Internet of Things Ushers in New Mileau

The well worn belief that things will never be the same again may raise no more than a polite eyebrow in social circles, but when a reputable global management consultancy links an economical impact of $11 trillion to the sentiment, its time for the business world to sit up and take note.

This economic impact prediction centres on the Internet of Things (IoT), a system of inter-related computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

Infracomm managing director Johan Jansen van Vuuren said that previously it had been both challenging and expensive to analyze massive volumes of information provided by a variety of connected devices, when the technology revealed itself.

“However, with the passage of time, the cost of storing data is reducing, and analytics capabilities has made huge and rapid strides forward” he said. “This is creating favourable conditions for organizations to start investing in and implementing IoT data analytics without delay”.

He said access to the correct customised informationhas become a simple day-today process.

Jansen van Vuuren pointed to bellwether global companies, such as Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and SAP, which are already implementing IoT data analytics into their day-to-day processes, resulting in an increasing number of organizations reaping the benefits of IoT and enjoying meaningful returns on investment.

“Understanding the data of your business is what will be the game changer” he said.
.
Jansen van Vuuren said that manufacturing undertakings would initially be the major beneficiary of IoT.

“The mass of pertinent data generated by IoT devices will present critical insight into manufacturing processes, product development and customer purchasing patterns” he explained. “Manufacturers will be able to optimize production cycles and maintenance schedules, while automated algorithms will detect possible threats to production efficiency”.

Jansen van Vuuren said Infracomm was cognisant that IoT extended beyond the manufacturing sector.

“Already a reality in many countries and regions, the Internet of Things is directly and significantly affecting and altering all walks of life” he said. “Our ability to analyze and acquire actionable insights from this electronic sea change is poised to fuel long-term global growth”.