Internet of Things

The Internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. (Wikipedia)

There are a few driving forces behind IoT and they are

1. The rapid fall in cost of sensors and actuators
2. Increased ease of connections to these sensors
3. Improved ability to access and analyse the data generated

Technology has come so far and it is always progressing. Come to think about it, IoT consists many sensors and actuators being connected to the internet. Each once mining and sharing data. Which makes it extremely incompatible when it comes to privacy.

On the surface, it seems the Internet of Things and the resulting data mining are utterly incompatible with privacy. (ExpressVPN)

This in my opinion will not last in the last run. Why? My answer is because people are getting more and more educated about their rights and they value privacy, people will find ways to work around it to find another way that does not invade their privacy. Thus making IoT invalid.

Ok so let’s leave that aside for now.

How will our marketers use IoT?

1. They will analyse consumer buying habits across all platforms.
2. They will gather previously unobtainable data about how consumers interact with their products and devices.
3. Gain deeper insights into where the customer is in the buying journey.
4. Create real time point of sale notification and targeted ads For example like you just viewed farfetch for Prada and you see the product advertising on Facebook using the farfetch website
5. Quickly resolve issues to close sales and keep customers happy.

The ultimate question will be “Will IoT benefit us?”

Of course there are pros and cons of everything. Pros are that IoT and wearable computing will grow exponentially between now and 2025. Information interfaces will also advance, like voice activated and touch commands. (E.g, Siri, Alexa)
The downside would be that the realities of this data drenched world raise concerns about privacy and may impact people’s abilities to control their own lives.

Now this brings me to my next point, The Big Data.

Big data is the data that is characterised by such informational features as the log-of-events nature and statistical correctness, and that imposes such technical requirements as distributed storage, parallel data processing and easy scalability of the solution. (Scnsoft.com)

So big data and privacy should go hand in hand right?

Anything that leaves a “digital footprint” is not safe. I used to find it really convenient when my computer knows exactly what I want when I want it or what I need. Back in January when I got my iPad, all of a sudden I kept seeing iPad cases or iPad folios popping out on Facebook.

When it comes to big data, i complete support the use of it. It accelerates the time and gets actual real-time data. With so much information like floating around in this “cloud” imagine what can be done with all the useful information.

Let me know if you have any opinions! As usual, comments are always welcomed!

Happy Friday!