Guest post by Jason English, Principal Analyst, Intellyx

Surely you’ve caught some of the excitement about drones for enterprise use. Packages and communications delivered to the world by these ultimately mobile IoT fliers. Heavy VC investment in commercial and supply chain drone applications could drive this sector to be worth as much as $13 billion by 2020.

We all remember Amazon teasing a drone-delivery future in this now-famous ad from 5 years ago. But there’s no way the online retailer will corner this game. Expect drone delivery research to advance quickly at leading transportation firms like FedEx, UPS and DHL. Uber Eats might even have drones fly over some sushi for engineers too busy for lunch.

But could drones possibly become passé for widespread business use before they can even get out of the hangar?

Drones are the ultimate IoT play for enterprise

Of all the interesting ‘things’ in the commercial IoT continuum, from geo-location tags in trucks and packages, to remote cameras, factory robots, smart sensors and controls, power meters, wearables and medical devices, nothing captures our imagination quite like a drone.

In a sense, drones can let our productive work ‘slip the surly bonds of earth,’ with the ability to move anything, and see anything, almost anywhere in the world. It gives businesses a flock of birds to command, rather than the two-dimensional constraints of surface dwelling gadgets and robots.

Take the telecommunications industry. The ability to dispatch a maintenance drone to inspect and verify the equipment on a relay tower can save a human technician a risky and time-consuming day trip up the pole for a visual inspection, improving service efficiency while reducing insurance premiums.

In many cases, the drones are even replacing telco network infrastructure themselves, maintaining a tethered position to provide communication services or wi-fi coverage services to the ground below, especially in emergency outage conditions. Facebook killed its ambitious Aquila project to expand global internet access last year, but that isn’t stopping other regional and private drone network programs.

For oil and gas, or just about any industry that involves surveying or inspection, the value of drones with advanced cameras is self-evident. Real estate firms now commonly provide dramatic flyover footage of for-sale properties, for epic establishing shots, without the epic budget.

Big agriculture is getting in on the game, exploring inspecting, seeding and possibly even spraying or weeding large crop fields with unmanned farmer drones.

And of course, for logistics and delivery services, the needle is moving. A UPS pilot program employed drones atop trucks to more efficiently handle actual doorstep delivery of packages, potentially saving the cost of untold hours of truck drivers stopping and getting out of their brown van for each package.

Are drones a nuisance, or a security menace?

I recall swimming on the serene shores of Lake Kachess here in Washington a few years ago with family and friends, miles from civilization and its accompanying noises, when an electric-razor whirring sound broke the spell of nature. A hobbyist from another campsite was buzzing us.

The kids thought it was pretty cool, but I didn’t appreciate it. What if it runs out of batteries, or flies out of range of the controller while overhead?

As drones started dropping to consumer-friendly price points, I started seeing ‘No Drones Allowed’ signs in National Park sites like Sedona, Arizona, Crater Lake, Oregon, and at Snoqualmie Falls near my house (the site famous for the ‘Twin Peaks’ show exteriors). Certainly a few disruptive drone hobbyists caused such a response.

In entertainment, drones are often associated with less-than-desirable government uses of military and surveillance activity. Hollywood films often place spy drones in the employ of authoritarian antagonists and put killer drones under the joystick of covert operations teams.

With the miniaturization of electronics and ever-improving transmitter capabilities in a lightweight package, many drones have also proven easily hackable, and detailed specifications and software mods are readily available on the Dark Web for the mischievous.

Drones are also quite effective as mobile hacking platforms — in essence they are flying laptops after all. Drones can remotely sniff for network packets without a hacker needing to step onto the target’s corporate campus.

Not the best PR for this category of IoT devices.

Flying through FAA guidelines

Fortunately, the FAA has been closely regulating and tracking the use of drones (or UAS – ‘Unmanned Aircraft Systems’ as they call them) from the start, and have implemented measures such as a 5-mile ‘no fly zone’ for drones around sites such as airports, and requiring any operator of a drone more than 0.55 pounds (most of them) get a specific license to fly.

Clearer guidelines certainly help, and lead to more responsible use of the technology. For their part, the FAA says they don’t want to inhibit innovation and commercial use of UAS, and based on news in drone industry journals like InterDrone, the agency is partnering with business operators to consider input on guidelines for situations such as night flight and flying over people.

Who’s Taking Down Drones?

I didn’t know this before I started writing this story, but it is actually illegal to shoot down drones in the United States — even if they venture onto private property — as much as I would expect some sort of ‘Castle Law’ to allow it in this gun-lobby-controlled nation. Drones are afforded the protections due any other commercial aircraft under Federal law.

So, short of the shotgun approach, who is taking down drones today?

