The Internet of Things Means Business

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Mapping Sensors to Actions to Model Behavior


Sensors Data Creates New Architecture Challenges

The IoBT will generate a staggering amount of data. Each sensor will produce readings multiple times a minute, thousands of times a day. Multiply that by 365 days a year. If you thought big data was already big enough, you haven’t seen anything yet, especially when it’s not immediately obvious how each sensor’s data will be used. When terabytes of data are piling up exponentially, how do you visualize it to make it useful? Sensors aren’t massive computers. How are you going to capture, store and crunch the data? What if you don’t own your environment? You’ll need to forward the data from sensors to a storage location, likely in the cloud somewhere, which makes the IoBT architecture much more complex. When considering your IoBT plan, you need to consider connectivity, cost and storage.

Collecting More Sensor Data, Means Making More Decisions

Collecting and analyzing data is only the first step. You need to be prepared to act based on what you learn. Putting a mobilization plan in place is equally important to gathering and processing data. You need to build strong relationships with the business to ensure the effort to collect and analyze the data isn’t wasted.  Applying multi-disciplinary teaming – in which business strategy, operations, analytics and technology personnel work together closely and iteratively – is a great idea when tacking the question of the relationships between business measurement using sensors and the resulting value of the data.

Experimenting with Instrumentation

You can’t make a giant investment in IoBT without first exploring the inputs and outputs. Run experiments to understand the full scope of the undertaking. How frequently will you access the data? How will you store it, process it and analyze it? How many sensors do you need and what kinds of sensors do you need? Who do you need to share the information with and does that person’s team have the bandwidth to capitalize on what’s learned?

Has your company started to explore the IoBT? What challenges are you facing and how are you overcoming them?

Image shared by Steve Jurvetson
