IOT & Big Data
Come Together
Chris Proctor, CEO of Oneserve, on why businesses need to take advantage of a combination of IoT
and Big Data, and explains how the two entities together have the potential to transform business.
T
hose in business are
acutely aware that to stay
competitive in today’s
markets you must be one
step ahead of the curve in
terms of technological adoption.
When it comes to improving
business operation efficiency,
there are two technological
movements that are sitting in the
driving seat – Big Data and the
Internet of Things (IoT).
It would be wrong to ignore
the fact there has been a lot of
hype around these technologies
and their potential impact on the
future of business. However, Big
Data and IoT working together
do have an immense potential to
transform the way business leaders
gain insight into their customers
and make key decisions about the
future of the company.
42 | September 2017
While most are beginning to
flirt with the idea of using Big
Data and IoT, many businesses
are still not choosing to take
full advantage of what this
ecosystem can offer. Ultimately
this is hindering their own growth
prospects in the long run.
The link between
IoT and Big Data
One of the main reasons business
leaders cite as to why they haven’t
started fully utilising Big Data and
IoT is that there is a lack of clarity
on what these technologies are and
how they link together.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
refers to the network of physical
‘things’ that have been embedded
with sensors and inter-connect via
the internet. These ‘things’, also
referred to as ‘smart’ or ‘connected’
devices, range from mobile
devices to buildings and vehicles
to manufacturing machines and
collect and exchange vast amounts
of data.
Gartner has predicted that
by 2020 there will be 20.4 billion
connected things worldwide that
make up the IoT. Businesses in
particular are forecast to engage
3.1 billion of these devices and
spending on IoT is set to make
up over half (57%) of the overall
spend on IoT in 2017, reaching
$964 billion worldwide.
The data collected by the
myriad of connected devices is
what is referred to as Big Data. The
data sets collated are so large that
historical methods used for data
processing are simply inadequate.
However, the sheer amount of