The Internet of Things has brought upon great change to the business sector. Organizations that do not utilize the latest trends and technologies brought up by the Internet of Things risk becoming obsolete in the near future. This article is going to highlight IoT in business as well as the various applications of business IoT.
Before we highlight the application of IoT in business, let us define the term IoT first.
Table of Contents
What is IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
The Internet of things is redefining businesses. Let us show you how.
How the Internet of Things is Redefining Businesses
1. Consumer Data
Business IoT, in combination with cloud computing allows for events to occur in real time. This means that businesses are able to track and note the buying patterns of their consumers. This helps the businesses to identify which products are working well, and which markets they are working well in. This allows the business to move products that are most relevant to the corresponding market, and eliminate products that are experiencing poor sales.
IoT in business also enables the companies to be able to gauge the usage of products, and perhaps, shed a light on what might be required in the future with regards to the features in the products. It helps them to innovate and create better and smarter products that the consumer will appreciate and, thus, boost sales.
2. Smarter Products and Services
The real time data available through the use of IoT in businesses allows the business to gain deeper knowledge of the requirements of the users, and this allows it to create smarter products and services for the consumer world. These products and services will be personalized, and this will help build brand loyalty as well as brand equity.
3. Pace and Accessibility
With business IoT, organizations, and suppliers will have access to data. This will be an advantage to everybody as the consumer will be able to order the product that he or she wants and have it delivered in the shortest time possible as the business IoT will simplify the logistics process.
4. Operational Efficiency
Business IoT will allow organizations to reduce costs and increase the overall efficiency and productivity. There will be investments in new competencies and, there will be a huge influx of innovative ideas with the aid of advanced technologies. Inventory tracking will be made very easy, and this will allow the staff that were previously stuck with this boring task to do more important tasks that bring more value to the organization. In addition, if the business present does not involve any inventory management, remote working could be a solution. This reduces office expenses.
5. Business Models
The business models present will be forced to change rapidly. An example of new business models that were introduced due to advancements in cloud computing and IoT are: Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS), Platform As A Service (PaaS), and Software As A Service (SaaS).
Applications Of IoT in Business
1. Track Maintenance of Office Supplies
Nowadays, many offices already use internet-connected printers. A new generation of smart alternatives has been introduced in the recent years to allow more than basic network printing. These smart alternatives monitor the paper present in the printer and can be connected to an inventory system in order to make orders for spare supplies. All of this is done without any human involved in the process.
2. Inventory Management Systems
These can be made efficient through the use of business IoT. The inventory management system can be made to automatically determine the amount of stock of each stock item. With the combination of machine learning algorithms, the system can predict the demand for particular stock items depending on the pre-set factors e.g. holidays, weather season, and it can automatically order new stock to meet the demand.
3. Asset Management
This will be made very easy through the use of business IoT. Laptops, company phones, projectors and other tools will have built in trackers. These will send their GPS coordinates in real time to the cloud. This will allow the IT administrator to know exactly where all of his devices are.
4. Theft
Every business faces this problem. Through the use of business IoT devices such as nano-trackers, the IT administrator is able to know the precise coordinates of all of his devices. In addition, through the use of geo fencing, the IT administrator can immediately get notified when one of the devices leave the premises. He can then immediately communicate with the security manager, who can then take the relevant actions that include manually tracing the asset, involving the police, or a combination of both.
5. Environment Monitoring & Regulation
Through the use of business IoT devices such as smart temperature and humidity sensors, the environment can be automatically regulated. When the employees leave the premises, the heating systems will be automatically deactivated. During summer, the environment monitoring and regulation systems will automatically adapt to the increase in temperature and turn off the heating systems. During cold days, the heaters will be automatically activated.
6. Cleaning
IoT business devices can be used in cleaning. Robotic vacuum cleaners are present that can be purchased and automatically clean the office. These robots can be programmed to automatically start cleaning the offices an hour before workers come to work in order for the employees to get a “fresh” feeling when they get into their offices. This reduces the need to employ traditional workers to do cleaning work. This therefore translates to reduced costs as the robots require very little maintenance – all they need is to be charged.
Conclusion
IoT has very many applications in businesses. This article has highlighted some of the applications of IoT in business. All companies that do not implement Business IoT risk becoming obsolete in the near future.
We hope that you have learnt the importance of business IoT!