Due to technology, internet has been revolutionized from boffins to geeks to masses to mobility to Internet of Things. The impact has been felt in different segments like education, healthcare, communications, business, entertainment, logistics etc. As per different sources, when population of the world is expected to be 7.6 billion by 2020, the connected device per person would go up to 6.58! Let’s discuss if it should be IoT/IoB?
RFID, Sensors, Smart Tech and Nano Tech are few critical technologies that are contributing to IoT. With an invention, come challenges and issues – Society (People, security, privacy), Environmental aspects and indeed Technological challenges (Standards, interoperability, interfaces, governance etc). Imagine how gamification itself is leveraged creatively by people as a part of this. Yes, you guessed right. We have also started strategizing how ITSM (IT Service Management), BSM (Business Service Management) or for that matter, simply Service Management would be integrated as a part of this revolution.
Last week when I was checking into departure gate at the airport, the security guard seemed very curious to know the model of my smart phone. When I told him that it is Lumia, it appeared that he was keener to know the specific Lumia model and what benefits it offered over others! While checking in a hotel, the staff told me why he preferred Windows mobile over an Android and listed out top 10 justified reasons towards it! I am sure you seldom get surprised today when an auto-rickshaw driver asks you to check the shortest route to the destination and promises to charge based on the distance showed by Google Maps. I am not referring to the rude ones whose intention is to simply take advantage of the situation and rob you by charging 1.5 or 2 times the actual fare. Even consider how the announcements are made automatically in air-conditioned Volvo buses in Bangalore using GPS when it is about to reach the next bus stop.
I was wondering if we can take this concept a tad higher by considering business aspects. Indeed the technology aspects using RFID, Nano Tech etc continue to remain; however, applying it from business context and considering a holistic view seems more meaningful to me. For instance, tapping the details of sugarcane industry required for alcohol or medicinal business, which in turn is related with the location of where the sugarcane are grown, linking it with the climatic conditions, its impact in different seasons of the year, the water levels and availability of labor due to scarcity of water, social and economic values associated with it, the interests in farming that may hamper the business due to a change in political party in that area or due to fluctuating prices of fertilizers/gasoline etc. Similarly, one may want to extend the other end of the industry related with alcohol, the ban that may be introduced in certain states, the impact of illegal products being manufactured, change in behavioral patterns or import/export policies etc. Consider applying it to education, healthcare, automobile, banking, travel etc sectors.
To put it more lucidly, I think that we should not just merely consider IoT and develop the world around it. Let the leaders/experts in respective domains/business strategize the business aspects and then leverage IoT as per the business requirements, NOT the other way round. The saying ‘Drive thy business or it will drive thee’ is very apt in this context. I will shortly be publishing another blog or White Paper around this topic. Interested readers can share the feedback, reach out to me or keep in tuned
Supnirsirg to think of something like that
Glad you liked it, Cordy 🙂