According to Gartner, the IoT meaning is the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or their external environment.

That’s a lot to take on board, but what does it actually mean? The internet of things is about connected sensors and devices that capture, transmit, and analyze data to add value to the customer.

These devices are also known as things. Hence the name internet of things, IoT. Now, some devices are connected to a human, such as your smartphone. Still, in IoT, the internet of things, we also have devices connected to other devices, and they don’t rely on humans to oversee or have some human intervention.

Example to understand the IoT meaning

Let’s take an example. Imagine you’re operating a cold storage factory, and the temperature outside increases and increases on a scorching day. Your sensors and your system can monitor your cold storage device and the ambient temperature outside to adjust the temperature controls downward to keep the area chilled. This all is done by the devices on the systems themselves, rather than needing a human to do it manually.

The Internet of things is also huge in terms of utilities, managing power plants and factories, and physical security, keeping your buildings and your factoring, your premises safe.

We also see further big growth in building automation, production, and even automotive.

IoT meaning & Edge Computing

Let’s get a little deeper into IoT meaning and look at some centralized versus edge computing concepts. According to Gartner, edge computing is part of a distributed computing technology where information processing is located close to the edge where the things on people produce or consume that information.

Edge computing means that data processing occurs close to where the data is actually captured. Let’s take an example to illustrate. An autonomous vehicle captures and processes key information onboard and in real-time, rather than sending it all to an external cloud for processing, because this allows the machine allow the vehicle actually to transfer and process that data internally and in real-time because it could be transferred and moving at speed and fast response times are required.

We need to consider several risks, such as privacy and security with the internet of things in general. But for those concerns, there are also significant advantages and benefits to businesses using IoT, such as identifying damage or theft on their premises, to improve the efficiency of their organization by reducing inventory or stock holding.

Internet of Things Creates Business Opportunities

It can also create new business opportunities for products or services. Also, significant cost savings can be realized using predictive maintenance for your plant and machinery. There won’t be downtime on some of those machines and assets. Also, you can have increased asset use utilization to decrease that downtime.

And finally, updates can be pushed to your software to keep it all running smoothly. If you want to learn more about emerging technology or digital transformation, feel free to contact sales@choovio.com, and please remember digital transformation is about more than technology. It is about leaders with the foresight to see change and the courage to reinvent their organization before others forced them to.