The Internet of Things

Over 20 years ago a few professors at MIT began describing the Internet of Things (IoT), which is a world where interconnected Internet-enabled devices or things have the ability to collect and share data without human intervention. Another term for the Internet of Things is machine-to- machine (M2M), which allows devices to connect directly to other devices. With advanced technologies devices are connecting in ways not previously thought possible, and researchers predict that over 50 billion IoT devices will be communicating by 2020.

Imagine your toothbrush telling you to visit your dentist because it senses a cavity. How would you react if your refrigerator placed an order at your local grocery store because your milk and eggs had expired? Predictions indicate that over the next decade almost every device you ownand almost every object imaginablewill be connected to the Internet as people share, store, and manage their lives online. Smoke detectors, alarms, refrigerators, stoves, and windows are just a few home devices already connected to the Internet, sharing information on how to make everything in your life more efficient, effective, safe, and healthy.

The Internet of Things is reaching further into our daily lives by combining data from sensors in wearable devices and equipment with analytic programs to help improve the performance of individuals by gaining insights that were traditionally impossible to detect. A few examples of the incredible power of the IoT era include:

Smart Yoga Mat: Smart yoga mats include sensors that provide feedback on yoga postures and calories burned, and can even provide users with guided practice in the comfort of their own home.

Smart Thermostats: IoTs share information in real time to help homeowners manage energy use more efficiently. The system will notify the homeowner if a door is left open, change the temperature in each room when it is occupied, and turn the thermostat up or down depending on the weather and homeowner preferences.

Smart Diapers: Pixie Scientific created disposable diapers with sensors that monitor babies urine for signs of infection, dehydration, or kidney problems before symptoms appear.

Smart Trash Cans: The city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, connected community trash and recycling cans, allowing them to monitor fill rates, which are then used to recommend the most efficient routes for trash pickup services.

Smart Tennis Racket: Babolat, a French tennis racket manufacturer, created the Play Pure Drive, a $400 smart tennis racket that has the capability to record data on every single shot a user takes and sends the data along with an analysis to the users smart phone.

Smart Frying Pan: Pantelligent is an innovative sensor-embedded frying pan that actually helps its users learn how to cook by measuring the temperature of the food and communicating with a smart phone when to add ingredients, change heat, flip, and cover, and even when the food is done. The future of business will focus on big data as IoT devices create, capture, and share massive amounts of data. The business environment is currently collecting more data from IoT devices in one second than all of the data collected from the beginning of time until the year 2000. In fact, over 90 percent of the data in the world was created over the last 2 years. Every minute over 204 million emails are sent and 200 thousand photos are uploaded to Facebook. The terms analytics, data analysis, and business intelligence are all referring to big data and the massive volumes of data being generated around the globe.

Understanding big data will be a critical skill for knowledge workers in every business, regardless of size, focus, or industry. Future managers will be responsible for analyzing data in ways that were not even possible a decade ago, allowing managers to predict customer behaviors, optimize and improve business processes, and analyze multiple variables for trends and patterns. The total amount of business data roughly doubles every 1.2 years. Big data has created an estimated 6 million new jobs and will assist companies in:

Understanding consumer behaviors by combining purchasing data with social media data, weather data, competitor data, and economic data.

Improving the delivery of products by combining delivery process information with current traffic data, vehicle maintenance data, and map data.

Optimizing health care treatments by capturing diagnosis, tracking pharmaceuticals, and eventually predicting diseases.

Preventing cyberattacks by analyzing credit card fraud, security system data, and police data.

Assignment Questions:

1- Propose a start-up company that uses IoT devices data to make better business decisions.

2- Discuss the strategy of the company using Porters definition of strategy.

3- Evaluate the five forces that your start-up will experience.