Have you ever heard of the Internet of things (IOT)? If the answer is no, then you are amongst the 29% of Small and Medium Enterprise owners who haven’t. Communication on a vast scale, fluidity, and increased interaction - the internet of things can offer so much to businesses across the world.
So, what is it? Quite simply, the internet of things is a term given to devices connected to the internet that can communicate together. Common examples include Hive, which allows you to heat your home remotely, and the Amazon Echo, the personal assistant featuring Alexa.
What could the internet of things do for you and your business?
The internet of things can be useful across a multitude of industries. Whilst many products and services currently exist, it is likely that technology will develop towards the enhanced connectivity that is made possible via the internet of things.
Manufacturing
The internet of things has a great future in the manufacturing industry. The communication between devices that it allows means that automation cannot only be fast, but it can be responsive as well. By communicating with each other, devices are able to troubleshoot and adapt, should anything change on the production line.
The Industrial Internet of things is linked to Industry 4.0. As the next big industrial revolution, the interconnectivity that is offered by the internet of things helps to optimise the manufacturing process and emphasise the responsiveness that is allowed by the internet of things.
Retail
The internet of things has applications in the retail industry. Beacon technology could be an important development for the marketing industry. A beacon is a simple piece of technology that broadcasts a message. In the case of marketing, this can be used to send a message via Bluetooth to smartphones that appears as a notification, directing them to your app. It’s unclear what future may exist for beacon technology for retail, with Google pulling their entry from the market.
One of the most exciting recent developments of the internet of things in retail is the Amazon Go store. Using advanced technology, the store is able to communicate with an app that customers have, to create a bill. It is responsive to when a customer puts something back on the shelf, rather than in their bag, and payment is performed through the app, removing the need for checkouts entirely.
Consumer IOT for businesses
There are many high-profile IOT providers which could be helpful for your business. Hive is an IOT device which allows a user to heat their home remotely using their smart phone. If you want the office nice and warm for your arrival in the morning, no problem! Just use your smartphone to turn it on when you’re setting off. Ring is a doorbell system which includes a camera, which is linked via the internet to a smartphone, so that the user can respond to a doorbell ringing from anywhere. With benefits for both deliveries and security, Ring could be helpful for your business. The Amazon Echo has a multitude of peripherals including smart plugs, smart bulbs, even electric blankets, which can be controlled by simple voice commands. If you’ve been able to stop yourself from asking Echo’s personal assistant Alexa to do a barrel roll, the device can be quite useful for looking up information and making quick notes.
A note on Cyber Security
Whilst the internet of things certainly has several significant benefits, it presents a major issue; cyber security. Operating so many devices on a network opens up vulnerabilities which can be exploited, with serious consequences. Pacemaker company St. Jude Medical found that there was a weakness in their pacemakers, fitted to almost half a million people, meaning that they could be hacked and operated remotely. On the same basis, a vulnerability inherent in the system at a factory could present a significant loss of earnings for your business.
The best way to combat this is to maintain a good culture of cyber security in your business. Keeping your systems up to date can help protect against attacks such as the WannaCry ransomware attack which affected the NHS. The ransomware exploited the vulnerable Windows XP service pack 3 the NHS had been using, which Microsoft had stopped providing updates for several years earlier. Software developers often release regular updates throughout the lifecycle of their products which not only add features, but also can bring bug fixes and patch vulnerabilities.
Aside from keeping software up to date, you can also be aware of password vulnerabilities, and the potential of your system being compromised as a result of having a weak or repeated password. Ensure that passwords are strong, using an unpredictable combination of letters – capital and lower case-, numbers, and symbols, and that you don’t use them for more than one login.
The internet of things may be in the near future for your business, no matter what industry you operate in. Ranging from the small but helpful, such as the Amazon Echo, through to the large and complicated systems of the industrial internet of things, the future is looking bright for interconnected devices.
