The IoT ecosystem is rapidly increasing, with reports estimating that by 2021 the number of connected devices is expected to reach 28 billion worldwide. This makes IoT-focused events such as the IoT World 2020 expo the ideal space to collaborate, discuss the latest trends and developments and test new products.
Polymorph attended this virtual world expo held August 11-13 where strategists, technologists, developers and implementers connected and put IoT into action. Here’s a non-technical take on the trends and takeaways from the expo:
- Everything edge. IoT is moving away from the cloud and to the edge. Some of the advantages to this move include overcoming latency where decisions need to be instantaneous, overcoming connection issues, and reducing the costs associated with cloud storage and computing.
- Always align with business goals. Many interventions fail because they do not align with business goals and therefore never make it past proof of concept stage. Which brings me to the next important point: Product strategy is still key in IoT.
- Mastering integration is essential. If you’re building custom solutions that have to slot into an existing business and its infrastructure, you have to build your integration skills and integrate early on. Otherwise, interventions won’t scale. This means that in order to deliver on the whole value chain, integration is a core and critical competency.
- Creatively deliver great UX. Don’t assume dashboards are the only visualisations and leverage other industries. How about using 3D gaming tech (e.g. Unity) to create a digital twin of the manufacturing equipment to visually show, for example, the level of the liquid in the tank? Unity can easily be deployed on mobile and desktop devices so it works in various contexts. Let’s think VR/AR/XR …
- Machines will be asking the questions. We’ve gotten to that point where the datasets don’t just have predictive capabilities, where the humans are still asking a lot of the initial questions, anymore. Soon, machines will be dishing out the recommendations too. This is the step that follows the Machine Learning /Artificial Intelligence predictive step in the value chain.
Polymorph found the sessions at the Expo invaluable and highly recommend attending the 2021 expo to gain a clear understanding of IoT trends and see real-world implementations in, for example, manufacturing.
Polymorph focuses on ensuring the technology always supports the best solution. If you want to develop custom IoT solutions for your operations, talk to us today.
