IoT’s Evolution During COVID-19 and Into the ‘New Normal’
… facility managers and industrial enterprises. Although they were developed during the pandemic, their business value is independent of COVID-19. For instance, HVAC optimization is set to optimize customer satisfaction and energy costs regardless of the pandemic crises. Therefore, the presented applications are here to stay after the end of the pandemic, in the new normal. In essence, COVID-19 has accelerated IoT’s proclaimed evolution. Applications that have been long anticipated are now deployed at an accelerated pace.
The impact of COVID-19 on IoT in the new normal will be twofold. COVID-19 has provoked a broader adoption of IoT technologies in enterprise contexts while it also has boosted the innovation capacity of IoT vendors and integrators. As a prominent example, IoT device vendors reduced the size of their sensors to address the needs of modern remote monitoring applications. Now, tiny sensors (e.g., sensors the size of a stamp) are commercially available and used to monitor pretty much anything.
In the short- and medium-term, the evolution of IoT will be shaped by the availability of very large amounts of data, which will be pulled from various applications quickly and easily. These data will enable a whole range of functionalities, from everyday maintenance cycles to the management of severe alerts. Using these data for business process optimizations and improved decisions, enterprises will be able to rapidly increase the return on their IoT infrastructure investments. In disruptive technologies, we’re already seeing this as part of our knowledge base of real-life IoT deployments, which includes detailed information about their ROI (return on investment). We also perceive IoT’s potential for streamlining procedures, increasing the efficiency of the workforce, economizing on resources and escalating sustainability. This potential will soon make IoT an integral element of most industrial sites and workplaces.
Five years ago, many enterprises perceived IoT as a business luxury, while others were debating its ROI. The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for deploying IoT applications with clear business relevance and proven ROI. The latter provide a sound basis for scaling up IoT deployments and expanding them in new, yet still unknown, directions. IoT is no longer an overhyped technology, but rather a vehicle for enterprise productivity. This is the main reason why enterprises must explore how IoT can help them improve their business results.
Erik Fossum Færevaag is founder and president of Disruptive Technologies. With a background in the microchip/semiconductor industry, he is one of the architects of the world’s lowest-power microcontroller EFR32 and the world’s lowest-energy ISM band digital radios. You may follow him on LinkedIn or @DisruptiveTech on Twitter.
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