• Regulators. Most democratic nations seem to be fast-tracking commercial use approvals, in order to encourage additional innovation in the space and stay up to speed with the rest of the world. That said, expect new rules and licensing guidelines to develop.
• Hackers. Certainly the strongest threat to commercial use of drones lies in the ability for determined saboteurs to intercept or interrupt control of these devices, which are optimized for performance and range, rather than encryption and security.
• Organized Labor. Remember that UPS drone pilot program? Well-organized workers took issue with having much of their work automated by drones. Companies will need to consider the human side of their existing business when implementing drone programs.
• Eagles. Yes, Dutch law enforcement officials developed a program to use the actual birds of prey, not the classic rock band, to snatch suspicious drones right out of the sky and ground them. How cool is that?

The Intellyx Take

Setting all the fun toys, military stigma, and regulation uncertainty aside, I expect commercial drones to become rather commonplace in the next five years, working alongside us — or, above us.

As drone technology improves, production costs will come down, while better sensors, IoT cybersecurity measures, and even onboard AI will come into play to make them a safer and situationally aware part of the automated fabric of many companies.

They’ll never be right for every kind of work though. Drones will need to expand and enhance the abilities of our human workforce to maintain strong support in the enterprise. In the end, businesses will still need to perform an objective cost-benefit analysis to determine where drones are best fit for purpose.

Then, let ‘em fly. Just don’t tell Rambo the Drone-Killing Ram.

©2019 Intellyx LLC. Sharing or reprint of this work, edited for length with attribution is authorized, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. At the time of this writing, none of the companies mentioned above are Intellyx customers. Image credits: No Drone Zone, Cococino National Forest; Drone, Witolt Wacshut; CC 2.0 license, Flickr.

There is no overstatement in the saying that that Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping business processes and workplaces in a never-before way. Connected devices are increasingly pushing the boundary of innovation for the enterprises and industries of all niches. Thanks to these connected devices and a huge upsurge of IOT mobile app development, consumers are being benefited most through frictionless user experience.

No wonder in the fact that the IoT software development is exploding with all possibilities and promises. Just like ever before, the market is brimming with a whole array of scalable, feature-rich, secure and user-optimized connected solutions that are transforming the way we interact with devices and use software solutions at the workplace.

In spite of such huge promise and possibilities, IOT software and app development faces some hefty and crucial challenges that developers of the present-day need to be aware of. Here we are going to explain some of these challenges in brief.

• Operating System (OS) Considerations

The first technical challenge and pulling factor that IOT app development companies need to deal with is the consideration of the operating system of the devices. Since IOT devices have mostly shorter memory capacity and a single track operational capacity, developers need to approach the development challenges for such devices in a different way than with the desktop solutions. The developers need to pick an OS that perfectly fits the device capability and the objective of the application.

As of now, most of the IOT developers surveyed for their OS preferences have clearly chosen Linux. Linux according to most IOT developers, offers the perfect OS for IOT devices with a lot of memory constraints, microcontrollers, and IOT gateways.

• Selecting the Gateways

The gateways in the IOT landscape plays the most critical role by connecting almost all the constituent elements ranging from connectivity protocols like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, ports, IOT sensors, cloud systems, etc. Naturally, for the whole IOT ecosystem gateways really play the mission-critical role. 

When it comes to the choice of appropriate gateways for your IOT application, you have several well-known choices from renowned technology companies like Dell, Nexcom, Intel, etc. These gateway providers as if now are proved to be highly effective for end number of applications. Some of the key aspects that you need to consider in gateways include the particular specifications for the network, supporting development environment, power rating, memory capacity, etc.

• Security & Privacy

One of the key aspects that IOT app developers should give utmost priority is the app security and privacy. The security here not just refers to the network security but practically security of every different component. As IOT devices penetrate the personal spaces of the users, they are often vulnerable to misuse and breaching of data security through cyber-attacks.

Maintaining optimum data security and safeguarding privacy are two aspects that always remained to be the contentious areas for the IOT app developers worldwide. Let us have a closer look at various security aspects of an IOT app.

• Data Exchange Security: The data generated through an IOT app through the IoT sensors and devices pass through the gateway and is finally stored at the cloud server. To ensure optimum security to this data it is important to use encryption for safeguarding the data.
• Physical Security: The IoT devices unlike other computing devices are normally used in private and remain unattended most of the times. This is why they remain vulnerable to a lot of security threats from hackers at the device level.
• Cloud Storage Security: A cloud storage solution normally remains secure from threats and intrusions. Even then, the developers of the IOT apps need to make sure that the data in cloud storage remain safe and secure.
• Privacy Updates: To protect the privacy of the user data processed and fetched by IoT devices, there need to be certain compliance rules. For instance, all fitness tracker devices collect user data on the basis of HIPAA guidelines. Such regulations and compliance standards basically safeguard the privacy of the user data.
• Network Connectivity

The quintessential aspect of IOT app development is the fast and real-time data transmission between the device and the IOT gateway and the gateway to the cloud server. Poor connectivity will only render most of the critical app features to be ineffective. The connectivity issues and server breakdown still remain to be the major problems for too many IOT devices.

Actually, connectivity remains to be the first and foremost area of importance for connected devices that work hand in hand with gateways and cloud platforms. For meeting this challenge corresponding to connectivity with appropriate measures, the app design and device app environment play an important role. The connectivity solution should be considered as per the device constraints and capacities.

