The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a powerful driver of transformation, and according to leading analyst firm Gartner, the IoT market is set to reach 991 billion USD by 2028 due to growing investment in IoT infrastructure and more AI-native IoT applications across a variety of industries.
IoT is built around the concept of connectivity, linking devices to create a data-driven ecosystem. True IoT doesn’t just rely on new smart devices; it makes existing and older infrastructure intelligent, unlocking its potential in industries where upgrading to new systems isn’t feasible, often due to cost or complexity.
This approach allows businesses to benefit from the value of IoT without overhauling their operations, enabling old and new technologies to work together seamlessly. As businesses evolve, grow, and invest in new systems, IoT solutions can change with them to continually drive efficiency, scalability, and sustainability in the areas that matter the most.
Director of IoT Solutions at IMS Evolve.
A new era of efficiency
IoT is transforming businesses across all industries, including manufacturing, food retail, energy and financial services. The technology enables real-time data collection through a vast network of connected devices, which provides unprecedented visibility and control over machines and systems, enabling organizations to benefit from automated, data-driven decisions about their operations and assets. Imperatively, true IoT solutions embed high degrees of automation into decisions and actions to bring forward a new era of enhanced efficiency.
For example, IoT-driven predictive maintenance improves operational efficiency and reduces downtime in manufacturing, which is a key benefit of smart factories. By continuously monitoring equipment health and performance, IoT solutions can anticipate failures before they occur and drive automated interventions to schedule maintenance and avoid costly interruptions or machine downtime.
IoT solutions can also offer similar benefits to financial services companies, which provide around 48,000 cash machines in the UK. IoT can conduct cash monitoring in real time and automatically alert the owner if thresholds are breached before customers are impacted. It can also create alerts about machine faults and ensure engineers are informed about the issue before they are dispatched. This goes far beyond the manual reporting process that is rife with inefficiencies and delays.
Making better choices across the supply chain
One of the most immediate and tangible benefits businesses can see from IoT adoption is cost reduction. By processing vast amounts of data in real time, IoT solutions deliver actionable insights driven by predictive analytics and take automatic, corrective actions that allow companies to streamline operations and cut expenses.
A key advantage of IoT is its ability to function as a seamless digital layer, enabling any business to enhance operations without the need to replace existing machinery or invest in costly new infrastructure. This digital layer can be integrated across a business’ supply chain to bring disparate systems and siloed organizations into one standardized platform without requiring infrastructure to be upgraded or standardized.
With the data collated and analyzed, data sets can be viewed and contextualized holistically to provide a complete oversight of supply chain operations and a product’s journey. By instantly improving knowledge, communication, and efficiency, supply chain ecosystems can tackle challenges like labor shortages or trading uncertainties more effectively, as well as make better choices to improve productivity and reduce unnecessary costs.
Boosting sustainability in real time
Beyond operational efficiency and cost savings, IoT can play a vital role in advancing sustainability initiatives as businesses can optimize resource use, minimize waste, and reduce their environmental footprint. For example, in industrial buildings and large estates, IoT-enabled systems can track and manage energy usage to reduce emissions. This, along with other applications, can support broader goals of increased energy efficiency, enabling companies to meet their environmental aims and objectives without sacrificing profitability.
Looking at food retail, IoT can autonomously and continuously monitor, manage, analyze and contextualize data collected from refrigerators and the products within them. It can adjust refrigeration settings based on specific produce, making informed and precise decisions about temperature control for each item in every unit. By integrating real-time machine health and performance data with merchandising systems, IoT software ensures that fridges and freezers maintain optimal temperatures for each product.
This IoT-driven continuous, real-time monitoring and optimization of equipment and processes prevents spoilage from temperature fluctuations, extends the freshness and quality of perishable items, and reduces waste. It also significantly increases energy efficiency, lowers operational costs, and enhances overall performance across operations.
Empowering a smarter future
IoT is a powerful force with a plethora of applications, seamlessly assisting businesses by collecting, managing, and acting on real-time data from networks of interconnected devices and machines. As organizations across industries, ranging from food retail to financial services, increasingly integrate IoT, the potential for further innovation and enhanced benefits continues to grow. This is promising for a future with smarter, more responsive, more sustainable, and more efficient operations.
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