We are living in a world where digital devices have practically become our shadows. Everywhere you go, you are surrounded by technology that is tracking, monitoring, and storing the data of your smallest actions on the internet.
When we speak about the Internet of Things (IoT), what comes to your mind? Smart watches? Smart devices? Home Assistants like Alexa by Amazon?
You are right on all accounts as you are thinking about the classic examples of IoT enabled devices.
"When we talk about the Internet of Things, it's not just putting RFID tags on some dumb thing so we smart people know where that dumb thing is. It's about embedding intelligence so things become smarter and do more than they were proposed to do", said Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab
A Brief Into The World of IoT
IoT has become an integral part of the digital world that we live in today and paired with Artificial Intelligence (AI), this technology, (AIoT), has been driving business ideas and industrial trends like none other. There are currently 7.74 billion connected IoT devices across the globe and the number is only predicted to grow to a whooping 25 billion by 2030.
To demonstrate the stronghold of IoT devices in today's generation let’s take a simple example of how many people do you see wearing smartwatches over analog or digital ones. Every wrist today boasts a smart watch connected to a smartphone constantly transferring host data from device to another. The amount of data being recorded, monitored, and transferred online today through these IoT devices is unimaginable to the common folk.
The main factors that have contributed to the immense growth of IoT are high internet connectivity, low cost of sensors for devices, and deep reliance on smartphones. The convenience offered by IoT to the general public is the most marketable feature of this technology. It requires least human interaction or command communication to complete set tasks, which in an era of multitasking is a boon for busy individuals. Hence the IoT companies in countries like the UK and the US are flourishing.
Now that these smart gadgets, big or small, have become omnipresent in our day to day life, it makes you wonder what are the more life-changing trends that are being driven by this technology. How is the industry evolving to accommodate this technology in business?
So let’s find out! Here are the 6 latest trends in business that are up and coming all thanks to the innovations brought about by IoT and AI.
IoT Trends Driving Business Growths For 2023
Growth of IoT and remote accessibility has accelerated quite fast in the recent years due to the pandemic which pushed the global economy to embrace remote monitoring and working solutions. Technology always fluctuates and adapts to its environment, so here are a few trends that have emerged and are gaining traction currently.
1. AIoT - Artificial Intelligence of Things
The Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence are technologies that naturally complement each other. It is no surprise that coming together they produce smarter outputs for businesses to explore.
As mentioned earlier, IoT devices generate a huge influx of data on a daily basis, and being a data driven technology, AI thrives on these huge data sets. The live data transferred from IoT devices to AI helps the software perfect its machine learning capabilities and set smarter algorithms.
It will be easier to understand the complementary nature of these two technologies if you consider AI as the brain and IoT as the nerves of the body of a smart device.
Tesla Cars might serve as the perfect example of how smart and intuitive devices can get with the combination of IoT and AI. The autopilot function of the Tesla car uses its GPS, sonars, radars, and cameras to collect data about the driving environment while the AI converges this data and makes decisions about the speed, pedestrians, etc based on the input by these sensors to name a few.
(Source: Engineering.com)
With such technology at hand, businesses can now just let their creativity run wild and explore different fields where AIoT can provide transformative solutions for the audience.
2. 5G and Satellite Connectivity For IoT
Since the debut of 5G, IoT has been able to overcome the speed related challenges that hinder the performance of its devices. For IoT to work effortlessly in an environment, it needs to have an excellent infrastructure of connectivity, whether it is cloud based or mobile network like 4G LTE.
The top IoT companies in Canada have ventured into developing and providing the smart homes technology to their customers and for such an indoor setting of IoT devices, a wifi system with good bandwidth of 6GHz can help the network of devices give a more reliable performance.
Another interesting trend in IoT connectivity that has recently started and is slowly rising is commissioning satellite network providers into providing satellite network connectivity to IoT devices. This is especially lucrative for remote areas or areas that are terrestrially isolated and can’t be tracked or monitored through normal network bandwidth.
Entrepreneurs should note that there are countless potential uses of satellite connectivity IoT devices such as in fields of agriculture, asset tracking, maritime, logistics, and humanitarian aid.
(Source: IotForAll)
3. IoMT - Internet of Medical Things
The Internet of Medical Things is a collection of healthcare devices and applications that are equipped with wifi and allow communication between devices and healthcare IT systems or online healthcare services.
