Atos [EPA: ATO]

The future will confirm if the Internet of Things (IoT) will imply as many possibilities as predicted. In this line we will also realize if it brings as much business as expected.

It is a fact that IoT provides value to companies or cities, this is clear. Another fact is IoT is suitable for every kind of market, and it is possible to find use cases for every kind of company. Considering this is we find an attractive exercise that consists in identifying the proper functionalities for each company, in a funny game focused on finding a functionality to give real value thanks to IoT possibilities: “be a business technologist”. It is clear what sensors and intelligent devices could provide to industry or cities, but for sure it will be key in the evolution of other areas such as health, retail or insurances.

At the same time IoT is vertically increasing in terms of adoption and business, IoT ecosystem improves day by day, with different elements arising that exponentially offers different possibilities. Initial models based on devices, connectivity and platforms are evolving in order to solve some kind of situations, such as edge computing capabilities. Of course, sensor evolution is key, highlighting long life batteries. Also, very important, the new communication infrastructure: Lora, NB-IoT, Sigfox, Zigbee, and more allows different options for different situations to be solved. Sensors location, bidirectionality, size of messages, battery life requirements, indoor and outdoor are some important parameters to identify the most suitable solution.

“IoT is suitable for every kind of market, and it is possible to find use cases for every kind of company”

It is important to consider IT & OT convergence. As part of IoT evolution, a key point is to identify the deployment scenarios as both IT and OT that can take a role of designing or operating. It depends of course on the solution, the adopted use case and the operating model of the company.

There are several articles mainly focused on business. Now its interesting to share some words about what IoT brings to people, forgetting business cases. We have several situations that show IoT contribution. Let’s indicate some of them: domiciliary care, optimization of waiting queues, intelligent control of rooms, ancients or kids tracking, traffic or parking information, sleep management, predictive maintenance of personal assets, and more.

As mentioned before, IoT allows a funny exercise of searching for valuable use cases for countless situations. Some years ago, it was almost impossible to imagine toilet paper control or to anticipate potential brawls making use of sensors and intelligent devices. What is IoT going to provide in the future? What use cases will appear? For sure many of them will be surprising.

On the other hand, IoT could bring different problems. One important concern in companies is related to security. Not being a very mature area, we could find different deployments not taking into account the real importance of security. In these kinds of systems different elements are involved, requiring all of them to have the proper security mechanism to prevent attacks. We can find some real examples in different news or articles.

In addition to cybersecurity and as important elements of Digital Transformation, it should not be forgotten other key areas that have a close relation with IoT such as Big Data or Blockchain.

Independently of how IoT evolves, it is a fact it will be amazing.