What Cisco Wants You to Know About IoT

Featured article by Tiffany Rowe, Independent Tehchnology Author

The Internet of Things (IoT) – that network of connected devices that includes everything from smart home devices to smart toys, wearable medical tech, and more – is growing exponentially as more and more people adopt mobile devices and become enamored by connected tech designed to make their lives easier. Cisco predicts that the number of connected devices on the Internet of Things (IoT) will surpass 50 billion by 2020, but while much of the focus is on smart home devices, it’s not just the home that’s getting smarter.

IoT technologies are expected to foster massive gains for businesses across industries as diverse as healthcare, agriculture, education, sports, entertainment, retail, and the military – and those gains are expected to come soon. Boston Consulting Group predicts that B2B spending on IoT apps, solutions, and technologies will climb as high as $267 billion by 2020, with half of that spending driven by transportation, utilities, manufacturing, and logistics. Here’s what you need to know:

Network Growth Is Expected to Explode Over the Next Few Years

According to forecasts from Cisco, network growth is expected to take off over the next few years, as IoT technologies gain popularity in both the B2C and B2B sectors. By 2021, annual IP traffic around the world is expected to grow to 3.3 zettabytes (ZB) – that’s 127 times the amount of global IP traffic experienced in 2005. Mobile and wireless devices will drive this explosion in IP traffic, accounting for 63 percent of IP traffic by 2021; wired devices will account for just 37 percent, and smart phones for about 33 percent.

Global internet use is expected to increase to 30 GB per year per person, and there will be three times as many connected devices as people in the world by 2021. To keep up, global broadband speeds are expected to double over the next three years.

IoT Adoption Is Revolutionizing Business

When you think about IoT, you probably think about consumer goods, like smart home devices or even automated vehicles. But IoT is making its biggest changes to how we do business. The majority of IoT applications are happening in business environments, as businesses develop connected devices not just for consumer use, but to streamline manufacturing and logistics, improve transportation, and more. Many industries are already experiencing growth due to the early adoption of IoT technologies or an early focus on developing new IoT products and solutions. Retail, for example, is already adopting IoT technologies to implement automated checkouts, while city planners are using them to promote public health, slash energy costs, and improve public transportation.

Companies Need to Embrace IoT to Survive

Whether you’re an authorized Cisco reseller, a Cisco user, or both, you’re already aware that Cisco is turning toward a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model as hardware sales plateau. A 2015 survey by ZK Research found that respondents ranked Cisco as the vendor they most associated with the IoT, and for good reason. Cisco has worked hard to get on the ground floor of the IoT, as they seek to expand their business model to include more SaaS and IoT solutions.

Businesses that are not prepared to fully embrace IoT technologies, apps, and solutions are businesses that will most likely not survive the technological changes sweeping the world, and Cisco knows that. The proliferation of new technologies, including mobile devices, cloud computing, IoT, blockchain, AI, social media, 3D printing, and virtual reality has allowed new business models to shake up staid industries, just as the advent of e-commerce shook up many industries in the early days of the Internet.

Companies will increasingly need to prioritize collaboration and mass personalization of products for the consumer sector. Process efficiency will also need to become a priority, as IoT solutions increasingly automate and streamline archaic processes throughout industry and daily life, changing the way even simple tasks, like sweeping the floor or using a pen and paper, are completed.

IoT technologies may be just catching on, but soon they’re expected to herald enormous changes in the way we live our daily lives and conduct our daily business. Companies across all industries need to embrace these technologies, to take part in the cycle of innovation that’s occurring, so that they can continue to stay relevant as the full potential of IoT comes to fruition.

About the Author

Tiffany is a leader in marketing authority, she assists Seek Visibility and our clients in contributing resourceful content throughout the web. Tiffany prides herself in her ability to create and provide high quality content that audiences find valuable. She also enjoys connecting with other bloggers and collaborating for exclusive content in various niches. With many years of experience, Tiffany has found herself more passionate than ever to continue developing content and relationship across multiple platforms and audiences.