Amongst other things, the Covid-19 pandemic changed the way healthcare was monitored and delivered across the world. Although online and tele-health options existed some time before 2020 as well, they were not quite popular amidst the general public. Post pandemic however, McKinsey reported that telehealth visits and outpatient services had stabilised at a 38x higher than pre-pandemic in the U.S alone.
IoMT has allowed medical professionals and patients the convenience of services such as remote patient monitoring and tracking patient medication regimen online through mHealth devices. Medical professionals or entrepreneurs can reach out to the top IoT companies in Australia to configure a customized setup for their own mhealth app and keep better track of your patients health.
Wearable health monitoring has become a norm and people have become more conscious of the lifestyle and daily regimen that they follow. To give you an estimate of how much the IoMT industry has grown, in 2015 there were 4.5 billion IoMT devices as compared to an approximate of 30 billion by the end of 2020.
This data sure highlights how financially lucrative the IoMT industry is for businesses that wish to venture into the healthcare IT industry. The IoMT industry is forecasted to reach an approximate of $187.5 billion by 2028 by Forbes.
4. IoT and Edge Computing For Faster Data
Edge computing is an architecture where the data is processed and stored near the source for faster processing and better bandwidth. All real-time apps and analytics depend heavily on fast computing and this paradigm fits in perfectly with the requirements of IoT devices that require this fast output of information.
Not only does edge computing ensure faster speed but also more security for your IoT devices. Since the data is processed near source rather than being transferred to another server, the chances of it being intercepted by a hacker are considerably low. The exchange of information is kept strictly between the user and the device without being stored elsewhere.
(Source: Challenge.org)
Implementing this technology has deeper implications where decisions need to be made quickly like when talking about autonomous vehicles, where this real-time speed can be the difference between life and death.
Since this is still a niche tech, businesses can invest in the potential of edge computing within IoT devices for future benefits, afterall when smart homes turn into smart cities, the profit potential could be immense. A report by Statista has mentioned that edge computing could reach $250 billion by 2024.
5. IoT and Cybersecurity To Protect Your Privacy
Having knowledge of the fact that all these IoT devices that make your life easy and your home smart, are always keeping an ear out for your commands and unintentionally listening in to your daily conversations can be a bit creepy. In addition to all that data being stored by IoT devices, Palo Alto Network reports that 98% of the IoT traffic is unencrypted. Meaning it is highly susceptible to being hacked or misused.
Now this could lead to serious cybersecurity threats across the globe. Now this is where the best cyber security companies can step in and help people protect their data and their privacy. One such company is SentinelOne which focuses on endpoint security through their AI platform.
The sheer amount of data collected by IoT devices poses a security threat of data breach in a multitude of places that IT and cybersecurity firms can benefit from by providing appropriate AI based security solutions. Since privacy is a matter of concern for almost everyone, this is a highly untapped source of profit for AI solutions companies as well.
6. Smart Cities through AIoT
There is a wide range of applications for IoT devices and upgrading the lifestyle of citizens is one such area where the governments of the world are working on through IoT devices like automated traffic lights and street lamps.
Traffic management and monitoring has always been an issue even in most developed nations, deploying IoT devices to track and monitor traffic across intersections enables better traffic management and optimization.
Another example of smart devices bettering the lives of citizens can be smart streetlights. These streetlights serve a variety of purposes, they can detect weather conditions, host wifi, control digital street signs and even monitor traffic.
(Source: Researchgate)
Companies can similarly venture into developing smart parking systems in their parking plots so that time and effort is saved as it becomes harder and harder each day to find suitable parking spaces in public and private spaces. This can immensely improve urban mobility and companies can even charge a small fee for this real-time assistance that individuals would readily pay in exchange for saving them the headache of finding a parking spot.
(Source: Mokosmart)
Concluding thoughts
What we learn from all these up and coming IoT technologies and areas that businesses can potentially invest in is that we are living in a world of interconnected realities. The fast mover advantage is still at large if one is adaptable enough to not only embrace the change but actively look for it. AI and IoT are slowly transforming the way we live our lives, many IoT companies in India are leading the way to turn our homes into smart ecosystems and while it may still have some issues that can be dealt with, it is a reality that we will soon be encompassed with so it's better to just learn these trends and profit from them.
