Why the internet of things doesn’t exist but will still reshape your business

Description

After years of hype, the internet of things has become a clichéd term bandied about by analysts and companies trying to sell their services. Part of the problem is the attachment to a label that, for example, places wind turbine vibration sensors in the same jargon-bucket as a voice-activated home speaker that can control our lights. This giant market we call the internet of things, seemingly encompassing everything from wearables to autonomous vehicles to smart homes, factories, and cities, simply does not exist.

Yet there is change afoot, reshaping our industries, our lives, and the world itself—change driven by fundamental technological shifts: cheaper, more powerful hardware, nearly ubiquitous connectivity, cloud and edge computing. We’re witnessing an evolution of computing, as it expands from mainframes (one computer for many people) to desktops (one computer per person) to mobile (multiple computers per person) to the phenomenon we see today (one to many computers per “thing”).

Ajay Kulkarni explores the underlying changes that are characterizing the next wave of computing and shares several ways in which individual businesses and overall industries will be transformed.