Many of the companies, particularly SMBs, find the whole subject of The Internet of Things rather confusing and they struggle to envision its impacts and applications. Little wonder, the field of potential application is almost limitless and there’s a lot to learn.
The Internet of Things was first coined in 1999 by British entrepreneur Kevin Ashton during his work at Auto-ID labs and is perhaps most easily defined as the network of physical objects, devices, vehicles, buildings and machines etc., embedded with electronics, sensors and network connectivity which enables these objects to collect and share data; a convergence of the digital and physical worlds.
A wonderful everyday example of this is my own 2015 Jeep Cherokee equipped with Mopar Owner Connect. Armed with it’s own 4G LTE connectivity; our Jeep regularly emails us notifications about its operating performance, tire pressures and require maintenance schedules. It’s really quite impressive.
IoT goes well beyond machine-2-machine connections to include an infinite variety of IT protocols, domains and applications. Indeed, experts predict these digital to physical world connections will grow to some 50 billion by 2020.
The implications are as profound and they are disruptive. In a recent article in Wired, tech futurist Steve Burrus points out “This is a huge and fundamental shift. When we start making things intelligent, it’s going to be a major engine for creating new products and new services. It’s the one (technology) that’s going to give us the most disruption as well as the most opportunity over the next five years.”
Perhaps the most stunning revelation of IoT comes not from the exponential growth of connected things but a realization of what it means; these always-on data connections are creating an entirely new source of value for customers and revenue for business.
Let’s use Jeep’s Owner Connect as an example; customers experience a whole new level of ownership as onboard sensors and computers communicate regularly with Jeep owners to ensure the safety and performance of their vehicles. It builds tons of practical and esthetic value into buying one of their products. It also builds revenue, Jeep offers the first year of this service free, after which, owners must subscribe and contribute modest monthly payments. Recurring revenue where there was none before.
The benefits of this data-centric world are as exciting as they are challenging. You’ll be able to:
- Protect and enhance your brand, like Heineken does with its connected kegs to ensure the temperature and age of its beer.
- Build value into your product offerings like Allstate Insurance does with its Drive-Wise program that collects data every time a customer drives their vehicle and rewards safe drivers with preferred rates.
- Enhance your customer understandings at a deep level like AirLuquide does with its bar coded cylinders that allow customers to track and manage their cylinder use, status and location.
Connecting your business to The Internet of Things may seem a bit far-flung and difficult to imagine but the opportunities are so significant as to demand some serious investigation and we’d like to help.
Mobility Help Desk enjoys a strategic relationship with Jasper, a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform leader. Jasper’s industry leading, cloud-based platform has enabled companies of all sizes to rapidly and cost effectively deploy, manage and monetize IoT services.
To find out more, please call us or better yet, click on this link: Learn more about IoT and send us your contact information and we’ll follow up with your right away.