Beyond the Spreadsheet: Visualizing the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) for business continues to grow like mad. In fact, estimates put the growth in B2B spending on IoT at $267 billion by 2020. But that’s the big picture part of the story. What interests me is a secondary statistic that 50% of IoT spending will be driven by utilities, discrete manufacturing, and transportation and logistics. Those are rapidly changing industries, and often have massive footprints and/or extremely complicated operations that can have significant efficiency, safety and other improvements from IoT systems.

With all of this next-generation technology here today and on the horizon, a big challenge remains in finding the best applications and systems that will visually present all the data from these IoT networks into a format that is simple to understand and navigate. Otherwise, businesses will not be able to leverage IoT systems for what they’re ultimately designed to do: create business intelligence that leads to more efficiency and business growth.

Below are several applications of how visualization can bring IoT data to life, giving businesses an advantage by making this data accessible and actionable.

Asset Tracking

Once assets are connected in the physical world, the digital twin can be monitored in a virtual space. The twinning concept is a rapid growth area, and the business applications span hundreds of different industries. Warehouses and fulfillment centers, retail, oil and gas and event locations are but a few examples. In a warehouse setting, every item can be tracked using RFID or other technology in an interactive map. The visualization piece allows you to quickly see items that need to move or are en route to their next location, heatmaps can highlight areas of congestion, and space and flow can be optimized. Whether a business has 50 or millions of products, visualizing the IoT asset tracking system makes it a lot easier.   

Space Utilization

Linked with the asset tracking piece or as a stand-alone, space planning can become much easier with visualized IoT. This is particularly true for locations like convention centers that need to rapidly be able to spec out an event space and then move around quantities of chairs, tables, and other needs for exhibition, room, and storage. Instead of having to walk around or use a 2D drawing, interactive maps provide the ability to spec out a room, drawing from available inventory, and then digitally hold those items. This way, space and asset needs are always linked for efficiency.

Efficiency and Safety

For many businesses – particularly in the energy industry – physical visits to a potentially remote location are currently the only way to check on things. As more and more devices are connected, oil and gas and other industries will be able to dramatically reduce the number of truck rolls and rounds, simply by connecting their professionals to an interactive visualization of worksites and visualized data. Imagine being able to look across the entire United States – even the globe – and pinpoint areas of high priority.

From there a professional can click through to see which sensors are causing the priority alert, and even click on real-time cameras to see if they can spot the issue. Perhaps it can be fixed remotely, if not, efficiency goes up because the visiting team will have more information about the type of challenge they’ll face upon arrival, where exactly to go, what kind of equipment they’ll need, etc. The safety implications are huge – not only can safety be factored in before visiting the site, but being able to complete day-to-day rounds of a remote location reduce the amount of time behind the wheel.

Training

It’s no secret that the energy sector is facing a shortage of skilled labor. With remote systems, soon-to-retire or retired professionals with decades of experience could continue to consult and mentor the new energy workforce by simply logging in and walking them through scenarios using data from IoT systems. In a similar circumstance to the remote location visit above, the experience of more seasoned employees and consultants – on their own time and at their location of choice – could help train the workforce of the future. Once again, it’s critical to bring the data off the spreadsheet and be able to access it in a visual way that ties directly to the physical equipment and systems being managed.

Yes, the IoT is a big industry and only getting bigger. But the data pouring in can be unmanageable, and without the right tools to view and utilize that data, businesses will not be able to reap the benefits of the IoT. Time to move beyond the spreadsheet!