Better Understanding the Real Value in the Internet of Things (IoT)

Author: Brian P Pause – Co-founder of Transcends and Rifidi

The scope of the Internet of Things ecosystem is rapidly evolving to be comprised of Machine to Machine (M2M) communication, Smart Devices, Wearables, Sensors/RFID, BigData/Analytics/Visualizations and low cost computing (embedded and Cloud). This is all well and good but what does this mean in terms of the real value? There have been many articles as of late discussing the market size and revenue potential but in my opinion value goes beyond a quantifiable amount (such as dollars and size)

The noun form of value is defined as “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. “

To understand real value using this definition one needs to take the time to understand why would people (organization, customer, employee, friend) care to get to the real value of IoT?

In conversations I have participated in and research I have performed the real value appears to align these categories

• The New Business Model Opportunities
• The potential realized productivity and efficiency gains
• The increased quality of life
• The new insights into data driven by analytics

Examples of these can be seen by current and near term happenings in the market around IoT.

Wearables being used by people to monitor ones health and day to day activities soon integrating with the retail medical facilities being setup at places like Walmart.

Automation of factories and workflows previously requiring manual labor and human intervention driving productivity and efficiency .

Sensor data such as wifi, beacons, rfid, mobile devices being used by retailers to better understand consumer behavior through analytics tools like Tableau and ClickView (to name a few).

And not to far completely new business models such as drones delivering orders from Amazon or new business for the matter when the complete business/organization is developed and enabled through the use of IoT

Yes the ultimate desired outcome is growing market share and revenue. But ultimately taking the time to understand the real value in IoT will ensure you realize the near and long term potential.