So... What's IoT?

The vastness of Internet of things (IoT) is hidden to none. With the tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco, GE, Google, Apple, IBM in the fray - the expanse of IoT in the future is a no brainer. Gartner reports that 50 percent of Internet of Things solutions today originate in startups that are less than three years old. By 2020, more than half of major new business processes and systems will incorporate some element of the Internet of Things. I work in the engineering team of a tech startup - Zoomcar and have been a part of IoT implementation in our system lately.

Before diving into details, let’s first discuss what IoT means.

IoT “Internet of things” is a space where a device has the ability to interact with us using the internet. This is done by providing the physical entity with a unique identifier which enables them to interact with the external environment by transmitting or exchanging data. They are nothing but a series of connected devices in an information network which talk to each other using embedded sensors. This technology aims at connecting every potential device which can be made interactive to make the human world more comfortable and of course lazy. :P

Ever thought of watering your plants at home yourself or monitoring your pet’s diet remotely while you are on a vacation? Thought of a kitchen which tells you when you are out of grocery? Imagined having a dustbin which reminds you of emptying it when needed? Wondered of having a car which tells your AC to start cooling when you are heading home without you having to do anything! Well, a healthy yes! all these things are being made possible with IoT.

Let me share an example of how we at Zoomcar have embraced this technology (we call it IoMT) for making the booking lifecycle of a customer seamless by eliminating all human-to-human interactions.

Before:

Now:

Our customers can now book, collect, ride and handover a Zoomcar without needing to interact with any of our fleet guys. Isn’t it cool? Also, implementation of IoT helps Zoomcar tracking the real time data of the car, clutch performance, speed limits etc. which can be further used to build car health monitoring system.

This technology is growing exponentially and it is being used today aggressively in various fields to make things smarter and savvier. Let’s look at some of the major applications of IoT.

Smart homes: Smart home products constitute one of the largest market shares in IoT applications today. The reason being the products are affordable, easily available and useful. The products like Nest thermostat (acquired by Google), Philips hue lights, amazon echo are amongst the popular ones.

Wearables: This domain has a series of devices related to health and fitness along with entertainment. Watches are being modified to be a multipurpose fitness tracker with customised gamification. Extremely low on power, Fitbit, Motorola moto 360 and Jawbone UP2 are some of the smartest options available.

Retail: There is an abundance of scope in this sector that can be explored through IoT for both customers and retailers. While entering the store, personalised feeds are sent to the customers’ phones informing them about various discounts, the launch of new products, digital coupons etc. Smart price tags are being used these days by retailers where the price can be changed in real-time, based on demand/supply or other live trends. Who would not love to have a hassle-free shopping, avoiding multiple trial room visits - smart mirror brings ease to this problem. Monitoring and auto detection of perishable items or low inventory in a store, contactless checkout through an automatic scan of products and robot assistance are also in the queue of being popular applications in this field.

Smart city: The Smart city has some of the best IoT solutions which leverage big data analytics and network connection. Initiatives like smart parking, urban mobility, traffic solutions are being incorporated all over the world for transforming cities. Seems like IoT will finally bring some sanity to the roads with heavy traffic.

Connected cars: Growing slowly, this sector is yet to evolve completely. With Google and Apple providing the connected car platforms and a lot of hot startups along with giants like Mercedes and BMW working towards connected car solutions, an affordable internet-enabled car can be expected to hit the road very soon.

All good and no worries are against the law of nature. While IoT has the immense capability of making things convenient for human, it comes with some great risks. IoT works on the principle of connection and data, which makes the security of the users vulnerable. Storing large part of personal information over cloud makes it prone to cyber attacks, which can eventually deteriorate the number of users. Forrester IoT report “Predictions 2017: Security And Skills Will Temper Growth Of IoT” hints the growth of IoT will be accompanied by various complexities. Hence, while companies race towards bringing the most lucrative product, it is also important to eliminate the threats. The technology is very much in infancy and it will be interesting to see how things shape up in future.