The Internet of Things: Adapt Now or Get Left Behind
Objects collecting data and getting connected to the Internet—from light bulbs and mailboxes to the watch wrapped around your wrist—aren’t some fad destined to die down. As of now, we’ve only scratched the surface of the Internet of Things, with previously ordinary items seeing new cloud-based, connected features on a regular basis.
Even the whisky you buy might find ways to use data to improve your experience. According to Anthill Magazine, a new “smart” Johnnie Walker bottle sends personalized messages to every customer who happens to wave a smartphone in front of it. This message could be a cocktail recipe, a discount off future purchases, or news about another product you might enjoy.
This is coming from a whisky bottle. What if you put similar technology into an oven so that it could read exactly when the chicken you’re cooking is at its optimal temperature, or send a notification to your phone when the cookies you’re baking need to come out?
When it comes to the Internet of Things, those who wait around to see how things are going to shake out are already at a disadvantage. The essence of business is understanding your customer and delivering exactly what that customer needs, and Emory Paine of SmartDataCollective argues that if you don’t incorporate data analysis into your company, you’re going to be left behind.
Look at Amazon Web Services, which just recently announced the AWS IoT—a platform for processing and using data from Internet-connected devices. It’s intended to set automatic triggers to send data to other processing tools, helping its partners collect a mountain of data from users in order to better accommodate their needs and craft smarter products.
And once again, this is only the beginning. More and more objects you use on a daily basis will become a part of the Internet of Things ecosystem, giving companies new ways to communicate with consumers, and the consumers themselves more personalized experiences. It’s the wave of the future, and consultant, teacher, and author Paul Gerrard predicts exponential growth.
“The Internet as we know it will become, or will absorb, what people are currently thinking of as the Internet of Everything. That is it's going to be ten times bigger, one hundred times bigger. Who knows?” he told StickyMinds. “No one knows. That's the point. I like the idea of it becoming just ‘the Internet.’ The Internet will accommodate all these things that are connected in the future.”
