That the Internet of Things, or IoT, has begun to change our everyday lives is common knowledge by now. The term used for this phenomenon may change, but regardless if we’re talking self-driving cars or self-monitoring elevators, the effects are beginning to seep into the fundament of business life. And looking forward, some sectors will be affected more than others. Because, trust us, IoT is far from done with changing our world.
Hewlett Packard, a key player in many areas within our budding digital society, just released an article listing 5 industries that stand to be transformed through and through by the evolution of connected devices. Here’s a rundown (for more in-depth cause-and-effect rationales, please follow the link below).
1. Transportation
The connected car market is expected to hit $225 billion in 2016 (up from $32 billion in 2015) and by 2020, nearly 250 million vehicles will have automated driving capabilities. Soon, more sophisticated infotainment systems, graphic accelerators and human-machine interface technology will be the norm. And while there’s been obvious investment in—and serious hype around—the connected car, there are still hurdles to overcome.
2. Manufacturing
“The Industrial IoT will not only increase the efficiency of factories, but it will fundamentally change the way manufacturing firms produce and do business,” says Volkhard Bregulla, VP of HPE’s Global Manufacturing and Distribution Industry. “In the future, when you order a car, the entire supply chain will be configured on the fly according to the features of your unique order. It will not take months, but days until your car is delivered. For manufacturing firms, this means they have to both digitize their plants and develop new forms of value creation and collaboration.”
3. Retail
Imagine walking into a store, browsing the shelves, taking what you want, and, as you leave, a sensor scans your items and automatically charges your credit card. This scenario isn’t too far off. Retailers are projected to spend $2.5 billion by 2020 on sensors, beacons, RFID tags and other hardware and installation—quadruple the $670 million spent in 2015.
4. Energy
For decades, the energy industry has established networks of millions of connected devices reliably and securely. But the grid is getting even smarter, using data, machine learning, sensors and Wi-Fi to let meters, pipes and other equipment talk to each other in real time and identify potential problems before they happen. In fact, energy companies are expected to install one billion smart meters by 2020 to meet energy demand.
5. Healthcare
As the price point for wearable devices drops and wireless infrastructure becomes more reliable, healthcare data will increasingly go wireless. Machina Research expects the number of connected healthcare devices to increase from the roughly 140 million devices today to 1.3 billion in 2025—the fastest growing IoT sector over the next 10 years. That data could eventually predict problems like high blood pressure and diabetes complications—potentially reducing emergency room admissions.