• User-Optimized App Design

Another major focus area for IOT app development should be on the app design. The app design should be thoroughly intuitive and user-focused so that the users do not need to study manuals for using an IOT device. Even for industrial IOT devices, simple and clean design is extremely important to ensure faster decision making and visualization of the data. In this respect, close and mutually reciprocating cooperation between the developers and designers is a must for building IOT apps. Some of the key attributes that design inputs should ensure include the following.

• Safe and secure user authentication
• Frictionless transition across devices and applications
• Personalized user experience based on user behavior and preferences
• A consolidated IOT environment comprising all the elements in the pipeline.

• Cross-Platform Deployment

Last but not least of all the major challenges that IOT app developers must deal with is deploying the app across multiple OS platforms. Since the IOT ecosystem comprises of a variety of device architectures, protocols, and operating systems, the app should be built to fit with all these variables for a seamless and efficient performance. This is why experts of international organizations such as the Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) have already come up with explicit cross-platform development standards and architecture models to help smooth deployment across multiple OS platforms.

Conclusion

In spite of the overwhelming growth of the IOT applications and the ecosystem of connected devices, there is a multitude of challenges that the IOT app developers need to encounter regularly. By focusing on these challenges beforehand, they can at least take appropriate precautionary steps to ensure optimum quality and efficient output.

In 2016 in my article “ The future of “The Internet of Olympic Games”, I considered Rio as the first Internet of Things (IoT) Olympic games. In Rio we could see how athletes, coaches, judges, fans, stadiums and cities benefited from IoT technology and IoT solutions and somehow changed the way we see and experience sports. Next year we will have opportunity to verify if my predictions for Tokyo 2020 will become a reality and we will name Tokyo as the first Artificial Intelligent (AI) Olympic Games.

During my presentation in Dubai, I explained the audience the incredible way IoT and AI technologies are impacting sports. I dedicated some time explaining how IoT and AI are playing an increasingly significant role in boosting talent, managing health and improving coaching and training. Today these technologies are already enabling athletes to improve performance, coaches to better prepare games, judges to fail less, fans enjoyed with new excited experiences. I also remarked the importance that teams clubs and cities collaborate to make the stadiums more secure and more exciting for fans.

I emphasized how we are creating smart things, the importance of use AI and IoT to make every thousandth of a second count for athletes and coaches and how AI and IoT are used to predict the future of a race, a match or a bet.

I introduced different examples how all sports are using IoT and AI, and of course I share my vision in 10-15 years from now. Can you imagine integrated virtual and real world for sports? Can you imagine mixed teams of robots and humans or super-humans playing new games?

I did not forget to talk about the challenges involved in building machine learning models in sports and the challenges that IoT and AI still have.

I used my speech to raise awareness to the attendants that there is also a dark side in these technologies. We cannot forget that Sport is also a business and therefore enterprises, Governments and individuals can make a wrong use of these technologies.

In summary, it was a great session in which I shared my point of view about:

• How we want IoT and AI transform coaches, athletes, judges and fans.
• How we want IoT and AI continue attracting people to the stadiums
• How we want IoT and AI transform Sport Business.
• How AI is changing the future of sport betting?

How we want IoT and AI transform athletes, coaches, judges and fans?

Athletes

While the true essence of sport still lies in the talent and perseverance of athletes, it is often no longer enough. Therefore athletes will continue demanding increasingly sophisticated technologies and more advanced training techniques to improve performance. For instance, biomechanical machine learning models of players will predict and prevent potential career-threatening physical and mental injuries or can even detect early signs of fatigue or stress-induced injuries. It can also be used to estimate players’ market values to make the right offers while acquiring new talent.

Coaches

Coaches are using AI to identify patterns in opponents’ tactics, strengths and weaknesses while preparing for games. This helps coaches to devise detailed gamelans based on their assessment of the opposition and maximize the likelihood of victory. In many leading teams, AI systems are used to constantly analyze the stream of data collected by wearables to identify the signs that are indicative of players developing musculoskeletal or cardiovascular problems. This will enable sports teams to maintain their most valuable assets in prime condition through long competitive seasons.

Judges

We tend to think that technology helps make the sport more just when we are victims or witnessed of unjust decision. That´s why we approve inventions like Paul Hawkins - creator of Hawk-Eye, a technology that is now an integral part of the spectator experience when watching sport live or more recently VAR in soccer.

The use of technology allows watch in real time multiple cameras, with aggregated info from sensors (stadiums, things and athletes) to make their decisions more accurate and objective.

We as spectators or fans need more transparency about the exercise’s difficulty, degree of compliance and final score. And we have the technology to do it.

The IoT and AI technology doesn't claim to be infallible - just very, very reliable and Judges also need to be adapted to new technologies.

Fans

Without fans, sports would find it difficult to exist. It is understandable companies are also targeting fans with IoT and artificial intelligence to keep them engaged whether in the stadium or at home.

