An Internet of Things (IoT) device can be any physical object you can attach a sensor to and connect to a network. From personalized smart homes a la Alphabet’s Nest to fitness tracking wearables like the Fitbit, businesses have already begun to explore this exciting opportunity.
Looking for ways you can get in on this latest technology trend? Here are three articles from Upwork’s Hiring Headquarters that can help you capitalize on the IoT.
1. Smart stores and the retail revolution
Looking to take your retail business to the next level? “Internet of Things Retail Revolution” takes a deep dive into the marketing stats and benefits driving retailers to adopt this disruptive new technology:
- 25 major established retailers have lost more than $64 billion in market share to smaller, tech savvier, players.
- 65 percent of retailers plan to invest in automation technologies for inventory and planogram management* by 2021.
- 77 percent of retailers see a strong influence of IoT on customer experience.
- 72 percent of retailers are planning to improve their supply chain via IoT based automation, sensors, and analytics.
*Note: A planogram is a diagram used in retail space planning and merchandising to show the optimum placement of products in a store.
Learn more by reading the full article >>
2. Streamlined credit card transactions
Frictionless transactions are the “Holy Grail” of the payments industry: The analytics-driven world of eCommerce has the data to show how every step in the process, from product listing to checkout, can negatively impact your conversions.
“How the Internet of Things Will Change Credit Card Acceptance” details some of the ways in which the IoT has started to streamline in-store credit card transactions. For example:
- IoT technologies such as NFC (Near Field Communication), beacons, Bluetooth, geolocation, and computer vision streamline transactions and provide novel ways for customers to pay for their products.
- Smart car dashboards that route you to the cheapest gas station and let you pay with your credit card with the press of a button.
- Amazon Go, a physical store backed by a suite of IoT technologies, allows a customer to pick up their groceries, checkout, and go without taking out their wallet.
There are certainly security concerns in the IoT that need to be addressed, such as the infamous Mirai botnet attack on Dyn last September. An attack of that magnitude was possible because a large number of early IoT devices weren’t really constructed with network security in mind. The industry has since learned to employ technologies such as biometrics, tokenization, and the blockchain for tighter security.
Learn more by reading the full article >>
3. Big data meets the Internet of Things
In “5 Ways the Internet of Things Will Change Big Data,” Carey Wodehouse explains that integrating the IoT with existing big data infrastructure is not for the faint of heart:
“Before the [IoT] came along—billions of networked sensors and devices capable of generating enormous amounts of new, unstructured real-time data—big data was already really, really big. To tackle this, businesses small and large have taken to the cloud and reworked their IT architectures to create more flexible, scalable ways to manage their data.”
Wodehouse goes on to explore some of the major ways in which the IoT has spurred changes in the data industry—particularly how better IT infrastructures are needed to capitalize on the wealth of data that has recently been made available thanks to IoT devices.
Besides the sheer volume of data, data analysts will have to pick back-end technologies that excel in server clusters and parallel processing, be smart about how they find actionable information, and use technology stacks that are nimble enough to process that data for analytics.
Learn more by reading the full article >>
From the smart bridge that alerts its maintenance crew to areas in need of repair, to the smart bus that tells the municipal traffic signal network to extend the duration of a green light long enough for it to get back on schedule, the line between Information Technology and our physical world has begun to blur. The Internet of Things (IoT) is here.
Eager to learn more about this revolutionary new technology? Checkout more articles about the IoT in the Hiring Headquarters >>
The post 3 Ways the Internet of Things is Reshaping our World appeared first on Upwork Blog.
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