The March Of The Internet Of Things
With the rise of cloud computing, rapidly falling prices of devices and improved machine-to-machine communication, IoT is accessible to almost any company.
I recently wrote about how the Internet of things (IoT) is used by traditional and low-tech industries to create business value. At its core, IoT gives companies a great opportunity to collect more data about their business and products to make better decisions. And this used to be a difficult proposition for companies that didn’t own the technological know-how or the required technology.
Now, with the rise of cloud computing, rapidly falling prices of devices and improved machine-to-machine communication, IoT is accessible to almost any company.
It is no wonder to see an interesting shift in the way decisions are made in many organizations regarding the IoT. In a recent Microsoft study, only 4 percent of IoT initiatives studied were led by IT personnel while the great majority (78 percent) were led by line-of-business decision makers. This is how it should be – business leaders must know what to request from IT to make their business better and improve the service they deliver to the customer.
Today I’d like to briefly go through some of the reasons, any company should begin considering IoT.
• Begin With Your Things. Focus on the right areas of your business that provide quick return. Imagine starting with operations – connecting systems and line-of-business assets to help deliver better performance visibility.
• Get More Out Of Existing Assets. Take the existing assets and add IoT functionality and then build on this. Connect everything to the cloud and use business intelligence tools to analyze the data you collect.
• Make Small Changes For A Big Impact. IoT can bring great benefits without major investments. Adding expiration dates to pharmacy inventory can result in savings of thousands of dollars. Connecting handheld devices to your inventory system gives you access to real-time customer service on the sales floor.
• Improve Efficiency. By 2018, the total cost of ownership for business operations will be reduced by 30 percent through smart machines and industrialized services. You can easily track the performance and condition of assets and drive business value.
• Increase Agility. Data insights can help you respond more quickly to competition and changes. Collecting and analyzing data gives you quick insight into developing trends, so you can change your production activity, fine-tune your maintenance schedule, or find less expensive materials.
• Choose An Enterprise-Proven IoT Partner. Try to work with a partner that understands enterprise needs for performance, security and rich features. Microsoft and its partners can help you put the Internet of Your Things into your company and start using it today.
Still not convinced? We recently participated in an IoT-focused event and have several new case studies that clearly show the benefits of IoT.
For example, KUKA created a sensitive and safe lightweight robot together with Microsoft for a smart factory solution. The robot is able to perceive its surroundings and perform complex tasks like threading a tube into a small hole in the back of a dishwasher. Errors in the supply chain are addressed in real time through Windows tablets, making the automated process faster and easier.
Miele, a manufacturer of domestic appliances, is working with Microsoft to help users cook. Users can browse recipes on Miele’s website and choose from various meals. When they select a recipe, the food preparation stages are downloaded to the user’s smartphone or tablet, and the matching program is loaded onto the oven through Azure. This means that the oven is preprogrammed with operating mode, cooking time and similar features.
These are just two cases of many that are being deployed across all industries and countries. We also saw a Chinese smart car and Japanese food chain innovations as well as European and American technologies. Slovenian companies cannot afford to wait any longer and need to start considering IoT now, not tomorrow.
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