McKinsey estimates that the market size of the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow to $3.7 billion by 2020 and IHS predicts that there will be 75.4 billion IoT-enabled devices installed by 2024. In addition, General Electric forecasts that the investment in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which is the use of IoT technology in manufacturing industries, will grow to $60 trillion by 2020.
Those are a lot of big numbers to throw around about the IoT, but what do they mean for the average consumer in terms of saving money and enhancing their economic buying power? In addition, how do they relate to the ever-present need for companies to reduce costs and grow revenues?
The answer is that there are many ways that individuals and businesses can benefit from the energy-saving and thus money-saving properties of Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Here are several examples:
Building and facility systems – IoT technology can use sensors to monitor factors such as air temperature and quality, energy usage, water consumption, and many others to identify opportunities for enhanced efficiencies. It also enables homeowners, building owners, and facility managers to program and control these systems to save money. This can include automating processes to adjust building temperatures based on weather; to turn off lights in rooms that aren’t being used; and to turn off water heaters when demand for hot water is low.
For example, an apartment complex in Sweden is using IoT technology to monitor hot water usage by each tenant and then billing them according to how much hot water they use instead of splitting the cost amongst all the renters. The result is a projected $42 million savings across 10 years.
In addition, IoT technology can monitor building systems and immediately alert maintenance technicians when there are problems. These issues can include water leaks, broken windows, damaged or malfunctioning HVAC systems, and other disruptions that can lead to a decrease in energy efficiencies and necessitate insurance claims. This lowers costs and prevents unnecessary downtime that can create problems for homeowners or hinder business operations.
Industrial inventory management – IoT technology can help businesses track inventory throughout multiple locations anywhere in the world by utilizing inventory sensors. As a result, they always know exactly how many inventory items they have and where they are, leading to greater efficiencies that save money in inventory management.
Smart homes and home automation – The U.S. Dept. of Energy encourages consumers to use smart appliances that are designed to conserve energy as they run because they save money and produce less waste. Many smart devices can also be programmed to function at times when energy is less expensive. These include:
Smart thermostats that can be programmed to raise and lower temperature based on factors such as area occupation, time of day, and weather as well as smart electrical systems that direct power to lights, appliances, and other household electronics. The result is optimized comfort control that lowers electricity bills.
Intelligent energy storage systems driven by the IoT that allow energy distribution to be managed in real time based on immediate data. When combined with smart meters, they allow energy services and payment tariffs that can reduce a home or business’ energy costs.
Integration with renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power that allow you to create a home microgrid and generate your own electricity. You can also combine this with energy storage technology to minimize your home’s reliance on the grid for power, thus saving money on electrical bills.
The IoT will continue developing at an exponential rate for the foreseeable future. As this happens, the potential for money savings for individuals as well as enhanced revenues for businesses will increase as well.
Sara Carter, an experienced tech expert who established her blog, Enlightened-Digital, to share her passion with others around the web. After 15 years in the industry, her goal is to bring information on all technology to the masses. Her philosophy is to create each article so that anyone can understand the content, whether they are a consumer or technology expert.
How businesses can use the IoT to save money and make more
Businesses are always looking for ways to be more financially fiscal and make more money in the process. By utilizing technology, such as the Internet of Things, they are able to collect more information that can help them execute better business strategies. According to a study by DHL, they predict that the IoT will save businesses $1.2 trillion in productivity costs alone. With this in mind, companies are looking towards the IoT for data collection and insights to help turn data into money by taking advantage of usage intelligence, feature-based packaging, and flexible consumption.
Every company no matter what they sell, is always focused on the consumer. Whether they offer a product or a service, their number one priority is the target audience. This means that businesses should know how a customer uses their product, what they think about the brand, and their commentary for ways the company could better their experience. With usage intelligence the IoT allows companies to gather actionable data-based insights in real time.
The data they gather will help them save money and generate revenue. Thanks to the insights they themselves create, they are able to create a laid out plan for how to better market to their audience in each phase of their product development. For example, in the development phase they can make improvements based off data for their next model. In the sales phase they can discover new leads as well as new marketing plans for advertising. In the support phase they can use the insights they’ve gathered to help them customer service-wise. This will help them save money when it comes to A/B testing to know how to cater to their customers. Rather than hiring big agencies to run testing, or trying out tactics oneself, companies can now use the data and insights they have collected thanks to the IoT technology.
There are very few companies these days who have a single product available and the IoT can impact the bottom line when it comes to flexible offerings. By using the IoT to collect information about what customers really want in their products, they can offer more fluid options when it comes to configuring product availability and enabling or disabling features. Through this method, businesses now can offer the same product in many different ways. This allows for more versions, different price points, and less effort put into new product production all helping the company save money, while also make money.
Many tech companies are offering options like this today. For example, Apple has done this with their products, including the Apple Watch. With newer generations individuals can now pick and choose which features they would like incorporated into their product. The Apple Watch for instance, can come with or without cellular and internet service, and offers the option to add-on features as the owner sees fit. This helps attract buyers and saves Apple money by not forcing them to make more products; even though they might still choose to.
Accent Systems also offers customizations with all their producConsumers these days are extremely cautious and are more likely to research a product before they purchase. That being said, they are more choosy when it comes to things they will buy and they do not want to pay for more than they need. The IoT is helpful in this area, for it can tell what consumers are really looking for in their products. Recognizing that not all consumers are looking for the same offerings. With this in mind, companies have turned to flexible consumption to help earn more revenue with new customers.
By using collected insight, businesses are now offering the ability to pay for their services based on need. Similar to the usage intelligence and feature-based packaging, flexible consumption uses the data collected for what companies choose to offer in this way. Rather than improve the next generation of offerings, they instead allow consumers to choose to pay for only what they need with a pay as you go pricing. This will help companies save money by catering to those who only are interested in parts of the product, instead of leaving them to take their business elsewhere.
As mentioned, the IoT is one of the most resourceful technologies for companies to use for data collection and driving monetization. Turing this data into revenue is not always straightforward and can often have a learning curve when it comes to proper implementation. However, if companies let the data speak for itself and keep the customer in mind, they will continue to save money and find success.
Accent Systems is a global provider of innovative enterprise IOT solutions that offers a variety of standard products and develops tailored IOT solutions for third parties.