Top IoT Trends in 2020

Ten years back, what could your phones do? Just help you communicate! Today, your phones can monitor your health, track your location, be your P.A and do a lot more. They have become smart! The same goes for your appliances. Your refrigerator can now do more than just preserve your food. 

It can help you make shopping lists, remind you about family events, notify you of expiring foods and a whole list of other things. What made home appliances so smart?  The answer is simple – Connections! Our appliances can now be connected to each other and to the internet. The tech revolution that enabled these connections is what we call the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT).

 IoT is soon going to transform everything we do, especially the way we do business. It will change the way businesses produce, market and grow. This is why every business needs to sit up, pay attention to the potential of IoT and see what IoT trends are going to rule in 2020.

Top IoT Trends in 2020

The IoT space is up for some major transformation in the next few years. What changes do we foresee in 2020?  

More places and things will get the ‘Smart’ tag 

IoT is not going to be just about your homes and their appliances anymore. Here are some areas in which we will feel IoT’s impact more acutely in the coming years            

• Smart Offices:

  Imagine, if your office equipment can sense when supplies are low and automatically place orders, how would it be? Now add smart lighting, smart thermostat sensors, smart video doorbell cameras and locks to the list. Sounds great, doesn’t it? 

• Smart Hospitals:

  One industry that is waiting to tightly embrace IoT in 2020 is healthcare. Portable intelligent devices, wearables, and implants can send patient parameters to physicians on a real-time basis. Medical equipment can also be configured to IoT for better maintenance and safety. 

• Smart Cities:

  “Smart cities” have been widely talked about in the last year. In 2020 more cities are going to get smarter. Traffic lights, parking meters and many other utilities in cities can be connected through IoT devices to make them energy and cost-efficient. By 2050, spending on the smart city is predicted to rise to $80 billion. 

• Smart Stores:

  Retail store owners can simplify inventory management with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Tags). Smart lighting can record customer movements within the store and the time they spend in each product interaction. Such valuable data from IoT devices can help store owners adjust their product displays and store inventory to reflect customer preferences. 

•  Smart factories:

  The Manufacturing sector is keen to adopt IoT to enhance security and maintenance. Sensors can help identify maintenance issues even before they occur. IoT and wearables can connect the factory floor workers to the management so monitoring employee productivity and safety becomes easier.

IoT will be paired with other technology to sharpen its edge.

All leading advancements in technology will feed off each other and the convergence will fuel further progress. 

• AI, Big Data and IoT

The most valuable outcome of IoT is the massive amount of data that it generates. An IDC (International Data Corporation) forecast predicts that by 2025 40 billion connected devices would create around 80 Zettabytes of data. But for the data to be valuable, we need to analyze and interpret them. AI and Big Data technology amalgamated with IoT can help a business convert this data into useful insights. 

• Blockchain for a More Secure IoT

The Blockchain and IoT synergy is inevitable, especially in the context of security. With the interconnectedness of IoT also comes more vulnerability to cyber-threats. Blockchain technology when integrated into IoT networks can eliminate these security issues.

• IoT powered by Voice Activation 

Smart speakers are the most popular IoT devices. What does that tell us? Consumers enjoy voice integration in their devices! Voice recognition technology is improving by leaps and bounds and now comes at a very affordable cost. So voice activation in IoT devices is surely going to be one of the most popular IoT trends in 2020.

• Edge Computing

IoT devices have so far relied on the cloud to store their data. But experts have found that sending all the data first to a device closer to the IoT, at the edge of the network is better than transferring directly to the cloud. This is Edge computing and is preferred to cloud storage because it enables better connectivity and faster data management.

IoT will Outgrow This Challenge

• Security Inadequacy

Security is the major challenge that IoT faces today. In 2020 the focus on finding solutions to the security problem will intensify. We will use AI, Big Data, Blockchain, and other technology to bolster the security of IoT.  Machine-to-machine authentication and biometric logins will add layers of security to the IoT network. 

Do these IoT trends excite you? Hitch onto the IoT technology bandwagon and grow your business with the right IoT platform provider. Infognana Solutions offers customized software solutions including IoT software development services, mobile application development, software testing, and others. Check out our website for more information.