Why should businesses care about the Internet of Things?

Credit: iStockphoto/chris_lemmens

Everyday it seems we hear of another cutting-edge bio-metric tracker, the ‘next big’ location-based sensor and data transmitter, the inevitable fleet of driverless cars, or some other ‘smart’-something– how about a fork that tells you when you’re eating too much?

The growing number of examples is staggering, but can also dilute its significance and relevance. The Internet of Things represents a synthesis of technological innovation with truly infinite potential; potential meaning use cases, applications, functions, etc. For individuals. For businesses. For institutions. For governments. For people. For society.

But businesses want to know how they can benefit from the Internet of Things. They want to know what technologies people are talking about, what technologies other businesses are benefitting from internally or customer-facing, or providing themselves. They want to know where other businesses are investing in this technology. They want to know where to invest.

Why should businesses care about the Internet of Things? How should they be thinking about it?

The goal of this research is to define the key considerations in the ‘Internet of Things’ movement that businesses should be paying attention to.

We’ll attempt to answer this broad question by first, identifying the fundamental influences of this movement and second, mapping the three core forces determining how the Internet of Things can impact each business (differently).