Companies have historically managed assets such as property, plants, equipment, inventory, cash, and intellectual property. In today’s digital world, a new type of asset is emerging: data.
Companies are reporting, collecting, and analyzing data in vast volumes. It’s becoming a key measure of whether a company will remain relevant through the digital revolution as we enter the era of cognitive computing.
Data originates from many new sources and is increasingly becoming easier to collect and analyze.
Due to the rise in availability and new data-driven insights, more and more is being exchanged within and among companies. This practice has spawned a new economy built upon using data to generate value through both internal and external means.
Internet of Things (IoT) devices are one of the driving forces behind the shift to this new economy. As the number of “things” become more instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent, the information they produce will grow exponentially.
New approaches and business models will be required. There are many opportunities to contain costs and attain value with IoT information. These opportunities are driving IoT investments by companies and increasing the number of new players. As the volume increases, the data economy will continue to emerge and enable companies through the selling and exchanging information.
Collaboration and visibility
As IoT enabled products are adopted, access to information from those products is enabling improvements and reducing the total cost of owning them.
New supply chain dynamics are becoming common, including: decentralized production, omni-channel approaches, fulfillment by brick and mortar stores, and the use of drones and autonomous vehicles.
As complex ecosystems rise, collaboration and visibility remain essential. With the emergence of the data economy, if companies are able to develop flexible supply chains, new value chain opportunities can emerge in response to near real-time consumer and consumption data.
IoT unveils new patterns and trends
Connecting things — then combining device data with other sources — unveils patterns and trends that would not otherwise be obvious. The decisions made possible in this way have the potential to drive business and industries to new heights.
Despite the great strides we have seen in IoT technology and applications, the Internet of Things has much room for growth. Much of the “dark data” created by the IoT is not easily seen through traditional sources, yet holds great value if it can be deciphered and put to use.
This otherwise discarded information can help us learn about complex IoT systems, but that’s just the beginning. When we combine it with information from other sources, such as weather and news events, we can use the resulting analysis to drive decisions on everything from predictive maintenance to fleet operations to worker safety.
By translating massive amounts of unstructured data into meaningful outputs, IBM Watson IoT helps identify trends, anomalies, probabilities and patterns that otherwise might go unseen. It also gives organizations a way to tap into the flood of IoT data, then use it to answer previously unasked questions and make intelligent business decisions.
