The Internet of Things and its value for different sectors post-COVID

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been helping businesses revolutionise the way they make decisions for many years now.  The world today relies heavily on this smart network of physical objects, such as sensors, machines and other devices, that are connected to the internet and can communicate with each other. In fact, the IoT has become such a fixture in homes and enterprises that the question is no longer ‘what is the Internet of Things?’, but ‘how can we take full advantage of its benefits in the post-pandemic world?’

According to research by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the COVID-19 pandemic contributed significantly to rapid growth in Australians' online activity, with the country seeing more data downloads and increased demand for high-speed internet. Plus, almost half of all Australian internet users today work from home at least some of the time. The same research also found that 41% of internet users engaged in telehealth consultations during the pandemic, 92% did their banking online and 85% made an online purchase. Tech-enabled recruitment is another big trend currently hitting Australian shores, all of which clearly shows the increasing connectedness of devices and people and thus the potential of the IoT.

Value and potential by industry

Although COVID-19 continues to be disruptive for Australian businesses, according to Hiring Lab’s Senior Economist Callam Pickering, the Australian labour market has proven fairly resilient, not least to some extent due to the advancement of the IoT. How to best tap into the IoT in 2022 and beyond depends on your industry and its specific requirements. Let’s take a look at some examples from three of the main sectors in Australia – mining, manufacturing and healthcare.

What does the IoT enable in the mining industry?

Mining companies utilise the IoT for a number of different aspects, primarily in relation to:

• optimising their costs,
• improving safety measures,
• developing their industry-specific artificial intelligence (AI),
• shifting from preventive to predictive maintenance, and
• enabling faster decision-making.

What is the industrial IoT in manufacturing?

Faster mobile internet helps the IoT grow through an enhanced mobile broadband network and powerful machine-to-machine communications. In Australia, this mainly benefits manufacturing businesses in areas such as:

• interconnecting sensors and instruments,
• linking devices with industrial software applications,
• accessing real-time data to efficiently operate plants and equipment,
• managing manufacturing equipment and energy usage, and
• developing smart factories.

How does 5G technology enhance the IoT in the healthcare sector?

The healthcare sector has perhaps benefited the most from the advances brought about by the IoT, especially in conjunction with the rollout of the more powerful 5G network in Australia. 5G will not only bring about higher speeds, greater network capacity and lower latency, but – according to the Australian Broadband Advisory Council – has also been designed to support machine-to-machine communication. The benefits of emerging IoT technologies that ensure safe and effective care, in particular in response to COVID, include:

• remote patient monitoring and telehealth, which proved incredibly useful during the pandemic and is still used heavily today,
• faster transmission of high-resolution images and large files,
• wearable fitness and measurement devices, e.g. for monitoring glucose levels, heart rate and blood pressure,
• robotic surgery performed by tiny IoT devices,
• sensors tracking real-time locations of medical equipment like wheelchairs, defibrillators or oxygen pumps in hospitals, and
• devices to remind staff and visitors of proper hand hygiene, in particular during and after COVID.

So, no matter your industry, the IoT is still as relevant as ever to business, if not more so than before the pandemic.

The post-pandemic IoT

A recent research paper published by the Social Science Research Network determined that IoT devices have offered functionality improvements and productivity gains during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, not least due to the necessity to think outside the box and the ensuing rapid development during the crisis. Australia’s former Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, believes that the IoT can also help monitor environmental disasters, support pandemic management and improve the provision of services to populations in regional and remote areas of Australia. In addition, the IoT is a useful tool for organisations to track sustainability in supply chains and will ultimately help industry to create greater trust in data, according to Dr Finkel.

Finally, a Gartner report estimated that by 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some 20 billion devices were connected to the internet, ranging from vending machines to jet engines. The same report also explained that ‘the biggest barrier to the IoT is that most enterprises do not know what to do with the technology’, coupled with a clear lack of leadership with respect to getting IoT initiatives off the ground. This means that there is a real opportunity here for CEOs and decision-makers to take action and fill what Gartner calls the IoT leadership void.

The tools are there – use them!

It’s clear that our working world today is strongly influenced by the IoT and associated emerging technologies – but often, it’s difficult to keep up with new technologies that are springing up at an ever-faster pace. It may be a good idea to take a measured approach, investigate the technologies that are relevant for your industry, keep up with current tech trends and choose the best options for your sector, company and staff. The takeaway is: There's an array of tools available to decision-makers in all industries today, but not all corporate leaders are taking full advantage of them yet. This is your opportunity to do your research and get ahead of the game.