Are you an enterprise looking for digital technologies that can revamp your business? Or, you are a Start-Up, an SMB aspiring big, and thinking to venture into the big competitive world? One technology that needs your immediate implementation is IoT technology (Internet-of-Things).
Why IoT? Because a digitalization process needs an adequate amalgamation of hardware, software, and networking system with strong internet connectivity, and IoT works that way only. Connecting objects like industrial sensors, and wearables to the internet and facilitating seamless interaction between these objects is what an IoT automation does.
Let’s discuss this today, and see how IoT solutions, can benefit your business and the varied challenges surfacing while implementing the technology.
Benefits
Improved Productivity
IoT solutions integrated into your business help to bring maximum productivity, increasing output. For instance, in a smart factory in the manufacturing industry, machines interact with each other, and their productivity increases thanks to the AI-IoT-sensor-based robots, who allow seamless operations, and smooth functioning without human intervention/ human labor. IoT solutions help to efficiently manage all the production activities in varied stages of manufacturing. Besides monitoring production, the IoT technology also helps employees in real-time skill-development training making them more productive in their work areas.
Better Asset Utilization & Maintenance
Asset maintenance and maximum utilization are the priority for any business. It facilitates efficiency and cost-effectiveness in an organization. Assets such as tools, machinery, equipment, coffee machines, etc. need to be regularly monitored and maintained. IoT solutions allow real-time insights about machines, assets, and help in the decision-making process. These assets are connected via sensors and using IoT technology seamlessly interact with each other for smooth functioning. On account of an emergency, sensor alarming helps by getting proactive, switching off machines automatically, and preventing overheating or any faulty situations.
Cost-Effectiveness
As a business, your foremost aim is to develop a great product and then promote it thoroughly to reach the specific target audience. Getting the right customers by branding your product aptly and then gaining profits, all these phases need money involvement and huge investment costs. IoT solutions help a great deal in this scenario, by predicting the downtime of machines, and you can take proactive measures thereby escaping massive costs for rectifying them. In the same way, IoT technology improves energy efficiency leading to cost reduction and significant cost savings. Worth mentioning here, that if you manage an efficient cost reduction, you can establish a competitive advantage over your other companies/businesses developing similar products as yours!
Real-Time Analytics & Understanding Customer Behavior
AI-ML-IoT-powered digital technology greatly helps in uncovering the real-time insights and analysis of the market, customers, potential targets, etc. Real-time analytics is one of the major benefits that IoT services offer. It helps gather valuable data insights, understand consumer behavior, customer buying pattern, purchasing history, customer preferences, etc. These aspects are crucial for your business marketing activities, building brand loyalty as well as sustaining your present customers and acquiring new ones. Digital Twins is another booming segment of IoT technology where real-time analytics play a significant role for valid reasons. IoT solutions using real-time analytics help you detect problems in advance thereby allowing you to take preventive measures on time. It facilitates an enhanced decision-making process. Gathering, and analyzing interpreting data from varied sources, customers’ activities such as Internet & mobile usage, social media activities, and those captured by video surveillance, CCTV, etc., is the way IoT led analytics work.
What’s the IoT you think? The complete full form is “Internet of Things,” and this refers to the process where electronic devices or other virtual objects are interrelated and can transfer data between themselves over a network where human-to-computer or human-to-human communication is not necessary.
Challenges/Obstacles
Internet-Security Issues
As per the Kaspersky Laboratory survey, 65% of the respondents surveyed globally have the opinion that IoT technology can create Internet security issues. On the other hand, 77% of industrial organizations consider cyber threats/attacks a major challenge. Data safety and security are a prime concern for companies and adopting IoT applications to their ecosystem means unique, quality, and trustworthy ones! A perfect IoT solution can mitigate this risk if implemented carefully and planned manner, and this has reduced cyber attacks in the industrial sector from 36% to 16%.
Employees’ Lack of Trust
The digital transformation of an organization involves people, technology, and process. It demands the fine blending and tuning of each stakeholder. Employees (mainly elderly ones) do not trust the effectiveness of IoT applications in their daily working systems. Privacy and security concerns are worrying factors among those who think IoT devices pose threat to these concerns. They are apprehensive about the way IoT-enabled connected devices collect their data and doubt their ways of handling their information responsibly. Employers need to devise a strategy to dispel employees’ doubts and fear, winning their trust towards adopting innovative technology like IoT. Transparency of communication between top management and subordinates is the right approach to address this grave issue of employees’ mistrust.
Connectivity Restrictions
Connectivity problem is a big challenge when adopting IoT automation/technology in an organization. The underlying reason happens to be the inappropriate internet connection model. Mostly, internet providers still depend on the centralized client-server type connection that allows connecting multiple devices over a network. Since the number of devices is only growing, certain technical restrictions crop up. The definite solution recommended here is the wider adoption of Cloud technology in the ecosystem. Microsoft Azure IoT Hub is an example. Cloud technology allows connecting millions of IoT devices and maintaining security aspects, too.
Bottom-line
The IoT technology is not a choice but a necessity for your organization. Adopting digital technologies like AI-ML-IoT is only boosting growth bringing efficiency & productivity to the core. The IoT technology is booming despite challenges erupting in the process. As the number of connected devices is only increasing day by day, this creates an opportunity for you to tap the immense potential of IoT technology, and move with the flow. Innovative IoT solutions are an answer to your revolutionary growth!
If you want to stay competitive in the market, implementing an adequate IoT solution for your business is the right choice. Connect with our experts today.
