Based on the predictions I’ve read, the IoT is poised to deliver greater mobility of information to workers in the enterprise — revolutionizing everything from shipping to the day-to-day contingencies of office life. Companies that deliver goods and dispatch vehicles will improve logistics through in-vehicle technology that monitors information about traffic patterns and automatically updates routes, enabling drivers to deliver products and services faster and more frequently. Inside the workplace itself, IoT devices can boost productivity by keeping staff informed of everyone’s whereabouts. An employee’s phone or wearable device will be aware of where they are (at home, in transit, in a meeting) and, based on the digital calendar monitored by those same devices, can automatically update colleagues about whether that employee is running on time, is indisposed, etc.
Businesses can also benefit from greater efficiency and reduced costs by using sensor-equipped, Internet-connected devices at every step of a process to collect and send real-time data to the cloud. There, the data can be subjected to sophisticated analytics that locates points where excessive time and effort is being spent.
That kind of sensor-based intelligence and connectivity will take employee awareness and performance to a radically new level — when they become a reality. The IoT has not yet evolved to that point.
But that doesn’t mean the IoT exists only on the horizon. Some next-generation technologies are already having an impact on the workplace.
