According to Gartner, there should be more than 50B IoT devices connected by 2020. Nevertheless, those projections were set a bit too high due to the buzzwords and hype created about Internet of Things devices. What have caused a drop of approximately 10B devices? I will extrapolate some data from market research and direct insights from this industry and help you to set a concrete ground to cover fully life cycle of developing your IoT idea, in case you have one.
There is a long and challenging way from having your idea started in mind towards some device put in the real world and gathering data - effectively. You need several elements to make this work successful:
a prototyping device (microcontroller)
IoT Cloud that can take and visualise your data
don't forget: a creative but useful idea that can help others
Okay, we both understand that device and a platform will create some form of environment in which you will present so wanted data. But, the key element is also hidden in the third reason above mentioned - a creative, but properly analysed data that will mean something to a broad public. That being said, McKinsey report states that most IoT creators fail to use data or derive just a small part of a huge amount collected. I'll give you an example: only 1% of data from 30k sensors in the network plant turns to valuable and actionable insights! So, what do we need to take care of?
Any IoT device will serve the purpose of:
Tracking data for operational issues,
Monitoring of desired events,
Failure detection and relevant actions.
Be aware that the true purpose and effectiveness of the whole IoT is to predict and optimise. This is the goal to achieve, this will help industries to track devices' continuous repair services and increase their lifetime; automotive industry can collect and share data about traffic and start to reduce current impacts on Climate change, so optimising is here! Isn't that something you would like to do, predict what could happen with environment that you're tracking and optimise relevant actions to prolong a good service?
Therefore, to get started with your idea correctly from the very first steps:
Investigate are there solutions already tested and try to replicate,
Get the prototyping device that you are the most familiar with. We can help with that in case you want some advices,
Find an easy-to-use IoT Cloud where you will present your first data and start optimising them to a meaningful format. We have such Cloud FREE for you.
Also, don't forget that sharing your data is an important part which can help boooooost your idea where you will probably need more time on your own. You may even lose the efficient path or be overwhelmed with so many data, articles and suggestions. Talking to others increases the value of your approach and it's a free brainstorming service! 😃
I hope this article helps you to get some baseline toward making your idea into a working device. I want you to know that we are here for you and are quite open to listen what you want to develop. Feel free to contact us anytime and we will be more than happy to respond.