The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming the flagship for companies seeking a digital renaissance. With its ability to harness data, the primary fuel that drives modern commerce, IoT is now seen as the glue that holds human and machine intelligence together.
But, adopting sensors and other data collection mechanisms also creates a story of the rich and poor. Companies that adopt IoT have shown greater resilience during the pandemic than companies with waiting periods.
These IoT leaders also outperformed the laggards in almost every performance parameter. Combined with machine intelligence, IoT enables managers to turn big data into informed decisions.
However, leaders and laggards need to be aware of the impact of the ubiquitous IoT on employees. Increased processes can affect employee membership, increasing the human skills needed to expand business modernization in the years to come.
Digitization: First Step to Digital Transformation
Digital transformation (DT) is about data. While you can find many convoluted definitions for DT, the easiest way to think about it is that it allows companies to use customer data to drive their business directly. In the literal sense, companies can get closer to their customers.
Digital transformation is abstract for traditional businesses because there is nothing solid to anchor it on. So how does a traditional business transform into one capable of reaping the rewards of digital transformation?
Their first step is to create a digital link between their customers and their business, which can happen with the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT starts with connectivity, but it’s digitalization that gets things interesting. All companies, large and small, can transform into digital businesses using an IoT platform capable of digitizing their physical products.
Some of the largest companies lead this move towards digitalization. Pressure from their competitors has led them to digitize some of their product lines to be online and use digital products. These transformation pressures are not limited to the largest companies. Timing is everything, and digital transformation is no different. The more digital a company is, the more competitive it is the spoils the first to arrive in each market.
How Does The IoT Platform Pave the Way to Digital Transformation?
IoT-based digital transformation is applied to physical products. For traditional businesses, this is solid ground: Selling products is how they make money, the reason for everything else. And because it aligns with its culture, IoT-based digital transformation is understandable and exciting enough to motivate employees to discover it.
Data is critical for both digital transformation and IoT. When applied correctly, IoT technology collects source data from the physical world and converts it into actionable information for the business.
Internal source data starts at the sensor. Turning that data into a digital payload and then encapsulating it with protocols so it can be sent over the network is the job of a software agent living above the embedded system. It is the edge of the IoT network from which the data payload is collected and sent to the IT network via the operational technology network. From there, the data goes into the public cloud and then into a database that can be processed by analytics software or artificial intelligence. This processing creates patterns that produce information stored in the company’s business systems – which various departments within the company can access and use to streamline and improve their work.
This process performed by the IoT platform is the driving force behind digital transformation. The IoT platform that enables the digitization of physical products and data collection also provides the digital link between a company and its products and customers.
Leverage IoT Data Across Your Organization
The most obvious data to collect is about the product itself. A product’s usefulness, usability, and performance can be modeled and compared with its actual use, resulting in innovations that improve products and create new ones.
But what other data can the product generate and collect that is useful for the business? In addition to engineering, some departments can benefit from data:
- Production
- Marketing
- Sale
- Support
- Business Development
- Human Resources Department
- Legal
The Benefits Of A Digital Enterprise
For traditional businesses, IoT platform technology enables them to become digital businesses. From there, they can enjoy increased competitiveness, faster innovation, greater efficiency, new business models, and improved customer experience that digital businesses are already enjoying. Ultimately, the benefits of digital transformation are getting closer to customers and using that proximity to improve how companies design, market, sell and support customers. Closer management leads to huge competitive advantages. Large or small businesses using IoT to transform their products digitally can now gain a competitive advantage. However, IoT technology and productive IoT Services can be the key to entering the digital transformation world. Once you’re in the kingdom, the sky’s the limit.