A new IoT space for businesses
Hello there! Welcome to this space. My name is Carlos, and I am here to write a new series of articles about the Internet of Things.
First, let me explain why I want to start this new project. The truth is I have been fascinated by the Internet of Things for some years now. My first job after uni was developing IoT products for the mass market. I was fascinated by the potential of this technology, and I knew that it would soon change our future, globally.
Since then, I have seen it turn houses into smart homes, now available to a lot of people and not just millionaires. It helped cities reduce crime and improve transportation, companies increase their productivity by more than twice, prevent fraud, allow farmers to prevent crop failures, and even enable some entrepreneurs to build wonderful solutions such as energy monitoring and autonomous cars. It has already changed the way we do things.
Back then, I thought it was a great concept with enormous potential, but now, it has revolutionized some industries. And it will keep growing. According to some big players in the market, more than 25 billion devices were connected to the web in 2019, and by the end of 2021, we will reach 35 billion. That is more than 4 connected devices per living person, which will be doubled in the following 5 years. A truly interconnected world.
Can you imagine the potential for improvement that this new reality could bring? Companies and individuals that learn how to make the most out of this new technology will thrive and achieve great things. But countless others will be left behind if they cannot catch up.
Some big players have been using it for quite a few years, and they have gained advantages that helped them position themselves as leaders of their industry. But every year that passes, more and more medium and small companies are getting interested. Even the average Joe and Jane are starting to wonder how smart devices can make their life better at home. And the good news is that everyone can reap the benefits of the IoT.
However, as more and more people with diverse backgrounds and expertise get interested in this topic, sometimes it gets hard to understand what this technology really is and how businesses and individuals can get its full benefits. Sure, they might have heard of a few success cases, and they might even have a few devices at home. But there is so much information out there from several heterogeneous sources, that it is hard to keep track of what the Internet of Things can truly bring to the table.
So that is the ultimate goal of this space. To become a place online, available to anyone, where we can discuss the basic principles behind the technology, analyse the trends that are happening right now in several industries around the world, and deconstruct some business cases to analyse how successful deployments have helped companies solve problems and improve their day-to-day operations.
And I will try to do it avoiding all that complicated terminology and very intangible physical/mathematical principles that only make things sound much more complex than they actually are.
Sometimes it will not be possible to avoid technical terms, but the objective is that everyone, regardless of their background, will get a better picture of what the IoT can offer to them in their business, their job, and their personal lives.
So if you want to learn more about the IoT, please stay connected to this space. It will be a great ride.
Next week, I will write about the main topics to be covered in this series.
*https://www.freepik.com/photos/technology'>Technology photo created by rawpixel.com
