Internet of Things (IoT) is a neologism used in telecommunications, a term that was once again the result of the need to name real objects connected to the Internet. IoT is a refrigerator that orders milk when it “realizes” that it is finished. IoT is a house that turns on the heaters as soon as you hear it coming. These are examples of IoT, or objects that, connected to the network, allow to unite the real and virtual world.
The term IoT is used for the first time by Kevin Ashton, a researcher at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the standard for RFID and other sensors was found. But even if the term is new, we are talking about these concepts for a long time, basically from the birth of the internet and the semantic web (a web made of “things”, not lines of code: “things, not strings”).
With the Internet of Things we indicate a set of technologies that allow you to connect to the Internet any type of device. The purpose of this type of solutions is essentially to monitor and control and transfer information and then carry out consequent actions.
In the city, for example, a detector placed in a street can check the street lamps and signal if the lamp works, but the same detected could, if properly equipped, also report information on air quality or the presence of people.
The IoT finds more and more consensus and increasingly represents an opportunity for development. Connected devices increase, and there is a strong trust in U.S towards more established IoT technologies and resistance to try the Internet of the most innovative things.
How it works: IoT, Analytics and Big Data
The evolution of the internet has extended the internet itself to real objects and places (“things”), which can now interact with the network and transfer data and information. The object interacts with the surrounding world, as it is endowed with “intelligence”, ie it retrieves and transfers information between the Internet and the real world.
In this way, an “electronic identity” can be given to everything that forms the world around us, through, for example, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and other technologies (such as the best known QR code).
The objects connected in the world through this new technology are now billions, and new areas of work and the economy are affected. It must be considered that this phenomenon has been present for much longer than the time when this definition was coined. Users who have objects related to the Internet of things, such as bracelets or smart watches, often do not know that they can use an IoT (or connected) object.
The Internet of Things associates the Internet theme with the real objects of everyday life, objects (and devices) that will be more and more connected and that are giving life to an even denser network of presence on the territory and in all environments that require control, automation and detection.
What is the relation of IoT and Big Data in our society?
In order to function, the IoT needs to collect and store a large amount of data. But what is the use of all these collected data? To make the internet of things work properly so that it is really useful to us, it is important to process and collect large volumes of real time data (eg from sensors, traffic lights, and any connected IoT device), and in the company to improve safety and productivity, both in any field and for any type of connected object. For this we need integrated systems between big data, nosql database and IoT data that can be done when we hire big data analyst.
The Internet of Things is one of the new frontiers, now consolidated, of the use of the Internet. No longer only people or “legal entities”, businesses, are recognizable on the Internet, but also things can be. Things, objects, tools that acquire intelligence, or the ability to detect information and communicate it. The Internet of Things is a real New Internet precisely because it opens up unimaginable perspectives, in which objects take on an active role thanks to being on the network and sending and receiving data on the network.
Use Cases of IoT in terms of Big Data
- A video camera is no longer just in the condition to send data and images, but is in a position to do it in an intelligent way depending on the image, for example, or on temperature or brightness. In this way it is able to adapt its behavior according to parameters of interest that can evolve over time.
- Our watch can remind us of appointments and can verify if we actually respect them, for example if we are or we are not in a certain place at a certain time or if, always depending on the distance we must hurry because otherwise we will be late.
- The packaging of food products can transfer important information on the quality of the product on the way it was made and on all those who participated in the production and that are part of the food supply chain. Or even the packaging of a drug can warn us if we are not taking it as established and can tell us how to avoid it and to forget it.
- Additionally the cars that can constantly dialogue with the surrounding environment and can facilitate our driving, increasing comfort and safety.
Impact and Strategies
Moving forward we will learn, what impact the IOT will have in the market and what kind of change you will have to take to renew your marketing strategies:
Big Data
The interconnected objects will end up generating an immense amount of information and numbers, which you will have to be able to transform into strategies. In order not to lose orientation you will need to rely on an integrated platform which goes beyond simple CRM. Every single action you undertake must sink its roots into big data.
Customer Engagement
The time of the consumer without power is now behind us. In the Age of the Customer, aware and hyper-connected customers – with people and objects – require new engagement strategies. Your content marketing must therefore be cut to size and available according to the ‘easy, fast and my way’ rule.
Mobile Experience
In a world where people can find everything they want wherever they are, you have to offer them a digital customer experience without interruptions, especially if you are a retail or e-commerce company. In the near future, mobile payments will become almost invisible, incorporated into a natural gesture made possible by communication between objects, and your imperative is to get you ready to adopt innovations like Apple Pay and wearable technology.
Customized Promotions
The beacons act as a perfect case to understand how the dynamics of the Internet-of-Things could be used by brands to improve the customer experience at the point of sale. The ever lower production costs made possible by the automation of the processes will allow companies to concentrate their efforts on the next step of the process: promotion through the connection. Push notifications and location-based promotions are just two examples of how objects can communicate with people.
Conclusion
To fully realize the revolution of the Internet of Things you need to be able to fully understand your customers and their needs to get strategic insights and provide the best possible experience. The scenario will change but it will not change the ultimate challenge of any brand: to become truly relevant in the customer’s mind and in the physical and digital world, which sooner or later will eventually merge into a single and exciting dimension. Feel free to talk or hire IoT developer who can help you execute your idea.
