The Internet has become a crucial part of our daily lives in a very short time. We use it for information, entertainment and it has also become a big part of our social interactions with one another. In the business world, the Internet has become even more crucial. It is the backbone of literally every department: Marketing, Sales, Accounting, Operations, Engineering and so on. So when I heard about the Internet of Things (IoT), I had to see for myself what the big deal was. Turns out, it is a very big deal.
Let’s say you owned a flower shop and you needed to monitor, manage and control the air temperature, amount of sunlight, the humidity level, fertilizer and water for the soil. Each species of plant requires different levels of these elements to thrive and prosper. If your flower shop was on IoT, you could manage all of that with just a single push of a button from your smartphone, or set an algorithm to automate each process for different species of plant in your shop. This means that you are able to drastically streamline operations, increase efficiencies and cut down on overhead and labor costs. This sounds too good to be true, but it will shock some of you to know that this technology is already here and the implications are life changing.
The Internet of Things is a concept of mapping “things” that exist in our physical world into the virtual world. These “things” can be all encompassing, from a toothbrush or pacemaker to plants, animals and even people. The things that are on the Internet of Things can be easily traceable, identified, managed and controlled. What is needed is an IPv6 identity (which are virtually limitless), a way for the thing to communicate to another machine and sensors to indicate that if a certain threshold is reached an action will then take place.
Earlier we learned how this technology can impact a business, but what about our daily lives? When you walk up to a “thing” that is on IoT, you will be able to scan it with your smart phone and it will be able to tell you what it is, the history of it, how it has interacted with other “things” on IoT, etc. If you lost your keys, all you would have to do is look on IoT and you would be able to easily locate them. You could also manage your utilities in your home when you are traveling through IoT to cut down on costs and save energy. This is the cool part: gamers can use the virtual environment created to play video games on their tablets or smart phones. Imagine playing Call of Duty through your own neighborhood on a virtual platform!
The Internet of Things is an exciting and revolutionary technology that has implications as far as the eye can see. It will take years to build out more infrastructures, map out processes and address security/ethical concerns. My prediction is that by 2030 most of the “things” we come in contact with will be on IoT, and it will be a crucial part of our daily routines. Businesses such as Microsoft, Apple, Google and Cisco are investing millions of dollars into this platform and more companies are starting to join in on the fun. The Internet of Things is here and it will change the way we do business, the way we live and the way we interact with everything on the planet.
Share this Post