Promising as IoT may sound, it can be difficult to make a business case, especially in the early stages.
Deployment of IoT may start as a series of small incremental changes. Eventually the resulting data can transform your organisation.
But without support to recognise where that data could ultimately take you, the investment may be hard to justify, and potentially come too late.
Collecting data is one thing. Turning it into sound business intelligence is another. Do you have the business teams capable of extracting the required value?
If you don’t engage with IoT, what are the risks of losing out in the next revolution of artificial intelligence, automation, data analytics and digital business models?
1. Make smarter business decisions
New data sources can supply the fuel your data analytics needs to deliver fresh insights for your business. They can help you move from being a reactive organisation to a predictive organisation.
2. Create better customer experiences
Get a more detailed picture of your customers’ needs and preferences, and their responses to new products and offers. Use it to give them a better experience and build loyalty.
3. Support vulnerable citizens and tenants
Sensors that monitor noise, heat and movement can detect fires faster, summon help quicker, and enable support teams to spot unusual behaviour that might show an elderly tenant is ill or incapacitated.
4. Make your building more intelligent
Adding sensors to ‘dumb’ controls such as thermostats and light switches sets you on the road to smart building technology. Achieve greater control over heating, lighting and ventilation to cut costs and boost sustainability. Improve security to protect your assets – both property and people.
5. Increase productivity, reduce maintenance downtime
Adding intelligent sensors to machinery and production lines enables you to continually monitor and improve productivity. Early warnings on repairs help you schedule maintenance before problems become expensive, or halt production.
£565bn - What IDC expects worldwide spending on IoT to reach in 2019.