You must have come across various smart products in the market like Smart coffee machines, smart microwaves, etc. All these are very basic applications of the Internet of Things. Internet of Things(IoT) has emerged as the youngest child of the digital age. The Internet of Things can be understood as a technological application connecting anything and anywhere over the internet.

IoT is an advanced tool that helps convert physical resources into smart entities through the existing network infrastructure. Its primary aim is to provide the user with smart and seamless services without any glitches.

Kevin Ashton, the British technology pioneer, was the first to coin the term ‘Internet of Things’ in 1999. He defined the term based on the premise that the first version of the internet was about data people create, while the future version is about data things create.

The limitation of 20th-century computers was that they were brains without intelligence, they knew only what people fed them. However, with the Internet of Things coming into the scene today’s computers can sense things themselves.

The Internet of Things has the potential to revolutionize the way we live today. It can drastically improve the way we move around in our cities, the way we shop and the way manufacturers maintain their inventory stock.

Internet of Things is a huge network of connected devices (with on/off switch) and people, which gathers and shares the data on the way they operate and the way they interact with their environment. This network leads to what is called “ambient intelligence”.

The industrial world is slowly but steadily realizing the huge potential of IoT. According to General Electric, industrial investments in IoT will be around $60 trillion in another 15 years. Big companies are launching their versions of smart products in order to gain early bird advantage.

Now let us analyze which are the top 10 Internet of Things trends with the capability to rule the market by 2020.

1. From Consumer IoT to Industrial IoT

Due to the recent failure of consumer-based IoT manufacturers like Lily robotics, Jawbone and Hello, the market will see growth in Industrial IoT. Reduced capital expenditure in the deployment of the technology has opened a huge window of opportunity in diverse fields including telecommunication, insurance, banking, etc.

2. New wireless mobile Technology

IoT-With the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution, huge data is expected to be created and managed. Managing such huge data flows, preventing leakages and at the same time drawing necessary business insights require integration of 5G Network with IoT systems.

3. AI and Big data

With a huge network of devices and people connected over the internet, IoT will result in the creation of a large quantity of data. To process this large data and extract meaningful information leveraging big data analytics and machine learning techniques is required. This will lead to the generation of newer applications based on the integration of big data, artificial intelligence, and IoT tools.

4. IoT Security

Focus on the security of IoT will be renewed as the security challenges posed by its distributed and diverse nature crop up. Currently, over 26 billion internet-connected devices are vulnerable to attack. IoT developers who make security measures put in place as their selling point will have an edge over others.

5. Edge Computing Over Cloud Computing

IoT devices and their developers have depended on the cloud platforms to store the data coming from these devices. However recently they have come to realize the utility of storing limited data in the cloud. This means that instead of sending all data generated by IoT devices to the cloud, data is first stored at the edge of the network closer to the IoT devices.

This data is then sorted, filtered and calculated to send it all or only a part to the cloud. This reduces the traffic on the network.

This approach is known as edge computing. It helps in reducing the dependency of IoT devices on the cloud, enhances security and enables them to perform faster.

6. IoT in healthcare

As per Frost and Sullivan, the IoT medical device industry is expected to grow at CAGR of 26.2% reaching 72,000 million by 2021. Mobile health applications, intelligent wearable devices, implants communicating patient’s health parameters, etc will revolutionize the healthcare industry through IoT.

7. Smart Cities

It is assumed that smart city technology spending will amount to around $135 billion by 2021. Increased IoT adoption will lead to the emergence of smart cities. Cities with vision for the future will increasingly invest in ground-breaking data exchange technologies. This will enable the accumulation and processing of information between public and private enterprises and citizens. Thus future cities will witness IoT governance.

8. Personalized Retail Experience

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags can make supply chain management in retail stores a lot easier. Data generated by IoT devices can help in knowing customers’ product interaction and thus improvements in the inventory can follow.

9. IoT and customer support

Organizations delivering IoT based smart products can provide smart customer support services. IoT network of connected devices will enable predictive and personalized customer support.

IoT devices can detect and report the problems to the customer desks without the customer noticing the same. This allows companies to increase customer engagement and further improve their retention.

10. Sensor innovation

The data generated by IoT devices and their sensors can be used to improve manufacturing productivity greatly. When Artificial Intelligence(AI) is combined with sensors, AI can take decisions independently and thus optimized production can be achieved. This can make our factories much smarter in days to come.

Thus to conclude we can say that the Internet of Things development has arrived and is evolving with each passing day. To utilize this technology to its fullest potential, businesses need to keep pace with the emerging IoT trends. These trends have the capability to disrupt the market. We hope this comprehensive list enumerating the IoT trends that will rule in 2020 will be of help to many.