NEW YORK (January 23, 2017)—According to a new report by Forbes Insights, in association with Pitney Bowes, “Harnessing the Internet of Things: How to Derive Big Business Benefits from the Connected World,” the Internet of Things (IoT) is a historical turning point for businesses and how they will transform consumer interactions in the Digital Age. IoT has proven already to create seismic shifts in how businesses operate, similar to how the Internet and mobile computing influenced the world in which we live in today.
Businesses are already applying anlaytics from the data generated by IoT-enabled sensors to optimize their own operations, and early adopters stand to reap rewards from this data approach, using it to guide development of next-generation consumer devices and even open up entirely new market segments.
Billions of connected devices–mobile devices, wearable fitness trackers and vehicle sensors, for example—currently generate unimaginably vast amounts of data, which will continue to grow at exponential rates in the coming years. If that data is to be useful in unlocking potential economic impact, it needs to be mined for patterns and insights through the appropriate analytics. Fortunately, data science has matured to the point where we have the kinds of advanced analytics needed to answer the kinds of questions organizations want to ask of data. Not just “what has happened?” but “what does this mean?” and “what should we do next? Businesses can then begin delegating some of that decision making to machines.
Through interviews with industry experts and analysts, and an examination of real-world use cases, this report explores some of the potential opportunities and challenges inherent within the IoT—with a particular focus on data and analytics, the fuel the IoT runs on. The report also offers recommendations for organizations when considering the possible impacts IoT will have an organization’s own industry.
“The Internet of Things may take years to work through its growing pains, just like the Internet did,” says Bruce Rogers, Chief Insights Officer at Forbes Media. “But businesses that lag in planning for the IoT will be left behind.”
“What’s critical to understand about the IoT is the notion that everything happens somewhere. You cannot do the Internet of Things or the Industrial Internet of Things without real-time location awareness. It’s not possible. That’s the missing piece that will catalyze growth,” says Greg Van den Heuvel, Chief Operating Officer at Pitney Bowes Software. “However, consumers won’t opt in for this type of data collection if businesses can’t return value. That’s why location-based data, aligned with data analytics, is critical when it comes to businesses taking advantage of the IoT.”
Report features include:
- The importance of taking the early-adoption approach to IoT. While IoT is not yet mature, and many companies will take a “wait and see” approach for a few years, businesses that don’t start planning—especially those with physical assets—are missing an opportunity and opening themselves up to competitive threats.
- IoT-generated data is a treasure trove for business insights. Analyzing this data will not only allow businesses to automate routine decision making, such as scheduling maintenance calls, but will support more complex decision-making through prescriptive and predictive analytics.
- Operational optimization. By collecting and analyzing data from equipment and machines, businesses can increase productivity, minimize or eliminate downtime, and better manage uptime.
- IoT data and data analytics go hand-in-hand. The advanced data analytics need to parse IoT data to make revenue-generating use cases possible. Simply put, automation and delegated decision-making are possible, where before they weren’t.
- Senior leadership should take a long-term approach. In order to understand how the threats and opportunities of the IoT impact their industry and business, senior leaders must think long-term. They should think ahead to potential differentiation and transformation opportunities, and not stop with the immediate business case for cost savings.
- Businesses need to become analytics-driven. Harnessing the IoT is going to require a level of data and analytics literacy that many organizations lack today, especially with the integration that will be necessary between structured and unstructured data.
About this research
For this report, Forbes Insights interviewed industry experts and analysts—and examined real-world use cases—to explore some of the potential opportunities and challenges inherent within the IoT, with a particular focus on data and analytics.
About Forbes Insights
Forbes Insights is the strategic research and thought leadership practice of Forbes Media, a global media, branding and technology company whose combined platforms reach nearly 75 million business decision makers worldwide on a monthly basis. By leveraging proprietary databases of senior-level executives in the Forbes community, Forbes Insights conducts research on a wide range of topics to position brands as thought leaders and drive stakeholder engagement. Research findings are delivered through a variety of digital, print and live executions, and amplified across Forbes’ social and media platforms.
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE: PBI) is a global technology company offering innovative products and solutions that enable commerce in the areas of customer information management, location intelligence, customer engagement, shipping and mailing, and global ecommerce. More than 1.5 million clients in approximately 100 countries around the world rely on products, solutions and services from Pitney Bowes. For additional information, visit Pitney Bowes at www.pitneybowes.com.
Contacts:
Forbes Insights Laura Daunis 212-367-4874 [email protected]
Pitney Bowes Emily Simmons 843-467-1071 [email protected]
Download the report at http://www.forbes.com/forbesinsights/pitney_bowes_IoT/index.html
