Gone are the days when you had to spend a considerable amount of money to get your Internet data pack top-up. While a large number of people headed to the cyber cafes for accessing the Internet and doing any activity, it was a cumbersome task. Apart from this, video calls or accessing the Internet on the mobile freely were more than a distant affair.
However, thanks to the favorable policies around the world, the Internet has become cheaper than ever. Even if you look at the rural areas, you can easily find Internet services there. A lot of people today have smartphones or Internet connections in their homes that are seamless and provide good speed.
IoT as We Know Today
The reason why we’re highlighting the importance of the Internet is that it has become one of the most prized assets of the modern age. Be it our enterprises, individual activities, or a large part of business; everything heavily relies on the Internet. In fact, the world, as we know, today seems unimaginable without the powerful Internet.
The extent of popularization of services on the Internet has reached our households. In other words, we now have full-fledged appliances in our homes that are powered by the Internet. While this is creating a lot of opportunities for businesses, it is also paving the way for the technology that we know as the Internet of things.
IoT or the digital transformation with the Internet of things is a popular technology that is making space in organizations and homes, capitalizing on the Internet. It is amazing how even thinking about such technology was difficult a few decades back. And now, we are here today, operating air conditioners through our mobile phones and letting refrigerators place orders for products that are turning out of stock.
But, there’s more to what the Internet of things can do. It is turning into a technology whose market is expanding at an exponential rate. The market has already surpassed the billion mark shattering even more glass ceilings on its way. Statistics suggest that the global IoT market is all set to reach a value of 1256.1 billion by the year 2025. Until 2019 this figure was estimated to be around 690 billion.
These figures clearly show the potential of IoT all around the world. Deducing from the above numbers, IoT can be seen growing at a compound annual growth rate of 10.53 percent for the 2020- 2025 period. This is a piece of excellent news for enterprises looking forward to taking the technological leap in the consumer electronics segment.
However, there are more than a few factors that are leading to the growth of the Internet of Things. Be it the expansion of wireless technology, the emergence of advanced data analytics, or the striking reduction in the cost of hardware, the Internet of things is all set to make spaces in people’s homes.
5G as the IoT Booster
One of the biggest enablers of the Internet of Things is the fifth generation of cellular technology. Despite the existence of the Internet for a long time, it is ultimately the 5G that is making seamless communication between devices a reality. This is directly benefitting IoT as compared to the previous generation of technologies such as 3G and 4G.
It would be most apt to say that IoT and 5G go in tandem with the mission of changing the world. They are powering billions of devices across industries, which is giving enterprises an upper hand to make the best of technology for advancing their business. Be it education, healthcare, automobile, manufacturing, BFSI, retail, agriculture, and consumer electronics, every one of eyeing IoT.
But another important question to evaluate at this point is why 5G after all? Enterprises and businesses were still running on 3G, and 4G networks and life was going on as usual. However, with the advent of 5G, the seamlessness to the Internet has gone to a whole new level. It is imperative to understand that technology, like the IoT, primarily functions by establishing communication networks between several devices.
Moreover, with the reduction in the cost of devices, there is an increase in the number of devices that IoT can connect. On the one hand, this is solving several problems, while on the other hand presenting opportunities for better management at a business level. For example, take the COVID-19 scenario. Since physical presence has become a limiting factor for businesses due to the pandemic, a lot of them are relying on technology. With IoT in the picture, remote monitoring of assets and controls is better exercised, and the inefficiencies are removed.
If this kind of trend has to continue, then it is only intuitive that businesses will be aiming to expand their existing networks and integrate more devices in the network of IoT. This is where the role of 5G comes into the picture. With 5G, there will be a surge in the number of connected devices since there will be 100 times higher data volumes along with five times lower latency.
Thus, devices will finally be able to work in real-time and provide a seamless experience for the user. Moreover, with the advancement of technology, data analytics and artificial intelligence are becoming every business’s reality. The scenario of connected devices under IoT will further provide a boost to such businesses looking forward to leveraging these advanced technologies.
Even in the field of healthcare, where telemedicine is becoming excessively popular, owing to social distancing norms, 5G is acting as an enabler for IoT devices. Another way to look at it is that IoT powered with 5G is transcending boundaries and helping in enterprise mobile apps development take a giant leap. It will take facilities in those areas where human intervention is extremely challenging, whether due to natural reasons or incomplete development of infrastructure. Finally, 5G will also make the dream of smart cities come to reality with IoT. It will breathe life to a lot of government initiatives that were only held back due to inconsistent network communication.
