The hype about the Internet of Things (IoT) is as loud today as the buzz about the cloud revolution was a few years ago. And it’s just as likely to become reality. A growing number of ordinary things – thermostats, refrigerators, cars, couriered packages – can now communicate with each other and with central computers over a network. According to Gartner, 4.9 billion connected “things” were in use in 2015, and that number is expected to reach 25 billion by 2020.
Yet IoT is still just a hazy concept for most mid-sized businesses.
In this blog, we’ll first define what the IoT is. We’ll also present six real-life IoT use cases that demonstrate the value of the IoT for mid-sized businesses.
IoT Explained
In layperson’s terms, the IoT is when “things” – objects, people, even animals – are equipped with sensors and assigned an IP address. These sensors collect and send data over a network so that it can be used to make better decisions. With the IoT, people can monitor, measure, control and manage the physical world around them much more effectively and efficiently.
Take something as simple as tracking a package from its origin at a factory to its destination. In the past, the location of that package could only be determined at certain touch points – for example, when the package was first loaded onto a truck, or when it arrived at a distribution center by tracking when the bar code was scanned. But now, individual packages have sensors on them so they can be tracked literally as they come down the street toward your door. The package itself is sending continuous messages out as to its precise location.
With the IoT, a retailer can identify a customer who has downloaded its mobile app when they walk into one of its stores. In that case, the customer’s smartphone is the intelligent sensor. The retailer can then personalize customer service to individuals based on their purchase history or preferences.
No surprise, enterprises lead SMBs in IoT adoption. Almost one in four (23%) of enterprises already use the IoT, but only about 14% of small and mid-sized businesses do, according to Forrester. But within three years, IoT adoption within both small and mid-sized businesses is expected to move faster than even cloud adoption has.
Here are seven things smart devices can do for mid-sized businesses today:
Monitor. Monitoring equipment or machinery was one of the earliest and simplest IoT use cases, and many mid-sized businesses are already leveraging it. For example, a mid-sized business that maintains or repairs physical objects like heating and air-conditioning units can reap huge benefits by placing sensors in the machines to send alerts when they malfunction. You can even use the IoT to monitor living things: German dairy farmer Steffen Hake uses sensor tags on his cows to get early alerts on sick cows.
Measure. Valarm, a startup specializing in IoT apps for SMBs, added sensors to a customer's vineyard to measure when the temperature dropped, to prevent grapes being ruined by cold weather. It uses old smartphones as sensors, a tactic that enables smaller vineyards to compete against big ones that possess more sophisticated – and more costly – systems.
Control. Businesses can set and manage the temperature and the energy use in their offices from anywhere. A so-called “smart thermostat” connects to WiFi and can be controlled remotely by a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. There are even smart thermostats that “learn” when people come in and out of your offices or retail space, and manage energy appropriately. In the long run, this can help businesses save money on heating and electric bills.
Track. As the SMB Group found, 2015 marked the first year IoT platforms really started to be viable for smaller businesses. The sensors themselves are rapidly decreasing in cost. These sensors can track critical information, such as the location of your employees across several floors of a building, or the current address of your mobile repair truck.
Manage. Even family farms are finding a use for the IoT. At a seventh-generation farm owned by the Tom family in Leesburg, Indiana, workers leverage sensors on the combine, GPS data from satellites, cellular modems on self-driving tractors, and apps for irrigation on iPhones to make a profit at a time when other family farms are going out of business.
Predict. With the IoT, smaller manufacturers can see into the “brains” of their equipment to troubleshoot problems, predict which components might need replacing, or anticipate inventory shortages. This helps them reduce factory downtime and optimize operations.
Count. The IoT also helps with inventory in retail. Smart mid-sized retailers are deploying IoT solutions to improve the accuracy and efficiency of inventory management. For example, a high-end shoe store could put RFID tags onto display shoes that would provide precise data on shoes were in inventory, and what designers, colors, sizes and prices were in stock. This not only provides better customer service – a sales associate can use a handheld RFID reader to understand if a particular shoe size and color is in stock – but also keeps inventory completely up to date without manually counting stock at the end of the week or month.
Conclusion
Previously, deploying an IoT solution was over the heads of mid-sized businesses, both in terms of cost and complexity. But that is changing rapidly. There is a lot of low-hanging fruit that small and mid-sized business customers can focus on to begin testing IoT applications now. And sooner is better than later, as the IoT is sure to provide any businesses that use it with a competitive edge.
Check out CenturyLink Business’s Bright Ideas blog for more business advice.
This article was originally posted on CenturyLink Bright Ideas.
