The Internet of things — from Alan Radding
Excerpt:
The Internet of Things has the potential to change our businesses and our lives as much as or possibly more than today’s Internet. It has been a long time in coming, maybe since the advent of bar codes but certainly since the development of RFID tags.
Among the recognized thought leaders is McKinsey. You can check out a piece they posted in March here. IBM has a clever 5-minute video that introduces it here.
The Internet of Things is another aspect of the digital transformation of the world. IBM has given it the Smarter Planet label. Others call it the global digital nervous system. It is the collection of devices, phones, computers, sensors, and more that are continuously communicating digitized information. And once that information is digitized, we can begin to do something with it. What kind of information do you need to advance your business objectives?
When IBM talks about the Smarter Planet, it is talking about the Internet of Things. IBM sees it as the intelligence being infused into the systems and processes that make the world work — into things no one would recognize as computers: cars, appliances, roadways, power grids, clothes, even natural systems such as agriculture and waterways.
Would your business like to know how people actually use your products? It might change the way you create, design, build, and market. Of course, you could approximate some of this information through focus groups, but they are costly and imperfect. Sensors built into your products and communicating back to you about how they are actually being used would give you the real thing.