How we want IoT and AI continue attracting people to the stadiums?

Within the stadiums, sports clubs and many leagues across the globe are incorporating inside and outside the stadium technologies to boost fans unique experiences for fans and not only the 90 minutes.

The challenge is how to combine what the oldest and newest supporters are looking to attend to the stadiums?

How will the stadiums of the future be? I read numerous initiatives of big clubs and leagues, but I am exciting about the future stadium of Real Madrid. I wish the club would allow me to advise them how to create a smart intelligent Global environment to provide each fan with an individual experience, know who is in the crowd, learn fan behaviors to anticipate their needs

How we want IoT and AI transform Sport Business.

“As long as sports remain a fascination for the masses, businesses will always have the opportunity to profit from it. As long as there is profiting to be gained from the world of sports, the investment in and incorporation of technology for sports will continue.”

I read an article warning about the new entirely new world order that is being formed right now. The author explained how 9 companies are responsible for the future of AI. Three of the companies are Chinese (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, often collectively referred to as BAT), while the other six are American (Google, Amazon, IBM, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft, often referred as the G.Mafia). The reason is obvious, as far as AI is about optimization using the data that’s available, these 9 companies will manage more of the sport data generated in the world.

Collaboration is needed now to stop this danger and to address the democratization of AI in sports. It is urgent companies and governments around the globe to work together to create guiding principles for the development and use of AI and not only in Sports. This mean we need regulating it but in a different way. We do not want AI becomes in the hands of a group of lawmakers, who are very well read and very smart people but overwhelmingly lack degrees in AI and IoT.

Will AI change the future of sport betting?

The impact of technology on sports cannot be specifically measured, but some technological innovations do raise questions about fairness. Are we still comparing apples with apples? Is it right to compare the speed of an athlete wearing high-tech running shoes to one without?

Whether we like it or not, technology will continue to enhance athlete performance. And at some point we will have to put specific rules and regulations in place about which tech enhancements are allowed.

There is a downside to advanced technology being introduced to sports. Machine Learning models are now used routinely to predict the results of games. Sport betting is a competitive sport itself among fans, but AI can substantially tilt that playing field.

I analyzed many IoT and AI companies for Sports in order to prepare my session. I am scare about the game result predictions capabilities but more scare about the manipulation of competition using AI algorithms with the Terabytes of data collected daily from IoT devices and other sources like social media networks, without the permission of the users.

The sport business market is generating billions of US$ every year but without control and education we could find future generation of ludopaths and a small number of Sports Service Providers controlling the Sports.

Do you know that the number of internet connected things will reach 75 billion in the year 2025 as per the reports released by Statista? Well, the report is not astonishing because we are well familiar with our day-to-day dependability on internet and technology.

Source: Statista

It is definitely not a sham that we can actually set the temperature of the air conditioner before actually entering the room. Or, can switch on or off the fan or other electronic devices through our smartphone. Things that were dreamt earlier now turned into reality and it is all possible with the Internet of Things or simply IoT.

What are Future Possibilities of IoT?

‘What is IoT’ is the most asked questions about the technology. It is the use of network sensors in physical devices to allow for remote monitoring and controlling. It has achieved massive grip in various fields like healthcare, banking, retail, manufacturing, consumer goods, etc. Businesses all over the world are looking for possible applications of IoT. Report by CSG quotes that ‘94% of businesses that have invested in IoT have already seen the return’. The report itself expounds the present and future of IoT.  

There is one very astonishing report about IoT by GSMA . It states that the US market doesn’t dominate IoT. China and Europe are ahead of the USA in global machine-to-machine connection (M2M) with 19% in total share. USA market and investors still have a great scope for IOT solutions.

Common Myths that are Veiling IoT

#1 IoT is About Consumer Devices and Connected Homes

User’s mobile being connected with the refrigerator or air conditioner can be one assumption when we say IoT but the reality is far away from this. Definitely, IoT has solved many daily purposes but B2B IoT is the desire of technology. Analytical prediction by Bian.com tells that B2B IoT segment will generate more than $300 billion by 2020 as compared to $150 billion of consumer applications.

#2 All IoT Devices Work Together

Devices that are connected with IoT works as per vendor protocols. Some vendors may allow direct access to the device whereas some may provide access to the information through a cloud interface. As a result, there is not always a surety that all connected devices will work together.

#3 IoT Provides Continuous Transition to Mobile Apps

As IoT runs on cloud there is a myth that there is limitless scope for the developers. IoT is the combination of cloud, big data, and connected devices. Still, more than 90% of big data is in a scattered form that makes the overall transition complex.

#4 IoT Will Lead to Rise in Machines

Whether it is the movie Terminator or any other sci-fi movie, they always targeted technologies like IoT. People have generated the mind-set that IoT has increased the dependence of machine in human life. But the reality is IoT is making the devices smarter. It just adds like the fuel in the fire. It provides the capability of devices to take the decision on their own. For example, a device that will examine the field and would detect the area where watering is required is one thing. But, the same device watering the required area is the specialized feature. This is the impact of technology.

