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What Do the Next Five Years Hold For the IoT?

It is predicted that the next five years will mark a change of landscape in how companies and jurisdictions operate, as well as a shift in consumers’ lifestyle. Or in numbers, more than 40 billion IoT devices will be installed worldwide through 2023 by consumers, companies, and governments.A shift toward more internet-enabled products has been dubbed IoT for short, meaning that those traditionally “dumb” and non-internet-enabled physical devices will be more and more connected and able to communicate and interact with others over the Internet. A futurist world is often envisioned as a place where everything in the surrounding environment could communicate without human intervention. As it happens, this future might be just around the corner. The next five years will be transformational for consumers, enterprises, and governments alike. So when speaking about what the future holds for the IoT, we should look at these three areas separately: It is estimated that by 2023 the number of smart home devices has surpassed 1 billion in the US alone. Companies are often considered as the most mature segment of the IoT. It is expected that the companies will continue pouring billions of dollars into connected devices and automation, taking the annual spending on manufacturing IoT solutions up to $450 billion by 2023. Meanwhile, the total industrial robotic system installed base will approach 6 million worldwide.The governments' interest in the IoT grows out from the potential these devices have to drive smart cities. Cameras, smart street lights, and connected meters to provide a real-time overview of traffic, utilities’ usage, crime, and environmental factors are just some of the examples of IoT devices the governments are interested in. By 2023, the annual investment in the governmental sector is expected to reach nearly $900 billion. To understand better where we are headed to in the long-run, it is interesting to observe the IoT predictions made for this year: The number of devices connected to the Internet on a daily basis is growing constantly. This growth translates into more data and more traffic on an already congested connected internet. We are likely to see 5G connectivity to stand out even more, as it helps the web to handle the increase of devices. It’s been said that 87% of healthcare organizations will have adopted IoT technology by 2019. When it comes to healthcare organizations and the IoT, the possibilities are endless: smart pills, smart home care, personal healthcare management, electronic health records, managing sensitive data, which will help us to achieve a higher degree of patient care.The IoT is a key driver of digital transformation in manufacturing. The next industrial revolution is lead by sensors, RFID tags, and smart beacons. Market analysts have predicted that the number of connected devices in the manufacturing industry will double between 2017 and 2020. We are all aware that IoT devices have their security issues, which leaves them vulnerable to hacks. One of the main objectives of 2019 is to increase security at all endpoints. In 2019 we will start to see smart areas or neighborhoods within cities. Smart sensors around the neighborhood to record everything from walking routes, shared car use, building occupancy, sewage flow, and temperature choice 24/7 can all contribute to creating a place that’s comfortable, convenient, safe, and clean for its inhabitant. Within five years, self-driving cars might be a normal occurrence, but in 2019, the IoT will gain more dominance inside the car. We will be able to check tire pressure, oil level, fuel consumption and so many other things with our mobiles. With the number of connected devices growing by every minute, IoT’s far-reaching implications for consumers, enterprises, and governments are not up for discussion. Now that we come to think of it, there will likely be more advancements that we have only dreamt about until now. Identifying the transformational trends and having a vision where they're headed, becomes vital in order to keep up.

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Zigurat Global Institute of Technology