BackMonetizing the IoT wave
As technologies converge and find applications across industries, some mega trends in the digital engineering and Internet of Things space have emerged
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The Internet of Things (IoT) and the increasing digitalization of business processes in the US, Europe and Asia are seen as a big business opportunity by technology companies.
As technologies converge and find applications across industries, some mega trends in the digital engineering and IoT space have emerged. These include smart operations, smart services, smart products and smart manufacturing encompassing condition-based monitoring, remote-guided services and smart wearables, smart home products, connected vehicles, industrial IoT, augmented reality, and smart supply chain and logistics.
The advancement in IoT technologies has also given wings to the concept of smart cities that are sustainable, have efficient infrastructure, smarter utility and health solutions, and greater citizen participation. All this is driven by the connectivity provided by sensors, M2M (machine-to-machine), machine learning, wireless networks and advanced visualization.
IoT has become such a fascinating topic that it has caught the imagination of industries, academia and consumers the world over. The IoT revolution is already having a profound impact on every aspect of life and is saving companies billions of dollars globally. The global IoT market is forecast to be valued at more than $1.7 trillion by 2020, according to research firm IDC.
In India, the government is working on an ambitious plan to create a $15 billion IoT industry in the next six years. Industrial Internet—estimated to cross $300 billion by 2020—is changing the way companies operate. It’s driving automation, efficiencies and safety. A study by General Electric Co. finds that Industrial Internet has the potential to add $10-15 trillion to global gross domestic product by 2032.
Industrial IoT, popularly referred to as Industrie 4.0, will change traditional manufacturing relationships. From isolated, optimized cells, we will move to fully integrated data and product flow across borders. Boundaries of individual factories will no longer exist. Instead, we will have interconnections across multiple factories or even geographical regions.
Consumer IoT, meanwhile, has created a consumer revolution. Armed with connected devices, people are now equipped with more information to make choices and voice their opinions. This new generation of consumers is snapping up connected technology such as smart meters, connected homes and cars, and digital pacemakers.
Clearly this is an unprecedented opportunity in terms of the potential to innovate and value created. Digital engineering firms are working on exciting IoT projects in areas such as connected thermostats, connected welding machines, fault prediction of pumps, waste water pipelines for water utilities, and safety protection for industrial workers.
However, I believe the true potential of this phenomenon can only be realized if innovators, vendors and customers work together and embrace open standards. A lot also depends on actively solving security and privacy concerns that these technologies raise. And a significant aspect of these concerns is to do with data—the asset that fuels the connected ecosystem. When we talk about IoT, however, it is not just getting data from industrial machines and analysing it, but also designing systems.
While much has been done, for IoT to fully take effect, high-speed Internet connections have to be established and cloud security needs to be implemented successfully. Those must be the focus areas for the next wave of innovation.
As Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success."
Global technology firms are increasingly moving towards a collaborative model to create innovative solutions in IoT, M2M and engineering data analytics for customers. It is also a great way to build an ecosystem that can support both innovative start-ups and more established firms. For example, the IoT centre of excellence for start-ups created by industry body Nasscom in association with the Indian government is a wonderful forum to network with talented professionals and influence the next wave of technology right from its inception.
We recently collaborated with Redknee Inc., a leading provider of real-time monetization solutions. The alliance will offer monetization services for IoT assets and provide a complete architecture for enterprises to enable connectivity, analytics and monetization for IoT.
Technology firms across the world are getting ready to face all the possibilities and challenges of IoT. That is indeed the sweet spot. We must take on the challenge and forge ahead. Innovation and excellence in digital engineering, nurtured by technical brilliance and an unquenchable spirit of curiosity will be the key to future breakthroughs in IoT.
The author is chief executive officer and managing director of L&T Technology Services.
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