#5 IoT is Not Safe to Use

The safety concern is another big myth that surrounds the world of IoT technology. There are people who believe that the connected devices would enhance security concerns as they have access to the complete database. This is wrong because IoT aims in making the life of users simple by delivering faster results with cognitive computing. So there is nothing like sharing database.

#6 IoT is All about Sensors

People have the belief that it is all about sensors and things. But the reality is that it is beyond that. There are gateways, hubs, repeaters, cloud, application, software that is managed and supported by IoT. So, the world of IoT is bigger than what people think of it.

#7 IoT Device can be Hacked Remotely

Not locally nor remotely the IoT device can be hacked. Apart from SSL and encryption of data, there are countless other services on which the connected devices work. Not everything in IoT solutions can be hacked. Only a few vulnerabilities are there to work on.  

#8 IoT Solution can be Delivered Easily

As there are open source tools used in IoT people believe that the solution can be delivered very easily. There are many vendors that are selling IoT solutions. Providing solutions and services are two different things. Creating an app and creating complete IoT solution are two different things. There are different critical stages to deliver a meaningful solution that would be business viable, technically feasible and would make sense for customers.

#9 IoT Devices Must-Have Wireless Security

In order to connect with the host in the cloud, router or peer IoT device need some level of connectivity. But, it is not always necessary that the device should be wireless. It can be connected through Ethernet or USB whatever the device supports.

Business Tips for Investors Looking forward to Capitalise in IoT Technology

Technology that creates buzz one day becomes redundant. Businesses that are looking forward to investing in IoT must know about the challenges that they can face. Here are the few best tips that will help investors to make the right selection.

Choose Mode of Connection Wisely: Depending on the specific requirement businesses need to decide on the mode of connection that would be used. Whether it is Bluetooth technology or Wi-Fi choose the one that solves your purpose of technology.

Hardware Compatibility with Technology: Hardware compatibility issues happen frequently with IoT technology. It is necessary to find out if the technology is compatible with the hardware you are selecting or not.

Platform: In functionality and concerns both Apple and Google differ from each other. You should have a clear line of sight before you finalize a platform and should know well about the compatibility of the technology with the platform.

IoT Framework: There are many security aspects of IoT that came into existence till date. In order to avoid any kind of plights, it is suggested that building a framework from scratch is the best possible solution. Doing so one may skip the security issues as faced in the previous framework if any.

The Bottom Line

Businesses are looking forward to  iot development because they are aware of the bright future of technology. But, there are myths that block their path. Definitely, the debunked myths will aid the investors to make the right decision. Many software development companies provide 30 minutes of free consultation for those who are keen on the tech. Users can contact them and clear all their doubts regarding the technology.

A new wave of technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), is transforming cities into smart cities. Many of these cities are building innovation labs and zones as part of their new civic landscape. Smart city innovation labs are vital components of the smart city ecosystem (Figure One). They provide an organized structure for cities, communities, experts, and vendors to come together to create solutions. Successful solutions piloted in smart city innovation labs are then scaled and deployed into a city’s operations and infrastructure.

Figure One. Strategy of Things Smart City Ecosystem Framework.

We’ve heard a great deal about the Internet of Things (IoT) and how it’s going to change the face of business as we know it. However, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) goes a step further, particularly with reference to how smart sensors and actuators can enhance and improve the manufacturing and industrial processes. So, what exactly is the IIoT and how will it really change every business? Read on to find out more.

What is Industrial IoT?

To put it simply, the IIoT aims to dramatically improve efficiency and productivity within the industrial industry. It leverages the power of smart machines and sensors to take advantage of the data that machines have produced in industrial settings since they began. The combination of real-time analytics and smart machines is not only better than humans at capturing data, but it’s also more accurate in reporting the information.

How it Works

Though it sounds rather complicated, in practice, it’s really quite simple. This network of intelligent devices will work together to monitor, collect and analyse data. It works like so:

• The intelligent devices gather information
• They then transmit this to the data communications infrastructure
• It’s converted into actionable information for humans
• This can be used for routine maintenance as well as optimising business processes

IIoT vs IoT – What’s the Difference?

IIoT and IoT undoubtedly have plenty in common, from cloud platforms, sensors and connectivity to machine communication and analytics. However, there are a few differentiating factors. For example, IoT applications connect devices across multiple fields – between healthcare, agriculture and enterprise for instance. IIoT, on the other hand, only connects machines and devices within specific industries such as oil, gas and manufacturing.

What Are the Benefits?

Though the technology has received inordinate amounts of funding, technical due diligence is still frequently required from some sceptics. On the whole, however, there are many positives that investors simply cannot ignore.

One of the main benefits is the aforementioned predictive maintenance. This will almost allow industrial businesses to operate like clock-work. It will predict faults in machinery before they actually happen, allowing for swift work in fixing any issues. This prevents losing any time from production due to a defective machine which may have previously cost the business money.

