IoThings – 5 Vital Methods Startup Companies Should Use it as a tool to fit into the newest trend. First and foremost, the Internet of Things (IoT) simply means our daily objects are now generating data and connecting them to the internet. What is the result? It’s simply more data – a lot more data from the objects. These data humans can make good use of in diverse ways we could not have ever imagined even 20 years ago. Wrist watches can now monitor our sleep at night and keep track of our daily activities, Music speakers and TVs now understand what we say as command, special golf clubs tell its players how to improve their swing, and driverless cars, airplanes or ships make autonomous trips.
Internet of Things (IoT): 5 Essential Ways Every Company Should Use It
At the moment, reports has it that we have about fifteen billion IoT devices. It has been predicted that by 2020, the number will rise to between fifty and seventy billion devices connected to the internet from all over the world. What exactly does this means? It’s simple; the opportunities of how to use these IoT devices and the data they create are limitless. Besides, herein lies the problem: it is far too easy for companies to get astounded and lost by all this happenings.
The questions is; where do these companies start with the IoT – Internet of things? How best can they use the IoT? As a matter of fact, these are just some of the ethical billion-dollar questions about the IoT devices. Regrettably, a lot of organisations are flying on the IoT craze without giving much attention to how this is connected to their business strategy. They do not care about how they could develop the biggest business core value.
Personally, I suggest that every sector should make it an urgency to take some time to determine how it might use the IoT (and the data that it generates) strategically to boost their business to the next level. I read a book written by Bernard Marr which is titled ‘Data Strategy: How To Profit From A World Of Big Data, Analytics And The Internet Of Things’, the author identified the following 5 essential ways companies can make good use of the Internet of Things, which should definitely assist any company to structure their IoT plans and considerations.
Generally speaking, the following are the main uses of the Internet of Things (IoT) in every business:
- Improve decision-making
- Understand customers
- Deliver new customer value propositions
- Improve and optimize operations
- Generate an income and improve the value of the business
Now, I will walk you through their explanation from the beginning till the end. IoThings – Use it.
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1. IoT helps to Improve decision-making
In the first place, I will say the massive amount of new data from IoT sensors and devices simply adds to the huge pool of big data we now have in the world and intellectual companies use that data for operational decision making and to inform strategic plans. More importantly, the tactical decision making is area the high-ranking leadership team identifies the critical questions it needs replying. Working decision-making is the area where analytics and data are made available to everybody in the company. It is often done through a self-service tool, to inform data-driven decision at all levels.
2. With IoT, Business will Better understand customers
From the look of things, many more production companies manufacture IoT-enabled products which helps them to connect directly to their customers’ preferences and behaviours. Take for example, Fitbit activities tracker wrist watch knows what our normal sleeping patterns are and how much we all do exercise. The popular Samsung can easily collect customer usage data from their smart TVs which we buy. Kone, an Elevator manufacturer is using IoT data to learn how their customers are using their elevators in buildings.
Also Rolls Royce company knows how local and international airlines use the jet engines they produce. On the other hand, even companies that don’t manufacture IoT devices can regularly gain access to data from other people’s devices via the internet. In fact, just think about app developers that are able to collect user data (cookies) because of the data collection and connectivity capabilities of the smart phones or tablets that run their apps. Furthermore, when Internet of Things (IoT) is used appropriately, a lot of companies can influence these insights to make faster and better business decisions. By accumulating the data, experts can look for new trends and isolate new business prospects.
3. Using IoT can Deliver new customer value propositions
As for me, I believe that a step further from using IoT devices to better understand customers is to make them part of your contribution. As an illustration, tractor and farm equipment maker John Deere makes use of the IoT in several different ways to offer innovative and new products and services to their farmer clients. These innovations ranges from self-driving tractors and trucks, intelligent farming solutions where sensors constantly monitor crop levels and soil health and give famers advice on what specific fertilizer to use in a specific land area and what crops to plant in there.
4. Businesses can Improve and optimize operations using IoT
Do you know that the data generated from all the IoT devices can also be used to improve the ways different companies are run? Similarly, it can help to automate factories and improve the efficacy of internal procedures. The Uber mobile app, which is a smartphone app-based ride booking service that connects passengers who need to get a location with drivers, developed algorithms that use data from sensors and smart phones to observe traffic conditions and journeys in real-time.
More importantly, not only does this real-time data help the Uber Company to regulate its trip fare cost based on demand, it also helps manage the supply of drivers. When drivers see that demand is low from the app analytics, they will stay home. On the other hand, they will head out to offer their driving services when they see that the demand is high to meet the demand. Likewise, Rolls-Royce is another great example.
The company‘s manufacturing systems are networked in an IoT environment. Online reports has it that at their factory in Singapore, they generates half a terabyte of manufacturing data on each individual fan blade they produce. After gathering these data, they use it for quality control purposes, a precarious area for success for their organization.
5. IoT can help to make more income and improve the value of the business
If you are not aware, it’s important that you know that the data and insights our IoT devices generate are often very valuable to some companies. In the light of this, the most direct way to appreciate this value is by selling the data or insights to other companies. The Google’s Nest is a perfect sample. Google’s Nest is collecting real-time energy usage data from its consumers and is now able to sell these insights to interested parties and other utility companies.
Apart from the direct income, data and a company’s ability to use it is one of the most significant assets of present companies. Keep in mind that data is a business asset that is just as serious, if not more critical, to manage and account for as you would for other assets such as inventory and human capital. Therefore, whether your data assets just support the bottom line of your organizational worth or you find other individuals willing to pay you for access to the data you collect, companies are finding extra value streams because of their data.
In final words, the Internet of Things (IoT) developments are not going to slow down anytime soon, but the faster your company develops and implements a new strategy, the more secure your company’s future will be in years to come.
