Have you crossed those simple, sleek, and yet stylish watch like bands worn by youngsters these days? Or even better, do you own one? Such sleek tech gadgets like Fitbit fall under the category of IoT devices cum applications that are fast moving into people’s lives changing the way people live and playing an important role in their lifestyle.
Over the past few years, IoT has caught the attention of enterprises and people alike bringing with it a host of devices and applications that have become synonymous with performance and style. A host of IoT applications are made available across industry segments from Healthcare to Entertainment. These gadgets or devices are slowly becoming part of our lives and are steadily simplifying our daily routines and tasks.
Let’s observe some of these interesting applications –
Home and Individual Applications:-
These applications are used by individuals for their daily routines and lifestyles. Broadly categorises, the most popular of these applications fall under Smart Home devices and Wearable devices.
Smart Home Devices: Of all individual IoT applications, the most popular and most widely used are smart home devices. A smart home is one which uses smart and connected devices to ensure a comfortable and pleasant living. Connected devices such as smart door locks within smart homes make life easy for homeowners. Smart refrigerators and smart lights are also quite popular with smart lights providing hundreds of different colors and shades to suit the mood of home owners. Perhaps the most favourite and widely used of all smart home devices is the – Smart Thermostat which monitors temperature and also helps home owners save a lot on energy consumption.
Wearable Technology: A popular technology trend, especially among teens and youngsters, wearables are certainly making headlines. Companies such as Samsung, Jawbone, Apple, and Fitbit are steadily making progress in the wearable tech space. Devices such as the Fitbit watch and Apple watch help – track activities, monitor heart rate and even act as task reminders. Some of these smart watches or wrist bands also help users connect with their computer and carry out tasks. While a few wearable companies focus on healthcare and wellness others focus on fitness and entertainment. Wearable companies conduct constant research and improvise on their offerings to bring convenience to users and in turn gain popularity and market share.
Enterprise Applications:-
The enterprise segment has many IoT applications as businesses are finding these applications very useful. Sectors like Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing, and Transportation & Logistics are actively using these applications for higher safety standards and more efficient operations.
Remote Monitoring devices: The healthcare industry has gained advantage thanks to applications such as remote monitoring devices which help doctors monitor patients’ health movement and recouping levels. These devices help hospitals and clinicians provide timely health care for patients based on their recovery status. Other applications such as location devices help doctors and nurses track the relevant devices in a timely manner to ensure efficient clinical operations.
Manufacturing and Retail devices: A host of devices are being used by manufacturers to track their factory operations and schedules ensuring higher levels of efficiencies on the factory floor. Some of these devices also monitor machine breakdowns and alert the concerned personnel. As far as retailers are concerned, smart IoT devices are being used to help track products to improve on storage, distribution, and sales at a store level. At a warehouse level warehouse managers are using smart sensors to track the right products and have them loaded in a timely manner.
Agriculture Smart Equipment: Major changes are occurring in the field of agriculture thanks to IoT applications. The Phenonet project for example, helps farmers monitor vital information like humidity, temperature, soil quality, etc. This helps farmers and crop owners plan farming and irrigation in a more efficient manner. There are other smart devices that help in harvest forecasts ensuring timely harvesting and transportation.
Smart Cities: The smart city concept has been initiated across countries as governments are aiming to boost efficient city operations and help citizens gain a better lifestyle. There are a host IoT applications in the smart city design that range from Utility monitors to Smart Street lightening to Smart surveillance. Government authorities are using smart devices to help create a safer and more efficient public transportation system. Smart Street lightening is helping create more efficient and effective lightening while also helping to save on energy costs and repairs. Other devices are being used in the areas of Water and Electricity supply and Sewerage systems to help city authorities provide an uninterrupted supply of utilities and in timely disposal of waste.
There are numerous applications of IoT solution IoT devices across industry verticals. While a few industry verticals have embraced IoT applications others are slated to catch up with IoT based devices and applications as it’s only a matter of time before they realize the importance and value of these applications. Some of the aforementioned applications however, have gained some recognition and will soon grow exponentially as enterprises are finding varied uses of these IoT applications.