A further benefit is asset tracking. Now, suppliers, manufacturers and even customers can use asset management systems to monitor the location and status of products throughout their life cycle. This will include everything from manufacturing to dispatch. It can send alerts to various stakeholders if it’s thought that the product might be damaged, allowing them to take preventative action before it’s too late.

What is the Future of IIoT

Interestingly, the top three industries investing in IIoT are transportation, manufacturing and utilities. Where some businesses may be reluctant to adopt new technology, it seems that the IIoT is different. It’s an exciting prospect, which continues to accumulate more appeal across the globe as it develops. Time will tell just how quickly this technology will change the way many industries operate.

According to global management consulting firm Bain & Company, long-term prospects for the industrial Internet of Things remain ambitious. However, many executives are resetting timeline expectations for reaching scale due to early adoption struggles. Notably, certain “darlings of IoT” like predictive maintenance have not lived up to the hype. And while Bain’s survey of 600 industrial customers shows increasing traction with ‘workhorse’ scenarios like remote monitoring and asset tracking, it exposes areas where many teams and vendors are struggling to deliver the goods. In the end, an iterative strategy focused on specific business outcomes remains critical.

Notably, Bain’s survey finds increasing concerns around integration with existing enterprise systems and data portability. Executives worry their visions for digital transformation will be restricted by internal skill gaps and proprietary vendor services. Understandably, they fear losing control of any data not managed by their own enterprise IT departments. Despite this, confidence remains high that an estimated 20 billion devices will be successfully connected by 2020.

Many executives feel the value proposition for industrial IoT is still emerging. For them, the ability to capitalize on this value and achieve better business results remains elusive. To address these challenges, Bain calls for organizations to build a new operating model and position themselves for long-term success in a connected world.

Recommendations for accelerating IoT adoption in the enterprise

First, Bain recommends industrial organizations choose specific, high-value use cases to tackle upfront. Prove out your ability to address security and other valid IT concerns. Then, adopt an iterative approach for demonstrating ROI and ease of enterprise integration.

Second, use experienced partners to address your gaps. Don’t try building everything yourself. Differentiation comes from the combination of acquired data with your industry-specific domain knowledge. We’ve seen manufacturing digital transformation initiatives stall out when internal engineering teams try to build their own IoT infrastructure. Software for collecting data (and system integration services) can be bought. Build your value, not your tools.  

Third, don’t expect overnight success. You’re building up organizational capabilities and working with a new set of specialized partners. Commit to a realistic investment timeline and prepare for change. You’ll likely need to bring in new, more entrepreneurial talent to drive your connected business model. At a minimum, empower your existing teams to think differently. Remember, you’re not rolling out a new CRM application. You’re transforming your enterprise. Act accordingly.

Fourth, industrial IoT revenue starts at the top. Executives must ensure the entire organization is aligned for transition to the new operating model. This requires both vision and clear communication. Unsurprisingly, those responsible for existing products and revenue streams fear cannibalization. Furthermore, IoT initiatives take time to meet traditional P&L requirements. If executives don’t create an environment where the new operating model can take root, prevailing forces will prevent its maturation while competitors move ahead.      

Prepare to scale the business

Eventually companies reach the point on their digital transformation journey where they’ve proven out their connected product technology and business concepts. Now what? Bain concludes with a method for assessing readiness to scale up your industrial IoT efforts.

To begin, how well do you understand the full potential of industrial IoT to your enterprise? IoT can dramatically impact the quality of manufactured products, service offerings, maintenance  procedures, and other areas of your enterprise. But what will this cost, and what will revenue look like once the system is deployed to production and fully commercialized?

Never forget, your competitors aren’t standing still. You can be sure they’re working on their own industrial IoT initiatives. What is your plan to win in this new arena?

Additionally, scaling IoT requires incentives alignment and coordinated execution across the enterprise. Engineering, IT, service, sales, and business teams must work together for organizations to realize the benefits of digital transformation. Make sure everyone understands their part and is rowing in the same direction.

Bain summarizes their last recommendation with a sentiment that we refer to as “strategy over software.” By strategy, we mean not just a plan, but a comprehensive roadmap, organization structure, and business model across the enterprise to support the success of your industrial IoT initiative.

Digital transformation is a journey

As you start your journey, you’re going to need an industrial IoT platform. Whether it makes sense to build your own or buy one depends on a variety of factors. But digital transformation isn’t just about technology. As Bain notes repeatedly, it’s about so much more. Business models and sales strategies, along with clear user stories, team roles, and responsibilities are equally critical to successful IoT initiatives. Beyond a platform, an experienced digital transformation partner can accelerate planning, implementation, and successful commercialization of your connected systems.

Guest article by Richard van Hooijdonk

In around 30 years, planet Earth will be home to almost ten billion people, 68 per cent of which will live in urban areas. And those urban areas will face a torrent of problems, as authorities will have to rely on limited resources to provide public services to a growing number of citizens. Besides traffic congestion and the potential rise in crime rates, rapid urbanization could also lead to a number of environmental problems like air pollution and overwhelmed waste collection systems. To tackle these challenges and make cities more liveable and manageable, governments are increasingly turning to the smart city concept.

