Future-proof your career with IOT

We have all seen television shows where a fridge reorders food and drink. Some of us have played with home automation using Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

Expected Growth of IOT

However, we are not even scratching the surface. In 2015, there were 15 billion connected devices. This will conservatively grow to 75 Billion by 2025. Intel believes it will be over 200 Billion.

It is in business applications (especially Business to Business - B2B) that we can expect to see the most impact. Industrial and workplace management IOT connections will transform how businesses interact with each-other.

How will IOT affect us?

1. Analytics - Global companies will use analytic data generated by IOT connected devices to help improve processes and identify ways to optimise.

2. Improved productivity - This will lead to increased supply chain performance improving productivity by around 15%. The implications of this are staggering. Companies that fall behind will be at risk while many supply chain jobs will change drastically.

3. Motor cars - Business Insider project that soon 75% of new cars will come out with IOT connectivity. The obvious application are driver aids to assist with lane changes, collision avoidance and more, with the ultimate target being safe self-driving cars.

4. Smart homes - the applications here are endless with IOT helping with temperature, lighting, security, audio-visual, irrigation and more.

5. Smart Cities - The most obvious application is traffic management. The more data gathering devices we have the better the analytics and the better the traffic management. This can be extended to managing electricity grids, water distribution, pollution management and more

6. Health - The fitness devices like Apple Watch and Fitbit will collect data, warn you about possible issues and connect you to doctors.

7. Retail - Whenever we go into stores it seems there are fewer staff. This trend will continue with embedded systems to improve inventory management, operations and shopping experience whilst reducing theft.

8. Farming - In water scarce countries like South Africa, IOT can better manage irrigation and fertilising

Clearly the skies the limit with IOT. The IOT jobs are growing fast in South Africa. Next week, this newsletter will delve into the kinds of jobs that are emerging. As always, if you want to chat about your career please email me