Internet of things, commonly abbreviated as IoT, was once considered an exclusive technology for startups, but now even billion-dollar organizations are leveraging the technology to further enhance their business output and build something new for the future. This takes us to some powerful IoT development trends in 2019 and beyond.
Given the fact that we are constantly surrounded by devices connected to the internet, the room for growth is remarkable with the recent advancements in the technology and app development industry.
According to Statista, in 2019 the number of connected devices will reach 26.66 billion, while the count is expected to reach the 75.44 billion mark by 2025. Further, a report by GrowthEnabler states that the IoT global market size will reach a staggering $457.29 billion by 2020. The report also states the global market share by sub-sectors, with connected health, industrial IoT, and smart cities visibly ruling the trends.
Hence, proving that IoT industry growth is certain as the technology has already become a vital part of our lives. Still, it might be difficult for non-technical people to understand what IoT actually has in store for the digital world and the global industry on whole.
Top IoT Development Trends in 2019 and Beyond
As we pass through 2019, here are the major IoT future trends that designers, developers, digital marketers, and business owners need to be aware of and steer their company efforts to extract the best out of this technology.
5G—a new wireless networking technology
The 5G networking is bound to become the biggest game changer and is easily a top contender in IoT growth trends. Also, because it is one of the most anticipated technology that the digital world is waiting to experience. The idea of 5G is to bring unimaginable speeds and bandwidth to cellular networking.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2018 the expenditure on the 5G network infrastructure was $528 million, and is expected to rise up to $26 billion by 2022. Apparently, due to the paramount costs involved in research and development, it is still slightly sidelined besides the mainstream industry projects.
This upcoming generation of low orbit satellites and backscatter network is highly likely to incorporate with the IoT business and optimize power usage, latency, bandwidth, connection density, operating costs, and range and service quality. As 2018 showcased the fixed 5G apps, this year the technology is going to become more prominent in mobile phones and the IoT field.
Consumer-based offerings
From home to cities and everything in between, consumer convenience products are becoming more and more IoT-focused as the smart technology has started to get socially acceptable and widely used.
As we know, smart cities, homes, automation and enterprises are providing the best convenience to us in our daily life.
According to Statista, the global smart home business is expected to reach a value of $53 billion by 2022. While MarketsandMarkets expecting the smart city growth reach around $717.2 billion by 2023. Furthermore, smart locks, automated cars, and home appliances are also going to follow suite.
The only idea fueling this IoT technology trend is the need to automate many of our daily routine tasks.
Smart enterprises
Just like smart homes, smart enterprises are also on the rise with the techno-industrial revolution gathering momentum. The idea of smart manufacturing processes cutting down industry costs considerably is starting to get real.
When we make an enterprise smart, we are actually making any work area or process supported by the IoT technology. Here is an illustration to better understand the concept of a smart enterprise.
Apparently, some technologies have successfully started to enable engineers monitor the data and organizational operations through their front desk. The AI-based technology is relentlessly working to create and run a hands-free infrastructure at workplaces.
Edge computing and further
Undoubtedly, Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure are the most preferred cloud services worldwide today. Their organizational and marketing infrastructure is highly sought for quick releases of IoT devices.
Although cloud services are still among the favorites, but the shift from a centralized location to edge architectures alongside the IoT technology is inevitable. The edge computing optimizes applications and cloud-based systems by acquiring some chunk of its data from central nodes.
Moving on, the further logical extremes of the internet are explored. Here is the comparison between the costs of the two computing types.
The huge gap between the two costs is apparent, therefore, making the edge counterpart as the prime choice for IoT development companies. Hence, it is safe to say that the edge computing, being another top name in emerging trends in IoT, is going to take over the cloud services in the upcoming years in all major industries worldwide.
Big data and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence and data science always remains at the top of current trends in IoT each year, given the massive scope and untapped opportunities in store.
According to a study by BCG Henderson Institute, AI at the enterprise-level is starting to get real and 90% of organizations in the survey stated the technology is likely to drive more business revenue in the next five years through AI-triggered modifications.
According to Gartner, in 2019 there will be around 14.2 billion connected devices producing huge volumes of data. Data is the right ingredient for IoT development and companies to make appropriate decisions regarding their offerings, customers, workforce, strategic planning and more.
However, data alone doesn’t call for success for any enterprise, but what use it is put to through purposeful analytics. With smart gadgets producing more and more data, businesses are looking for tools to make the best use out of that data. With artificial intelligence and machine learning on board, business and technology incubators are looking to leverage the power of data and IoT to provide the best enterprise-level solutions.
Ethical IoT
The cybersecurity still has a lot of loopholes to fill and improvements be made. Unfortunately, some recent innovations in the IoT technology has made it less secure, if not entirely exposed. As we know, data thefts and misuses has always been a major problem in the IT sector.
Many nations have established laws to govern cybersecurity with the purpose of securing the digital data and channels from misuse. Through strict privacy regulations and introducing data restrictions like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), governments and technology-based organizations are stressing more than ever to create secure IoT solutions and management systems.
Apparently, in 2019 and beyond businesses will be looking to educate developers and users on security flaws and software vulnerabilities, primarily aiming at consumer protection.
Conclusion
The above trends constitute some of the major changes in the digital landscape in the future. As it stands, developers, designers and marketers employed at IoT development companies have a vast battleground to test their skills on. Nevertheless, IoT is continuously going to have a profound effect on our everyday life, and businesses will face new doors of opportunity to diversify their customer engagement channels, improve their internal processes, and deliver a superior customer experience.
Imran Abdul Rauf is a Digital Marketing Strategist, employed at CMOLDS, and specializes in content marketing, email marketing campaigns, lead generation, and other aspects of digital marketing. A content enthusiast by the day, and hardcore gamer by night, Imran is also a regular guest contributor at some of the top tech and digital marketing platforms.
