as smartwatches (i.e Samsung Gear, Apple Watch).

Since their arrival on the market, and a slow adoption at first, these new systems have made the numbers of internet connected devices grow exponentially from what it was 30 years ago, up to the point where there is now more internet connected devices than humans on our planet. A correlation exists between the number of connected devices and the expansion of cloud services and type of, as it now allows for more flexibility and security compared to when it was first presented.

‍Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices installed base worldwide from 2015 to 2025 (in billions)

Source: Statista

Businesses applications

The IoT adoption is very different in businesses and consumer markets; Some businesses may have access to higher grade products or more recent technologies for higher costs than on the consumer market, based on their needs and highly intensive use of the products they invest in. For example, robotics and automated services have been implemented for a long time in manufacturing, and lead to an understanding of the strengths of the IIoT (the industrial internet of things).

The main applications of the IIoT are in monitoring process for fault and accident detection/prevention, optimisation of processes and operations, shipments and objects tracking (as demonstrated in the examples below). The growth and adoption of the IIoT and related services has been rapidly growing in the last years, especially in industrial services.

Repartition of the IIoT by sector (2017)

Source: Statista

However, the implementation of new technologies in their products and services is different: they need proofs that the technology to be integrated is robust and reliable (short and long term), cost-effective, efficient, low-maintenance… These factors are some of the reasons behind the delay between a technology emergence and market appearance.

These two aspects of businesses lead to the difference between using and offering IoT services and products: Manufacturing and transportation businesses spending on IoT is higher than most sectors, but the customers rarely interact with or know about the IoT products in use. However, they can benefit from the improvements it leads on the businesses themselves (i.e. alerted of transport delays in advance and real-time information on the service).

Production of consumer IoT based products are mostly offered by cutting-edge technology and/or new businesses, such as smartphones manufacturers, crowd-funded or private-funded start-ups, technology giants.

Examples of practical uses

More and more smart and automated inventory systems are being introduced on the market. For example, the company EVRYTHNG offers a smart supply chain solution. From inventory and product management to informing their customers in real time, all is managed through a single automated platform. DHL, one of the world leading logistics services, is also pushing for smarter monitoring of services. It has partnered with Cisco to report its future plans on how to integrate IoT services in logistics in wide projects.

With the concern for security with the IoT and connected systems being high, these platforms all consider the importance of a highly secure model, with responsibility and accountability in mind.

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