At the heart of this approach is the use of technology to improve public services such as transportation, water systems, waste disposal, and many others. And among all the technologies smart cities deploy, the Internet of Things stands out as the most important, as it’s a network of sensors and connected devices that collect data critical for understanding how urban areas function. As Stephen Brobst, the chief technology officer of Teradata, a big data analytics company, says, the IoT enables us to “get a view of the whole city across these different domains of the life of the city as it’s captured in the sensor data.”

The many ways in which the IoT helps smart cities

Investments in smart cities are ramping up across the world and are expected to grow from $80 billion this year to $135 billion by 2021. Part of that money is allocated for IoT projects that help governments and residents to increase energy efficiency, improve traffic flow, reduce pollution, cut costs, and enjoy a number of other benefits. In other words, the IoT helps smart cities to achieve many of their key goals. Take, for example, the problem of traffic congestion in cities, which is in large part caused by drivers looking for parking space. IoT sensors embedded into the city’s streets, as in the case of Barcelona, can detect empty parking spots and alert drivers through a smartphone app. This helps people park their cars faster, saving time and fuel while reducing harmful emissions.

Many smart cities also tend to promote bike-sharing services as a way to reduce pollution and congestion, but bike theft could be an obstacle for that plan. One way IoT tech can help solve this issue is through technology such as Bitlock, a keyless bike lock that’s unlocked by the user’s smartphone and tracks the GPS location of the bike. This will help police potentially track and recover stolen bikes, while also allowing private and public organizations to analyze bike traffic patterns and find ways to improve the service.

IoT technology is also efficient in tracking and analyzing water use in buildings. For instance, Banyan Water, a smart water management company, claims it’s helped customers to save more than seven billion liters of water since its inception in 2011. The way it does this is by placing sensors and ultrasonic meters that track water consumption across the building, using software to analyze the gathered data and find anomalies such as leaks and overspend.

Municipal waste management companies could benefit from the IoT, too, by placing sensors in waste collection sites, and instead of adhering to strict schedules, dispatching haulers only when collection is really needed. This could cut “overhead for waste makers by up to a whopping 60 percent.”

Things to keep in mind when implementing IoT projects
Clearly, IoT technology can improve lives in urban areas in many different ways, but simply implementing the latest tech won’t necessarily make a city ‘smart’. Marc Jadoul, the head of IoT market development at Nokia, explains that even before the first sensor is installed, the authorities must define their future objectives and budget. The next step is to create broadband internet and IoT infrastructure that can sustain increased traffic. Jadoul also suggests that the authorities need to “think big, but start small” and “identify appropriate milestones and metrics” to be able to monitor their progress. Lastly, technology isn’t the goal, but rather an instrument to make people’s lives better and more connected. To that end, the authorities should promote citizens’ engagement in ‘smart’ projects by asking for their feedback and informing them of the progress. After all, “it’s citizens’ acceptance and engagement that will eventually determine success or failure of any smart city initiative,” Jadoul concludes.

Two key challenges for the IoT and smart cities
And while authorities and citizens see smart cities as a way to live better lives, hackers see them as a potential target. The wealth of data and sensitive services that connected devices produce can be abused by bad actors to disrupt a city’s operations. For instance, imagine if cyber-attacks crippled a traffic light system or a water filtration plant and the hackers asked for ransom. This makes cyber-security one of the key priorities of any smart city endeavour. Another challenge for authorities is the need to buy expensive servers, sensors, high-speed internet networks, and a range of other equipment. Many cities struggle to find the money, although IoT projects could lead to cost savings “to the tune of $2.3 trillion in efficiencies created and revenue generated worldwide by 2024.”

Just rolling out the tech won’t be enough
As our planet becomes increasingly crowded and more people flood to cities, authorities will be under pressure to provide public services to an ever-growing number of citizens and offset the negative consequences of urbanization. Technology such as the IoT and the concept of smart cities might be a solution and a way to fight traffic congestion, pollution, inadequate water systems, and a number of other problems. But for this approach to succeed, citizen acceptance and engagement is crucial, as simply rolling out the tech won’t be enough.

Author: Richard van Hooijdonk
International keynote speaker, trend watcher and futurist Richard van Hooijdonk offers inspiring lectures on how technology impacts the way we live, work and do business. Over 420,000 people have already attended his renowned inspiration sessions, in the Netherlands as well as abroad. He works together with RTL television and presents the weekly radio program ‘Mindshift’ on BNR news radio. Van Hooijdonk is also a guest lecturer at Nyenrode and Erasmus Universities. https://www.richardvanhooijdonk.com

Sources:

Cover photo by https://www.shutterstock.com/g/yingyaipumi

Azevedo, Mary Ann, https://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1868607.

Giarratana, Chris, https://www.trafficsafetystore.com/blog/how-iot-technology-is-creating-the-future-smart-cities/.

