What if your garage can open the door when you are within 100 metres of it? Or, if the lights in your house turn on only when it senses you walking into your home? This should not sound like science fiction, because, this is just what the Internet of Things (IoT) promises to deliver - connected devices that communicate with each other to make our lives simpler and more intuitive.

The possibilities in the IoT world are endless. Manufacturing units will be able to detect machine breakdowns in real time, identify supply chain disruptions and take corrective action. In fact, IoT will possibly enable organisations to gain visibility into every aspect of the production cycle in real time, enabling better decision making and immediate troubleshooting.

Healthcare could benefit immensely as IoT enables real time tracking of information from monitoring devices such as glucometers, or electro-cardiograms or fetal monitors. Retail will never be the same after the IoT revolution. From smart shelves that detect when inventory is low, RFID trackers throughout the supply chain to hyper-local and hyper-personalised marketing via offers and discounts sent to customers near a store, shopping has gone hi-tech.

The IoT works by collecting data from machines via sensors, interpreting that data for usable insights, and communicating the insights to enable quick and intelligent actions. This implies that as the world gets more connected, and more industries go the ‘smart’ route, the volume of data will grow exponentially. The value of this data, if leveraged properly, is immense. McKinsey projects that by 2025, data from connected devices will yield insights driving potential economic value of as much as USD 11 trillion.

Can traditional data analytics measure up to a world generating this volume of data and demanding usable insights almost in real time? A simple answer is, no! Cognitive computing can analyse vast volumes of data both structured and unstructured. It can continuously process natural language inputs and throw up intelligent insights in real time. The value delivered to almost all sectors is tremendous. The time is not far when your wearable cognitive fitness device will communicate with you via a virtual health assistant, to set up a health check-up based on your fitness data.

The use of cognitive computing-based IoT solutions is increasing. For example, facilities management firm ISS is using IBM Watson™ IoT platform to transform the management of 25,000 buildings worldwide.2 Ricoh and IBM Watson are collaborating to build intelligent workplaces with interactive whiteboards3. The cognitive IoT revolution has just begin and holds tremendous potential for the future.  To know more about the possibilities in store, be part of outthink tour.

Summation

• IoT is bringing about the second wave of digital disruption and will change our lives as we know it.

Cognitive computing can drive value for IoT solutions by delivering real time analysis of vast data volumes, especially using unstructured data that typically remains unused.

Cognitive IoT solutions are being increasingly adopted across sectors – manufacturing, retail, healthcare, to mention a few.