Monetization of data among key trends in Internet of Things in 2018

[EY IoT Competence Center ]

1. IoT monetization: a transition from “value islands” to “value ecosystems”

Business and operational models based on IoT capabilities are still very traditional and the anticipated benefits have primarily focused around how to achieve incremental value (which created value islands) through increased productivity, process automation, and maintenance cost reduction for example. However, more and more decision-makers are realizing the disruptive potential of IoT and are likely to increase its current value stream (toward value ecosystems) and more effectively use and monetize the data collected.

2. A new dawn of network edge processing

Moving of IoT data processing to the network edge was expected to happen in the early years of the IoT development. However, this trend slowed due to decreasing connectivity costs and rising communication networks throughput, which resulted in a shift toward centralized processing. However, falling prices and the increasing processing power of edge devices have revived this trend back towards network edge.

3. Disruptive technologies are converging

Technologies like IoT, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA) are increasingly converging under a single digital disruption umbrella. The EY IoT Competence Center anticipates that in the first half of 2018, suppliers will begin to move toward full integration of IT systems supporting business processes and automation solutions in order to build fully integrated ‘Intelligent Automation’ solutions.

4. A battle for standards – IoT connectivity wars

So far IoT interconnectivity has been difficult as players adopt their unique approaches and solutions for different applications. Each promotes their own proprietary standards and protocols, which has led to a multiplicity of closed systems that do not communicate with other devices.

By mid-2018, the EY IoT Competence Center expects the pre-standard 5G mobile network to be launched in the US. This is projected to support virtual private networks with different operational characteristics, and work across multiple frequencies. While global distribution of 5G networks are not expected until 2020, formalized standards are expected to be in place in 2018 and have the potential to reshape almost all current wireless communication methods used for IoT-based applications.

5. From cybersecurity to resilience by design

EY IoT Competence Center analysis reveals that security and privacy concerns are the top factors preventing decision-makers from committing to IoT development and implementation. Increasingly, companies are recognizing that the solutions required to secure centralized IT systems are not sufficient to secure distributed IoT systems, especially in applications requiring high levels of reliability.