English | EN The Internet of Things in 4 Reports
Nov 18, 2014
A little over year ago we started our study of the internet of things. As with the series on Big Data we published four reports on this topic. Time for a quick recap.
Why this the internet of things?
Social networks, Mobile platforms and apps, advanced Analytics and Big Data, plus the Cloud form SMAC. This established paradigm has revolutionized the information society and made many more aspects of society ready for a connection with the web. By adding Things, we form SMACT: a decisive breakthrough and established fact due to miniaturization, cheap sensors, smartphones in the pockets of billions of people, autonomous systems, better batteries and smart software in the Cloud. Things, in combination with SMAC, form a new, potentially disruptive wave of innovation.
Report 1: THINGS – Internet of Business Opportunities
In our first report Things: Internet of Business Opportunities we reported on a tipping point concerning a dazzling impact on the whole economy. Connected things offer new opportunities to combat waste in the broadest sense of the term. This waste occurs among all parties: clients, suppliers, governmental bodies, service providers and the manufacturing industry. Applying digital things, sensors, actuators, apps and SMACT demands a certain mindset as well as concrete actions to optimize process and event chains, and to translate surprising new opportunities into new products and services. Our report offers an overview of recent developments and tips to accelerate your Things approach.
Report 2: EMPATHIC THINGS – Intimate Technology : from wearables to biohacking
In the second report we focused on the personalized internet of things. We are witnessing a computer boom in terms of kinds, shapes and sizes – around, on or inside the body. Therefore we explored the coming transition toward a more empathic and contextual form of computerization. The emergence of wearable computing and other forms of empathic ‘things’ seems a logical further step: even more intimate, more human-oriented, and ubiquitous. We explored this development and present seven manifestations that can define the impact on business, such as the ‘quantified employee’ and the ‘body as the new password’.
Report 3: THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: Things to Tighten the Link between IT and OT
This report was all about the fourth stage of the Industrial Revolution made possible by the far-reaching integration of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT). The IT/OT convergence and the end-to-end ecosystems that are under development – from design and production to client interaction and advanced Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) – enable a future in which appliances, devices, things and machines for professionals and private people will communicate with central systems, with one another, and with users for the purpose of providing the best possible facilities to makers, service providers, legislators and customers.
Report 4: SMACT AND THE CITY: New Technologies in Urban Environments
In our last report we took the city as the centre of things and asked ourselves: when will the Internet change our cities like it changed our lives? The report shows how the five basic SMACT technologies are moving the creation of 21st century urban environments into top gear. We provide a status update on Smart Cities today and how developments like Senseable Cities and Cities as a Platform provide both new dynamics and opportunities for blending the digital and the physical infrastructure of our world together. SMACT will transform the city into a platform to blend bricks and clicks seamlessly together. The report provides a analysis of how this is already becoming a reality for retailers and presents what companies and organizations of all trades could learn from the accelerating convergence of bricks and clicks.
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