Internet of Things is a hot and happening thing in IT. I say happening in a very literal sense. Unlike many other ‘hot’ technologies like blockchain or machine learning, IoT is actually happening—and happening within enterprises.
IoT, or as the NITI Aayog calls it, “cyber-physical systems”, has the ability to create complete new opportunities
It is one of the few technologies where there’s a strong overlap between the hype cycle and adoption cycle.
Or is it?
Think again. Even today, most of the IoT applications—and I am talking about the actual application, and not just the technology’s capability—within the enterprise are in operations (unless it is in products in some specific industries), being used to enhance operational efficiency or getting some operational insights that is helpful for planning in both business and operations. So much so that it is often euphemized as ‘operational technology’.
What it means is simple – we have seen nothing yet.
IoT, or as the NITI Aayog calls it, “cyber-physical systems”, has the ability to create complete new opportunities. If the whole business is designed assuming that data is available in real time, getting analyzed in real time, and decisions being made on the go – with or without slight human intervention even as new analytics tools allow if-then scenarios – don’t you think the idea of how business is done, will change? Let alone efficiency; it is not about new revenue streams too; it is about new business models.
And I am not even talking of the impact of leveraging new technologies like AI and machine learning. In fact, I am not even talking about technology.
In simple terms, I am talking about business being planned, assuming, in real-time and analysis being available. That requires awareness and mindset change for sure. But that also requires some gaps to be filled.
One such gap is creating the on-ground infrastructure for this – massive data networks, right analytics tools, and right process mapping. In effect, it is transforming IoT from an operational technology to an enterprise information technology. Before the CIOs do that, the business planners may plan in a completely new manner.
That will be, in real sense, the first step to the fourth industrial revolution, that all of us are so eagerly waiting for.
