Internet of Things Predictions for 2017

Brian Buntz,content director of IoT Institute

1. The “Things” in IoT get smarter. A typical connected device for an Internet of Things applications is not nearly as smart as a smartphone.

In the past, companies have called many IoT devices “smart” just because they were connected.

In the future, IoT devices will become actually smarter.

2. Recruiting Will Remain a Challenge for IoT

Finding the staff to work on Internet of Things projects can a challenge. Companies need to find technical people, project managers, etc.

Finding staff to help with computer security, digital marketing, mobile technology, project management, and database administration was especially tough, according to TEKsystems

3. The Business Focus Sharpens In the past couple of years,

many IoT projects were “problems looking for a solution.”

Going forward, expect to see the business case of IoT projects to be clearer and companies will take a long view (incremental approach) towards IoT projects.

….but It Won’t Be EasySince Steve Jobs passed away, tech companies have struggled to understand what types of products will resonate with consumers. Google thought people would want Glass…

The U.S. Presidential election also shows that it is difficult to predict what people are thinking. Expect to see more smaller experimental projects rather than big, risky ones.

And expect to see more strength in the industrial segment.

4. Security Will Remain a Big Problem

It’s never been easier for people to become hackers and, the more connected devices there are, the greater the risk.

Still, the financial upsides to the IoT are too great to ignore, so the market will likely continue to expand unless there is some kind of IoT-related security nightmare that stalls growth.

In the U.S., the government could step in to regulate the industry.

5. Winning Products Will Offer a Service

Many IoT products that are targeted at consumers offer primitive services. But the ones that offer services such as voice recognition are the most popular.

Voice-powered AI will likely be a technology that sees greater use for IoT applications – in other realms besides the consumer space.

6. Standards Will Remain MessyThere are not very many clear standards for IoT applications. That is not likely to get better next year. This could slow down the growth of the market.

8. More Interest and More Challenges for Smart Cities Interest in smart cities is buildings.

There are still significant problems, however, relating to data.

In the U.S., there could be more investment in infrastructure under a President Trump.

Countries with a strong central leadership and funding like China will tend to have the most success with smart cities projects.

9. Self-Driving Cars Will Begin to Shift Society

Self-driving car technology is advancing faster than many people had anticipated. The technology will likely not become mainstream for many years, but it will require significant social shifts. Governments and the industry will work together to prepare society for self-driving cars, which will have a big affect on the economy: people might not buy as many cars, insurance companies and cities will lose revenue and look for different revenue streams.

10. Machine Learning Makes Strides in IoT The IoT opens up the ability for companies to gather tremendous amounts

of data. Machine learning will likely be a popular strategy for dealing with data overload and preventing “digital exhaust.”

11. More Drones / AR and VR in IoT Similar to voice-powered AI technology, drones are a technology that became

popular among consumers that is expanding and finding more business applications.

AR could be used for customer service and for education

VR could be used for scenario management and for education

Technology likely will not live up to the hype for the foreseeable future

12. Blockchain Look for things to sell to things and for Blockchain technology to be used to

program “things” to sell to “things.”