The Internet of Things: What You Need to Know

The New Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution welcomed new manufacturing processes including the introduction of machines, chemicals, steam power and the factory system. These ideas brought about a revolution because they changed and improved the way we lived. Right now, we’re going through another industrial revolution — the fourth one — which involves digital fabrication, artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum computing and connecting ordinary objects to the internet also known as the Internet of Things. The “Internet of Things” is the amalgamation of physical objects and internet software.

“One sec, I have to connect the kettle to my Wi-Fi”

IoT (The Internet of Things) takes ordinary objects, like a kettle, or ecosystems, like a house or even a city, and connects them to the internet so that they can collect data and use it to improve their functionality in terms of efficiency and ease of use. Why is IoT important? IoT can make objects more energy efficient by giving them access to the internet making it vital especially with Global Warming on our tail. IoT also gives objects a life of their own. With the data they collect objects can predict malfunctions within itself or potential dangers around it and communicate with other internet-connected objects all without human interference. There’s the “cool” side of IoT where something like your kettle could be connected to your alarm clock so it turns on when you wake up and there’s the more valuable and helpful side where a hospital bed could monitor a patient’s health and report back to a doctor.

The Smarter iKettle

Compatibility of Things

There are so many possibilities with IoT right now even at its infancy. The progress of IoT at the moment is comparable to when the first personal computer was released; There’s still so much for developers to learn. However, IoT has one main setback, compatibility. Luis Galvez, the director of the Internet of Things Consortium said:

“The current state of the Internet of Things is very fragmented, there are different companies and organizations that are building out their own platforms for either their customers or their individual needs.”

The Internet of Things is of course built upon the internet which is open but the “things” and software are built by companies, companies that have loyal customers and major competitors. It can be difficult for a company with a product ecosystem to sell something that’s compatible with another company’s product and one of IoT’s key features is communication between objects. This will be IoT’s biggest obstacle to overcome, however, it won’t be the only difficulty.

Datafication — The Data of Things

IoT’s second biggest problem is the collection of data and how it’s used. Your data is one of, if not, the most valuable commodity in the planet. As you’ve probably seen with the likes of Facebook, data is dangerously profitable. Data is imperishable and anyone can collect it with the right regulations. Going back to the alarm clock-kettle combination, you might ask what useful data could these objects collect? Well for example, both objects would be able to track your waking up patterns and, hypothetically, could sell this data to an advertising company who could then decide to show you targeted ads on your social media at the times you wake up (people often check social media when they wake up). Furthermore, they could filter the ads to show you products related to sleep e.g. memory foam pillows, electric blankets etc. However, with recent regulations (GDPR) selling data won’t exactly be stopped but rather executed more cautiously. While collecting data is a sensitive topic in 2019, in a few years’ time it will be completely conventional as our lives become more and more connected to the internet.

“Alexa turn on the kettle!”

Artificial Intelligence will play a huge role in IoT as internet connected objects will be able to interact with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa. The idea of a voice automated home is not that far off, we are already seeing this with Philips Hue Light Bulbs where you can ask Alexa to turn them on or off anywhere in your house.

Amazon Echo

Both technologies, AI and IoT, complement each other economically and progressively; As demand and development increases for one, demand and development also increases for the other. IoT products are being developed with AI in mind allowing you to connect the product to a voice assistant of your choice…or the product developer’s choice which brings us back to compatibility. There have already been IoT products released with exclusive functionality for Alexa or Google Assistant. With three major voice assistants (Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Siri) from three of the biggest tech companies in the world, compatibility could become an issue for IoT products with voice command functionality.

The Entrepreneurial Side of Things

Wherever you may be reading this, the chances are there’s an object in your vicinity that could be connected to the Internet for added functionality. That vase could detect when your flowers need watering or the bookshelf could recommend books you should read based on your collection. These are the kind of things entrepreneurs are starting to think about. IoT will become one of the biggest investment opportunities with global market value of IoT projected to reach between 3.9 and 11.1 trillion dollars by 2025 [1]. There will be an estimated 30 billion IoT devices by 2020 [2]. New IoT devices will be interesting because not all of them will be completely “new”. We’ve had the electric kettle for almost 100 years but with IoT it becomes something “new” again. This will be interesting not only for entrepreneurs focused on IoT but also those making normal products. Depending on what they make, they may need to ask themselves if their product would benefit from being connected to the internet. Slowly but surely, with IoT almost every company will be a technology company.

For further reading about the Internet of Things and the new industrial revolution, I recommend “Makers: The New Industrial Revolution” by Chris Anderson.