How The Internet of Things Is About to Explode

The Internet of Things is heading our way, and it is heading here fast! In the past years, we have seen that the Internet of Things (IoT) is really taking off and we can safely say that we are about to reach a tipping point. Any industry is currently working on connected devices. Ranging from connected cutlery (HAPIfork), smart locks for your door (August) or your bike (SkyLock), connected toothbrush (Oral-B) to connected jewels (Wistiki).

The supply of connected devices is tremendous and the ones just mentioned are only those for consumers. Also, the industries such as the mining industry are developing connected smart glasses (Vandrico), the transportation industry of course (what about self-driving gigantic mining trucks) and of course the rise of the robots.

All these connected devices will have one or more sensors incorporated, and this plethora of sensors will drive massive amounts of data. Together all these devices will create an Internet of Things ecosystem that will enable organisations, consumers and devices to be connected with each other. Of course, there are still several challenges that we need to solve before we have a global, one, Internet of Things, but that is just a matter of time (and of course some hard work by multiple organisations).

According to in-depth research by BI Intelligence, there are several market drivers that will be responsible for the enormous growth of the Internet of Things in the coming years. These are:

• Expanded Internet connectivity; of course with 4G rolled out completely in most developed countries and 5G currently already being tested this is a serious driver;
• High mobile adoption; hardly anyone in developed countries currently not uses a smartphone and the old-fashioned Nokia’s are almost a complete thing of the past;
• Low-cost sensors; sensors have become so cheap, and so advanced that connected devices become smarter as well;
• Large IoT investments; according to Cisco, the IoT is a $ 19 trillion opportunity, that is enough to drive large investments.

All these drivers will seriously impact the adoption of the Internet of Things, and as this infographic shows, which was developed by BI Intelligence, there are many environments that will significantly benefit from the IoT ecosystem.

Image: Ociacia/Shutterstock

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Dr Mark van Rijmenam

Dr Mark van Rijmenam is Founder of Datafloq. He is a highly sought-after international public speaker, a Big Data and Blockchain strategist and author of the best-selling book Think Bigger - Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your Business. He is the co-author of the book Blockchain: Transforming Your Business and Our World, which details how blockchain can be used for social good. His third book, The Organisation of Tomorrow, will be published in Q1 2019. He is named a global top 10 Big Data influencer and one of the most influential Blockchain people. He holds PhD in management from the University of Technology Sydney on how organizations should deal with Big Data, Blockchain and (Responsible) AI and he is a faculty member of the Blockchain Research Institute in Canada. He is a strategic advisor to several blockchain startups and publisher of the ‘f(x) = ex‘ newsletter read by thousands of executives.

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