Glaeser, Edward and Helen Dempster, https://www.theigc.org/reader/contagion-crime-and-congestion-overcoming-the-downsides-of-density/cities-and-urbanisation-encourage-economic-growth-in-the-developing-world/.

Horwitz, Lauren, https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/internet-of-things/smart-city-infrastructure-guide.html.

Ismail, Nick, https://www.information-age.com/smart-city-technology-123473905/.

Jadoul, Marc, https://www.nokia.com/blog/10-recommendations-creating-smart-city/.

Maddox, Teena, https://www.techrepublic.com/article/smart-cities-expected-to-invest-80b-in-technologies-in-2018/.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-threats/.

http://www.sensanetworks.com/blog/waste-management-gets-sexy-smart-sensor-tech/

https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2017.html.

https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html.

Plenty of companies yearn to integrate cloud computing with their IT infrastructure but feel hesitant to do so due to concerns about data security. A lot of public cloud host service providers make use of the same hardware infrastructure to manage the needs of various clients which can compromise the security of data systems.

However, it is possible to hire the expertise of private cloud computing companies as they follow data security methods that can work for HIPAA and PCI-sensitive organizations. By getting private cloud computing solutions, companies can have greater control over their data security needs.

Here are 5 handy tips for implementing cloud computing concepts while maintaining the highest levels of security.

1. The first thing that you need to keep in mind is the location of your data. Unless you know the location of your data, it won’t be possible for you to secure it. While it is still important for you to use technologies like firewall, data encryption, and intrusion detection methods, knowing your data’s location allow you to prevent security breaches when the cloud system stops working. You should be able to use dedicated hardware to implement stringent security parameters for your data that you share through cloud computing.
2. Make sure that you keep your data perfectly backed up. When you take backups of your data, you can be sure of the fact that your data is safe against any kind of losses. This can also help you secure all important information about your business and provide you with the peace of mind that you seek.
3. The data centers that you choose to work with for your company should always take data security in a serious manner. They should be able to implement the best security measures in the servers in which your data is kept. It is important that they are PCI or HIPAA certified and SSAE 16, SOC 2 and SAS 70 audited. Managed services like intrusion detection, firewalls and antivirus can really work out well for you by making your data, applications, and enterprise more resilient.
4. A good way to ensure security for your data would be to check out the clients that a cloud service provider has worked with. By seeing whether the cloud provider has already worked with clients in the past requiring critical and stringent security measures, it is possible for you to make sure that your data is in good hands. Organizations operating in the financial, insurance, healthcare and government sectors are certainly good examples requiring high-end data security. By contacting these companies, you can be sure if they offer excellent data security.
5. It is important that you also carry out detailed tests to ensure that the cloud systems are equipped with the best security features.

These are the top 5 and most important cloud computing security tips that many app development companies india agencies are adopting in their development and implementation processes so as to have better security for their product or services.

The concept of connecting objects with the internet is the Internet of Things. It was conceived in order to establish a direct amalgamation between the virtual world and the physical world. Internet of Things is useful in the way that it recovers concrete data and information and makes them useful by offering economic benefits and improving the daily life as well.

The time has now come where people and IoT app developers have started to understand the importance of this technology and are working towards achieving greater goals with it. Tech giants have started to adopt this technology and work on developments. Here are some major reasons why they are doing it.

1. Windows 10 IoT Core. .NET is fully compatible with Window 10 IoT Core. The system for Windows 10 was released in 2015 and was designed specifically in a way that runs on low-power devices. One great thing about this is it’s free. It comes along with a handy toolkit. There are lots of integration options. .NET Core can be extremely helpful in creating great IoT apps. They offer a pretty smooth UX.

2. .NET Readymade Solutions. Almost every coding problem or issue is developed or resolved and has a solution somewhere over the internet. .NET helps developers in a great way making use of unfinished solutions and saving their time. So if you face a problem finding an IoT solution, it is very likely that someone has already found a solution for it and the code must have been posted somewhere over GitHub. .NET is a large community and the number reusable code it produces is also huge. This can help in speeding up the development process. This is why .NET is a great option.

3. Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure is known as one of the best available enterprise-class platforms. It is of great use for IoT users. Microsoft not only provides the Azure IoT platform and IoT accelerators, but also recovery and data storage in addition to that. Some of the most important features of an IoT platform are security, analysis, interoperability, and flexibility. These features help the IoT developers in a great way.

Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform that is both secure and reliable. It offers several services. Deploying cloud applications is pretty easy by simply setting up an application host or running it on the Azure panel. Azure technology is being continually worked upon by the Microsoft engineers. Many new features will be added and those updates will come out soon.

Conclusion

For any technology, it is extremely important to have a supportive community that offers help whenever required. .NET has that kind of community. There are more than two million people working on .NET, so you imagine the number of people ready to help you and offer advice in the community.

IoT will see immense growth in the coming years, considering the demand for such technology. When that happens, all the work done on it right now will then prove to be useful. .NET is the preferred environment for creating IoT apps and there is no doubt in that.