Techworld, Australia: Cognizant’s Head of Products and Resources in ANZ Says Realizing the Full Value of IoT Needs More Than Just Connecting New Devices

“The Internet of Things (IoT) represents an opportunity for organizations to leverage smart and connected devices to build, distribute and manage their products and services more effectively,” writes Gaurav Sharma. “The full value of IoT cannot be realized by simply connecting new devices. Rather, organizations must move past instrumentation and focus on the impact that IoT devices can have on business strategies at a larger scale.” Excerpts:

“Encouraging the implementation of IoT at scale provides organizations with the opportunity to move from “edge” to “engagement”. In embracing industrial scale IoT, organizations will move from connecting with intelligence on the edge to leveraging intelligence for transforming business operations and reimagining business models.

Scale to IoT is important as no element of this ‘system of systems’ can work effectively in isolation. Recognizing IoT as a ‘system of systems’ means that the value of a single intelligent object is multiplied ten-fold throughout its lifecycle, once it’s connected to other internet-connected devices around it.

This will bring about a shift in industry conversations, moving from how to connect products, to how to effectively use the insights resulting from instrumentation. In this way, IoT technologies will become commodities, and real value will arise from the analytics performed on the massive streams of contextual data created by the value chain.

Understanding the context of IoT will become vital for its survival in the coming years. Rather than solely discussing the devices associated with IoT, conversations will be centered on the purpose of IoT.

IoT at scale, combined with Artificial Intelligence, provides the potential to transform businesses and human lives.

In order to ensure sustainable business growth, organizations need to take IoT to scale, placing an equal emphasis on instrumentation and actionable insight.

Organizations should look to implement a three-tier architecture to maneuver through the complexity of scaled IoT application:

- Edge devices and sensors

- Connectivity through communication protocol support, translation support, edge monitoring, as well as the analysis of devices and data

- An analytics platform, consisting of cloud-based data storage, and big data analytics integrated with existing systems

Recognizing the importance of focusing on all aspects of IoT deployment, not just individual devices, is the first step in successfully implementing IoT at scale. Collecting, analyzing, cross-analyzing and comparing this data will help businesses better serve their customers.”

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